This method of mind-control can be practised quite regardless of whatever it is you stand for. The same type of mind control may be practised in any kind of environment where the doctrine may consist of anything, from communism on the one hand, even to Biblical Christianity on the other.
Unfortunately, it is possible to teach Biblical Christianity by hammering it into people’s heads using the methods of brainwashing totalitarianism. If this does happen, the content of the teaching might well be Biblical, but the methods are certainly not. For instance, there are some aspects of the Faith movement which may be closer to Biblical Christianity than the teaching and practice of certain other churches. Nevertheless, the mind control makes the whole thing completely different from Biblical Christianity.
There are also certain ingredients in true Christianity that can be abused and distorted in such a way that they can be wrongly used as tools for mind control. For instance, Jesus Himself claims to be The Truth. He says the Bible is the Word of God, and also that there is a definite enemy of Truth. Then, there is the Bible’s call to the Christian to live differently to the ways of the world, and there is the Christian church with its clearly defined creed. Finally, the Scripture mentions the risk of being excluded from the church.
The most vital difference between Biblical Christianity and Lifton’s theories about mind control is, as far as I can see, that in the Christian faith, you have nothing to hide. In the Christian faith, Jesus is The Truth — this is something quite different from saying that the doctrine of a certain select group is the truth.
The Jesus I meet in the Bible, does not need to use any form of coercive control over people to make them believe in Him. He has nothing to hide. He allows you to doubt and question, provided you are sincere — if He had not allowed that, He would have had no disciples left in the end! Even the disciple whom Jesus knew was going to betray Him was allowed in the fellowship of the disciples till the very end.
Biblical Christianity is open for discussion of questions of doctrine and other things. It speaks about being subject to your leaders, but not in the way it is practised within the mind control of totalitarianism. There are some examples in the Bible of threats in very specific situations — these examples are always being used by leaders who want to dominate and control people’s minds. But these threats are among the exceptions in the New Testament. Usually, you find that the Apostle Paul is pleading with the church to listen to him. On one occasion, Paul’s co-worker, Apollos, did not want to travel the same way as the great Apostle Paul, even though from the beginning, they had planned a missionary journey together. But it does not say anywhere that he was threatened, and told that he had to go; instead, he just went the way he personally felt was right (I Corinthians 16:12).
Jesus showed clearly who He was, when He died of His own free will for the sake of mankind. “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man, someone would even dare to die… But God demonstrated His own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:7-8)
The aim of mind control is that a leader must gain and keep an enforced control of his members. Jesus did the opposite. He surrendered His power in order to be a servant. Finally, this culminated in His allowing Himself to be killed in the most humiliating way in order to save those who believe in Him.
This is as far removed from power-hungry mind control as you can possibly get!
