Blogs About All Things Cultish And Coercive Control

If any group objects to the Victorian Inquiry into cults and fringe groups by crying “freedom of religion,” I’d honestly bet money that whoever is saying it is either a cult leader or a member of a high-control group.

This is where a third — and newer — narrative enters: the coercive control model. It doesn’t care what people believe. It cares how those beliefs are used. This model grew out of feminist and trauma psychology movements — women naming the invisible patterns of domination inside their own homes. Later, those insights were applied to workplaces, extremist movements, trafficking, and, yes, cults.

Recently, The Catholic Weekly published an article claiming that the Victorian Inquiry into Cult Recruitment might threaten religious freedom. Their framing of issues immediately raised red flags — because when someone starts arguing about definitions instead of behaviours, it’s usually a sign they’re trying to divert attention from accountability.