News that a group considered a cult by many and banned from
most college campuses is holding services at three Cambridge
public schools has prompted the City Council to order an inquiry
into the school department’s screening practices.
"They are a very destructive religious group," said
Robert Watts Thornburg, dean at Boston University’s Marsh Chapel,
speaking of the Boston Church of Christ, which rents space at
the Harrington and Tobin schools, as well as at the high school.
"They lie and cheat and they really destroy kids,"
he went on. "Mind control is the methodology and they do
mind control by the way they recruit and the way they hold on
to kids and the way they turn them into zombies."
A City Council order passed Monday asks for closer scrutiny
of any churches holding services on city property "to prevent
groups which have been associated with cult-like indoctrination
and mind control from using city space."
Councilor Kathy Born, who presented the order, said she was
alerted to questionable practices going on in some schools by
a constituent.
"I received a letter from a constituent who characterized
one of these churches as a cult and expressed concern that her
brother had been in this group and removed and deprogrammed,"
said Born.
"I certainly understand that there are First Amendment
rights and the city can’t discriminate," Born said, though
she added, "I wouldn’t want to think we were using city
space for mind control organizations."
The Boston Church of Christ has been banned from the campuses
of Harvard, Boston College, Tufts, Northeastern, BU, and many
other campuses nationwide, said Thornburg.
The council order does not ban any churches from schools. Rather,
it directs the city manager to consult with the superintendent
of schools regarding the policy on churches renting schools.
"I could not say anything about the Boston Church of Christ."
