Children born and raised on the religious fringe are a distinctive yet largely unstudied social phenomenon. They are irreversibly shaped by the experience, having been thrust into radical religious cultures that often believe children to be endowed with heightened spiritual capabilities. The religious group is all encompassing: it accounts for their family, their school, social networks, and everything that prepares them for their adult life.
Using research gathered from over fifty in-depth interviews, Amanda van Eck Duymaer van Twist explores the lives of individuals born into new religious groups, some of whom have stayed in these groups, and some of whom have left. The groups she considers include the Bruderhof, Scientology, the Family International, the Unification Church, and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. The book draws on the author's visits to these groups, their schools and homes, and support websites maintained by those who left the religious groups that raised them. It also details her experiences at conferences held by NGOs concerned with the welfare of children in "cults."
The arrival of a second generation of participants in new religious movements raises new concerns and legal issues. Whether they stay or leave, children raised on the religious fringe experience a unique form of segregation in adulthood. Perfect Children examines the ways these movements adapt to a second generation, how children are socialized, what happens to these children as they mature, and how their childhoods have affected them.
Amanda van Eck Duymaer van Twist is the deputy director of Inform, a non-profit information center specializing in minority religious movements, spiritualities, and fringe political movements, based at the London School of Economics and Political Science in London. As part of her work, she has encountered and researched a range of topics and issues dealing with minority and/or new religions.
Industry Reviews
"The book overall breaks new ground in an under-researched area... This is a must-read for everyone in the field." -- Lukas Pokorny, Religious Studies Review
"Perfect Children is a fine demonstration of the continuing relevance of [New Religious Movements] studies and, in its broad coverage, works well as an introduction to some of the key research themes in the field."--Titus Hjelm, Journal of Religion in Europe
"Scholars interested in the fields of communalism/cultism, religion (traditional and new religious movements), and sociology-in particular, childhood and family studies-will find her work informative. A major strength of the work is the author's comparative analysis, which incorporates related fields such as human rights, self-realization, literature, education, mind control/brainwashing, women's studies, minority studies, and the power of the internet. Yet,
the work is also for lay readers and young people who communicate via online chat sessions. It speaks to the notion of family and to everyone who struggles to belong."--Joanne Hurlbut, Nova Religio
"This is a very good book. It is clearly written with a mass of empirical data carefully analyzed and located within a number of theoretical frameworks. I recommend it not only to scholars of new religious movements for whom it is a must, but also to anyone interested in the dynamics of the socialization of children in minority religions or in nonreligious groups that are on the fringe of society."--Sociology of Religion
"Perfect Children is an insightful and sometimes disturbing study of youth growing up in new or sectarian religious movements. The author shows us that the experimental project of rearing "perfect children" comes with a very imperfect road map. With the best of intentions and noblest of spiritual pursuits, the introduction of children into the group changes everything. Amanda van Eck Duymaer van Twist offers us a window into the intimate lives of these
offspring, with all the trials, challenges, and choices they face. This work is a unique and vital contribution to the research literature on new religions."--Stuart Wright, Professor of Sociology, Lamar
University
"This is a ground-breaking study in an important, emerging area in the sociology of new religions: a study of the children born into these movements." --Reading Religion
