Hare Krishna movement

Criticism and cult accusations

In the first decade of ISKCON's founding, the Hare Krishna movement was treated cordially by the American public. In the 1970s and 1980s however, the group came under attack by secular anti-cult movements and Christian counter-cultists, who viewed the Hare Krishnas negatively as a cult and a new religious movement. ISKCON responded by inviting scholars to establish the credence of the Hare Krishna movement as an authentic religion, presenting itself as a traditional Indian religion, and seeking the support of the Indian-American immigrant community. ISKCON utilized scholars both as expert witnesses in court cases involving the sect's legitimacy, and directly invited them to write works on ISKCON. In the 1970s and 1980s, the traditional Judeo-Christian religions of the West dealt with the growing influence of new religious movements whom they characterized as "cults" which in their view were evil, false religions who brainwashed devotees under an authoritarian leader who ostracized people from their family lives. The Christians and Jews believed that the materialistic Western society and modern cultural shortcomings of Judaism and Christianity allowed new religious movements to flourish. Christian (and to a lesser extent Jewish) literature attacked the Hare Krishna movement's teachings as false, inimical to Christianity, and as ill-hearted brainwashing of counterculture American youth who were disillusioned with materialism and their natal religions. However, Saliba notes there has been some balanced views on ISKCON by Christian and Jewish figures, and there has been dialogue with ISKCON as part of a wider trend of global religious discourse. While Bhaktivedanta himself was critical of other religions, later figures like Graham M. Schweig and Kirtanananda Swami developed more theological positions more accommodating of other religious paths. By the late 1980s, there were a number of psychiatric surveys and clinical studies on new religious movements including ISKCON. The survey tended to either view the new religious movements positively as therapeutic organizations or negatively as destructive organizations. Clinical studies tended to have results that stated ISKCON members had a normal psychological profile. However, Gordon criticizes both the surveys and clinical studies, stating the methodology, observations, and conclusions were limited and flawed and a proper psychiatric study requires a deeper analysis.