This article is an electronic version of an article originally published in Cultic Studies Journal, 1987, Volume 4, Number 1, pages 38-60. Please keep in mind that the pagination of this electronic reprint differs from that of the bound volume. This fact could affect how you enter bibliographic information in papers that you may write.

The Cult Appeal: Susceptibilities of the Missionary Kid*

Margaret W. Long, Ph. D.

Abstract

Children of American overseas missionaries are especially vulnerable to the appeals of cultic groups. The typical missionary child's philosophical outlook, which consists of idealism, dissatisfaction with self, and disillusionment with the world, coincides with frequent periods of psychological vulnerability built into the overseas missionary system. This produces ready recruits for groups willing to take advantage of the situation. Traditional evangelical teaching about cults provides inadequate defenses against them because it concentrates on cults' heretical beliefs, which can be hidden or disguised for a dm, rather than on alerting the young people to deceptive and manipulative practices typically employed by cults.
 

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