When Denise's son told her he had joined the International Dublin Church of Christ (IDCC), she hoped it was just a passing phase. Soon enough she realised that it wasn't, and became fearful that it could ruin his life and that of the family.
Denise believes, she says, that her son handed thousands of pounds over to the IDCC in the year-and-a half he was a member. "At one stage he had three jobs going at one time to pay them and live." According to Mike Garde of Dialogue Ireland, an organisation funded by the four main Christian churches, IDCC services are held in the ATGWU building on Middle Abbey Street in Dublin on Wednesdays and Sundays. During sermons, recruits are warned that their parents will reject their membership; little wonder: some of them are known to drop out of their education. Members pay a tithe of 10 per cent of their earnings. Drink, drugs, smoking, swearing, outside dating and sex are frowned upon. Members are encouraged to date someone within the group. Garde says: "the IDCC tends to railroad people into membership by extreme pressure. Tight control of sexuality and personal issues is part of the process."
Denise decided she must take some action. She found that there is very little information on new religious groups available in Ireland for parents and other family members. "Parents and friends are too frightened to do anything; they are just hoping that some come out of it and some do." She had heard of Mike Garde but before she had made contact with him, she discovered on the Internet the website of a US-based organisation called Reveal; it provides information about the Dublin church's "parent" organisation, the International Church of Christ, and provides contacts for family members. With the help of Reveal, she contacted Ayman Akshar, a former senior member of the International Church of Christ. She brought her son abroad, at a cost of more than £3,000, to meet Akshar. "He talked to him for two or three days." Her son left the IDCC.
Denise describes this way of getting her son away from the IDCC as "exit counselling" rather than deprogramming. "The difference between exit counselling and deprogramming is the same difference as between mind control and brainwashing," she says.
She says in retrospect that her son had had enough - and that he wasn't affected too much, being quite independent. "Some aren't that lucky; some are receiving psychiatric treatment at the moment." Her son has not rejoined the IDCC.
TCD student welfare officer Aine O'Keeffe is stopped about twice a week by strangers asking if she wants to come to a Bible discussion group. These people are actively recruiting for the IDCC.
"They linger outside the front gates but often come inside too," O'Keeffe says. She says that they seem to approach "young, vibrant and possibly lonely people".
Due to its city-centre location and, of course, its large student population, Trinity seems to be a magnetic recruitment ground for new religious movements. "In the past it has been problematic, and the feedback is worrying that they seem to target us," O'Keeffe says.
However, TCD has taken precautions now in relation to new religious movements which recruit around its grounds. "We make people aware through our newspaper, through blanket emails sent out to everyone warning them to watch themselves - and by reporting them to security." According to Mike Garde, the IDCC is one of most active new religious movements at the moment. "Eighty per cent of the IDCC membership is drawn from the countryside, where people are much more vulnerable, because they are taught to be open to people." And because many of the recruits are living away from home, their families may not realise they are involved in the group until it is too late. IDCC members are often in the 18 to 23 age group and approach people their own age. "In a normal church you see someone change for the better; there, they don't look happy, they look like zombies," he claims.
Nick Isaacs, leader of the International Dublin Church of Christ, claims the church is the fastest growing religious movement in the world, with 86 members in Dublin. "I don't quite understand what the concerns are, as many parents have not been to the services," he told EDUCATION & LVING. "Every Christian is encouraged to have a better relationship with their family." The IDCC, he said, has "a door in and a door out." Tithing, he said, "is a biblical precedence - every church tithes". The money "is used to run the church, there are trustees within the church, who are set up legally". Isaacs, his wife Sara and two others are "paid by the church fulltime to work for the church" - which, he emphasised, "is a non-profit making organisation".
Contact Points
For parents or other family members concerned about someone's involvement with a religious group:
Mike Garde, Dialogue Ireland, 7/8 Lower Abbey Street, Dublin 1 (tel: (01) 830 9384; (087) 239 6229)
The Cult Department, Irish Church Mission, 28 Bachelors Walk, Dublin 1 (tel: (01) 873 0829)
Breda Centre, Belfast (tel: (08) (01232) 795000)
Dialogue Centre International, http://www.dci.dk
Reveal, http://www.reveal.org/
