Eileen Barker the founder and impetus behind “INFORM” (Information Network Focus on Religious Movements) has long been considered a leading “cult apologist.”
The British professor of sociology has aligned herself with other “apologists” such as J. Gordon Melton, Massimo Introvigne and the late Jeffrey Hadden.
Barker sits on the board of Introvigne’s CESNUR an organization that regularly attacks cult critics
Hadden cited Barker prominently within a notorious memo that outlined strategies to suppress criticism of “cults.” And he hoped that funding for his proposals would come from groups called “cults.”
This would not have been anything new for Ms. Barker; whom once received funding from Rev. Moon of the Unification Church for a book she wrote about the organization and its members.
Nevertheless the London professor wants the public to believe she is an objective observer and academic.
However, it appears that the Archbishop of Canterbury doesn’t buy it.
The Church of England leader recently “snubbed” Barker’s INFORM organization reports The Guardian.
The English prelate will apparently not follow his predecessors by becoming a patron of the group.
It seems that Barker and her supporters are already busy trying to spin the bishop’s snub as the result of pressure from “evangelicals” that disapprove of “INFORM’s consensual” rather than confrontational approach to so-called “new religions” (a politically correct euphemism for “cults”).
But is this all about style or substance?
Critics of Barker have raised serious questions about the professor’s academic integrity and the substance of her “research.”
And concerned families that have historically sought help from INFORM have complained that its “consensual approach” may have included letting a “cult” know about their expressed concerns.
Maybe the snub from the Archbishop is just evidence that he is informed about INFORM.
no comment untill now