J. Gordon Melton
Reverend J. Gordon Melton, Ph.D. (both John and James have been used as his first name) is an academic listed as an expert on The Family International by said cult, and has defended them for years.
Melton has frequently been labelled as a cult apologist, as he often works for such groups (including terrorist cult Aum Shinrikyo [1], many of whose leaders were later sentenced to death by Japanese courts) through cult-funded research projects and books or as an expert witness.
Melton was heavily involved in a British custody case in the mid 90s which involved The Family. He testified on behalf of The Family and helped them defuse the inevitable damning indictment of the previous abuse of children in the group. He was also very involved in the creation of The Family's Charter and has made no secret of the fact that he dreamed of single-handedly bringing the group into the mainstream.
Countercult activist Anton Hein and others have often criticized Melton because of what they consider excessive skepticism of the testimonies of former members of new religious movements. The following is excerpted from expert testimony for the Local Church in its lawsuit against Spiritual Counterfeit Project:
DR. MELTON: When you are investigating groups such as this, you never rely upon the unverified testimony of ex-members.
MR. MORGAN: Why?
DR. MELTON: To put it bluntly, hostile ex-members invariably shade the truth. They invariably blow out of proportion minor incidents and turn them into major incidents, and over a period of time their testimony almost always changes because each time they tell it they get the feedback of acceptance or rejection from those to whom they tell it, and hence it will be developed and merged into a different world view that they are adopting.
Source: apologeticsindex.org
In 1986, before his later turnabout defense of the cult, Melton wrote the following regarding the Children of God (as they were then known):
"The sexual manipulation in the Children of God has been so thoroughly documented that it is doubtful whether the organization can ever, in spite of whatever future reforms it might initiate, regain any respectable place in the larger religious community." — J. Gordon Melton, "Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America" pg.158 (1986). ISBN 0824090365
Payment received from The Family
A donation of USD $10,065.83 from The Family to J. Gordon Melton in the year 2000 is documented on page 38 of the Family Care Foundation's 990 Form below.
FCF 990 Form - 2000 (1,007 KB)
Additionally, The Family funded and edited Melton's 1994 book about the cult, Sex, Slander, and Salvation, and currently advertise it on their website. [2]
Books on The Family by J. Gordon Melton
- Sex, Slander, and Salvation ISBN 0963950126 (1994)
- The Children of God ISBN 1560851805 (2004)
External links
- J. Gordon Melton: Why he is considered a cult apologist — Apologetics Index
- Apologetics and Academic Supporters of the Family — MovingOn.org
- When Scholars Know Sin — Stephen Kent and Theresa Krebs
- Cult Apologists? Gordon Melton — A set of media articles on Rick Ross website
- J. Gordon Melton — Wikipedia.org
