Supreme Court of the State of California

“ At bottom, plaintiffs have asked this Court to sanction the imposition of tort liability for religious conversion practices and for the effects of adhering to a religious way of life. Only under the most extreme conditions--conditions not remotely present in this case--should a court accede to such a request. Had the legal standards plaintiffs advocate been applied to an emergent Christianity, the creeds by which most Americans abide might never have grown to fruition. ”

“ When scientists purport to conclude that an individual has been deprived of free will they have stepped beyond the sphere of their expertise. Such a claim does not partake of science because it cannot be measured or tested; it has no empirical foundation. See Point II.A.2 supra. Accordingly, when Drs. Singer and Benson proffered testimony that Church conversion practices overcame plaintiffs' free will, they were not speaking as scientists. Their claim must thus be considered unreliable in the most fundamental sense. It is philosophical speculation, not science. ”

“ Singer and Benson assert cannot be said to be scientific in any meaningful sense (Point I.B.) , and the methodologies generating those conclusions depart so far from methods generally accepted in the relevant professional communities that they are incapable of producing reliable or valid results (Point I.C.) . Stripped of the legitimating lustre of a scientific pedigree, plaintiffs' purported scientific claim of coercive persuasion is little more than a negative value judgment rendered by laypersons about the religious beliefs and practices of the Unification Church. ”

“ Were this Court to extend tort law to recognize plaintiffs' novel theory of liability, the common law of this State would transgress the First Amendment guarantee of free exercise of religion. In the present case, however, plaintiffs have given this Court no reason to do so; they have made no showing that the religious practices they challenge pose a genuine threat to any legitimate governmental interest in public health or safety. ”

“ The choice to affiliate with a new religion such as the Unification Church and to adopt its demanding ways might strike those in the mainstream as erratic or preposterous, but by its nature faith cannot be subject to tests of rationality. ”

“ It is plaintiffs, private individuals, who ask this Court to recognize the existence of a compelling governmental interest by creating a new theory of tort liability. When transcendent constitutional rights are at stake, and a compelling governmental interest must be shown to justify the limitation of such rights, the judiciary should be extremely wary about positing a compelling governmental interest without any mandate, or even guidance, from the legislative or executive branches. ”

“ The viability of plaintiffs' "coercive persuasion" theory hinges on the admissibility of this purported expert testimony; without it, plaintiffs lack any factual basis for their claim of coercion. Because amici firmly believe that expert testimony of mental health professionals and social scientists can provide valuable guidance to courts faced with issues on the frontiers of human knowledge, amici would not lightly take the position that psychological testimony should be deemed inadmissible in a case turning on the alleged effects of environment on the mental process. ”

“ Such a risk cuts to the heart of constitutional guarantees of religious freedom. "A way of life that is odd or erratic but interferes with no rights or interests of others is not to be condemned because it is different." ”

“ Amici, of course, do not mean to suggest that common law development should always await legislative initiative. Only when imposition of novel tort liability would infringe protected constitutional rights should the courts decline to extend the law absent some clear legislative expression.
[20] "Imagine a young man living in an urban neighborhood that is taken over by gangs. No young man in the neighborhood is neutral: not to belong to one gang or another is not to be protected. But initiation into any gang involves rites to prove one's manhood and eligibility for respect. ”

“ The legislature and executive are far better positioned than is an appellate court to undertake the factual investigation and formulate the broad social policies necessary to support the articulation of a compelling governmental interest sufficient to overcome the right to free exercise of religion. For this reason, judicial recognition of a novel cause of action imposing tort liability for religious practice is particularly inappropriate. ”

“ The State of California does not regulate the conduct plaintiffs label coercive persuasion in any other non-religious context, or even with respect to any other religion. To impose the restrictions plaintiffs desire on the Unification Church, this State would have to regulate rites and traditions common to mainstream religions, such as indoctrination of the young or manipulation of guilt feelings to induce upright behavior. ”

“ Although group influence plays a major role in reinforcing beliefs in the new religious groups, this also seems a universal feature of religious and ideological belief formation. Since new religious groups depend on the conversion of adults to gain members, rather than indoctrination of children which characterizes more established religious groups, the practice of the more established groups is, in this respect, closer to brainwashing than that of the new religious groups. ”

“ Plaintiffs do not contest the bona fides of the Unification Church. Every court to have ruled on the issue has recognized the Unification Church as a religious organization entitled to the protections of the First Amendment. ”

“ Thus the trustworthiness and generalizability of a study increases as independent investigators arrive at a common conclusion. The more often a study confirms prior research or is confirmed by subsequent research and the more often a body of research with differing methodologies supports a common proposition, the less likely it is that chance fluctuations in data or methodological anomalies account for findings. See generally, Monahan & Walker, Social Authority: Obtaining, Evaluating, and Establishing Social Science in Law, 134 U. Pa. ”

“ The fact that almost all who join a new religion eventually abandon it therefore casts additional doubt on plaintiffs' theory of liability. The coercive persuasion explanation for affiliation and continued membership in the Unification Church wholly ignores the fact that almost all Church members eventually disassociate from the Church of their own volition. ”

“ Such encompassing changes are not easily understood by those who have not undergone them. It may be difficult to accept the idea that Church members could have chosen freely to adopt a way of life that demands so much and a belief system that sets them apart.
The proffered testimony of plaintiffs' experts, Drs. Singer and Benson, purports to supply a scientific explanation that makes these dramatic changes comprehensible: those who join the Church, such as plaintiffs, did not choose freely to adopt this alien way of life but were psychologically coerced into affiliating. ”

“ A threat only imprisons because its victim makes a rational choice to forego liberty rather than suffer the harm threatened. The tort of false imprisonment thus protects the interest in freedom from restraint of liberty of movement, a restraint plaintiffs admit was never imposed on them by the Church. ”

“ Furthermore, even if behavioral scientists were able to isolate a configuration of human qualities that differentiates those who decide to join the Church from those who decide not to join, such a showing would not be sufficient to justify imposing legal liability on the Church for seeking to convert such persons. Proof that individuals with certain traits are more likely to join the Church is not proof that such individuals were deprived of their free will. ”

“ A particular methodological approach is considered reliable to the extent it generates a consistent series of results. A methodology is considered valid to the extent it generates an accurate measurement of what it is supposed to measure. See Monahan & Walkker, Social Science in Law, supra, at 43-45.
Validity, in turn, has two aspects. Internal validity refers to whether the methods and analyses employed were sound enough to justify the inferences drawn by the researcher--whether methodology was designed to exclude plausible rival hypotheses for observed phenomena. ”

“ Judicial imposition of common law liability in tort, no less than official regulatory or enforcement action, can effectively restrict the practice of religion. Any decision authorizing the imposition of tort liability must therefore comport with First Amendment guarantees. ”

“ These studies have observed that "presentation of the brainwashing ideology appears to be one of the most essential components of the deprogramming process." Lewis, Reconstructing the Cult Experience, supra, at 157; accord Solomon, Survey of Ex-Members, supra, at 289. See also Barker, Making of a Moonie, supra, at 129. Dr. Singer herself noted in testimony in a case in the United Kingdom that " [t] he deprogrammers . . . tell the current members . . . about how the process of mind-control, brainwashing, the imposed identity change, was brought about." ”

“ Particularly when issues as sensitive and as important as the right to practice religion are at stake, the individual amici are concerned that claims of scientific expertise not be used to cloak nonscientific negative value judgments about new religious movements. ”

“ Because religious practice may at times conflict with the State's view of what is needed to protect the public health and safety, the State is not wholly without authority to enforce neutral regulations that indirectly affect the practice of religion. ”

“ It has been the major association of psychologists in the United States since 1892, and includes the vast majority of psychologists holding doctoral degrees from accredited universities in this country. APA's purpose, as reflected in its Bylaws, is to "advance psychology as a science and profession, and as a means of promoting human welfare." APA has sought to further these goals in part by a vigorous effort to promote psychological research, improve research methods and disseminate information regarding human behavior through meetings, scientific publications and special reports. ”

“ Advertising for a product or service will be much more effective in stimulating a response from individuals who feel a need for that product or service. But few would think that advertisers should face tort liability for their success in persuading those who feel a need for their products. ”

“ Saliba, Psychiatry and the New Cults, supra, at 46 (" [R] re-entry problems, like indecision, often follow whenever a person makes a major shift in life and commitment. . . . They are life problems and not cultic ones") .
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The conclusion Drs. Singer and Benson draw from the observed correlation thus has no validity because their methodology fails to meet basic standards for scientific research, it is sheer speculation. Several commentators have criticized Drs. Singer and Benson for this reason. ”

“ Several recent studies show that individuals who have been "deprogrammed" manifest far greater hostility toward their former organization and claim "brainwashing" or coercive persuasion far more often than do members of the much larger group who leave such organizations of their own volition. ”

“ Scientists can evaluate the degree to which the conversion practices of the Church result in a decision to join the Church by those subjected to the practices, but all available scientific evidence of this nature refutes the claim of coercion plaintiffs advance. ”

“ Such individuals may regret the experience or resent the movement for the material sacrifices demanded or for the estrangement from family and friends that may have resulted. Under such circumstances individuals might be expected to provide hostile accounts of their experience. They might be expected to seek self-serving rationalizations to explain to families and to themselves their original decision to affiliate. By explaining affiliation as brainwashing, former members can place responsibility for their past actions and resulting harms on the Church rather than on themselves. ”

“ From a scientific perspective, coercion is thus a feature of external environment, inferred from the constricted range of behavior most people show in that environment. When measuring coercion in this statistical sense, psychologists
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and other behavioral scientists can infer the degree of coercion of a particular complex of stimuli by measuring how much it affects the range of behaviors most people generally show. When an apparently fit beggar asks for money, for example, a few people give a little, a few give more, and most simply walk on. ”

“ Converts to some new religious groups may undergo public self-analysis, but this is apparently beneficial for the individuals involved since there is some evidence that their mental health improves after they join. ”

“ For a scientist, the difference between the average behavioral response to a healthy beggar and the average response to an armed mugger is not attributable to the effects of each on a non-observable intangible called "will." ”

“ Similarly, information received from family or friends of a former Church member is likely to reflect hostility to the Church. Persons close to the former Church member will, like the former member, seek explanations for the former member's decision to depart radically from their previously shared belief system. Such persons will also in many cases need to justify their decision forcibly to impose a regimen of deprogramming. ”