Editing Cult Awareness Network (section)

{{Short description|1978–1996 American organization}}
{{use mdy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{About|the organization up to 1996|the subsequent organization|New Cult Awareness Network}}
{{pp-semi-indef}}
{{Infobox organization
| name                = Cult Awareness Network
| abbreviation        = CAN
| former_name         = FREECOG, Citizen's Freedom Foundation (CFF)
| image               = Cult Awareness Network OLD logo.png
| size                = 150px
| caption             = Old logo
| founder             = [[Ted Patrick]]
| leader_title        = Executive director 1991–1996
| leader_name         = Cynthia Kisser
| leader_title2       = Co-director 1995–1996, vice president 1992–1995
| leader_name2        = Rosanne Henry
| leader_title3       = Director 1988–1991
| leader_name3        = [[Carol Giambalvo]]
| leader_title4       = Director 1982–1987
| leader_name4        = Reginald Alev
| key_people          = Cynthia Kisser, Patricia Ryan, [[Louis Jolyon West]], [[Margaret Singer]], Priscilla Coates, [[Rick Ross (consultant)|Rick Ross]], [[Steven Hassan]], Paul Engel, Janja Lalich, [[Mike Farrell]], [[Edward Lottick]], Sandy Andron (former vice-president), Nancy Miquelon, John Rehling, William Rehling
| formation           = 1978
| dissolved           = 1996
| subsidiaries        = [[Cult Awareness Network#Deprogramming referral kickback scheme – NARDEC|NARDEC]], Free Minds of North Texas
| services            = Deprogramming, support and referrals to deprogrammers and exit counselors
}}
The '''Cult Awareness Network''' ('''CAN''') was an [[Anti-cult movement|anti-cult organization]] founded by [[deprogramming|deprogrammer]] [[Ted Patrick]]<ref name="congresshearing"/> that provided information on groups it considered "[[cult]]s", as well as support and referrals to deprogrammers.<ref>{{cite news |last=Staff |title=From the Editor |work=New CAN: Cult Awareness Network |pages=Volume I, Issue 2 |year =2001 |url=http://www.cultawarenessnetwork.org/update/001.002.html |access-date=2007-10-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928161608/http://www.cultawarenessnetwork.org/update/001.002.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-09-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Goodman |first=Leisa |title=A Letter from the Church of Scientology |work=Marburg Journal of Religion: Responses From Religions |pages=Volume 6, No. 2, 4 pages |year=2001 |url=http://web.uni-marburg.de/religionswissenschaft/journal/mjr/goodman.html |access-date=2007-10-28 |archive-date=May 26, 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120526/http://web.uni-marburg.de/religionswissenschaft/journal/mjr/goodman.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Lucas, P.C. and T. Robbins. 2013. ''New Religious Movements in the 21st Century'': Taylor & Francis. {{Page?|date=July 2021}}{{ISBN?}}</ref> It operated (initially under the name “Citizens’ Freedom Foundation”) from the mid 1970s to the mid 1990s in the United States.

The Cult Awareness Network was the most notable organization to emerge from the anti-cult movement in America. In the 1970s, a growing number of large and small [[New Religious Movements]] caused alarm in some sections of the community, based in part on the fear of "[[brainwashing]]" or "mind control" allegedly employed by these groups. The Cult Awareness Network presented itself as a source of information about "cults"; by 1991 it was monitoring over 200 groups that it referred to as "mind-control cults". It also promoted a form of coercive intervention by self-styled "deprogrammers" who would, for a significant fee, forcibly detain or even abduct the cult member and subject them to a barrage of attacks on their beliefs, supposedly in order to counter the effects of the brainwashing. The practice, which could involve criminal actions such as [[kidnapping]] and [[false imprisonment]], generated controversy, and Ted Patrick and others faced both civil and criminal proceedings.

After CAN lost a lawsuit and filed for bankruptcy in 1996, lawyer and [[Scientologist]] Steven L. Hayes acquired the rights to CAN's name, logo, PO box, and hot-line phone number, and licensed the name to the "[[Foundation for Religious Freedom]]", who established the [[New Cult Awareness Network]]. Hayes made the purchase with funds raised from private donations, not from the [[Church of Scientology]], although a number of scientologists had been among the most active participants in a coalition of religious freedom advocates from whom he had collected money. The Church of Scientology had previously been one of CAN's main targets.<ref name="goodstein">{{cite web | first = Laurie | last = Goodstein | title = It's A Hostile Takeover Of A Nonprofit | url = http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=2362655&date=19961201 | agency = [[The Washington Post]] | work = [[The Seattle Times]] | date = 1996-12-01 | access-date = 2008-05-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110918202415/http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19961201&slug=2362655 |archive-date=September 18, 2011}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title = The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=lk8_ARNz-dYC&pg=PA66 |publisher = Prometheus Books|year= 2002|isbn = 978-1-61592-738-8|language = en|first = James R|last = Lewis |author-link=James R. Lewis (scholar) |ol=360149M |pages=66–67 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9612/19/scientology/ |title=Group that once criticized Scientologists now owned by one |date=December 19, 1996 |first=Dan |last=Knapp |website=[[CNN]] |access-date=February 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050207081425/https://www.cnn.com/US/9612/19/scientology/ |archive-date=February 7, 2005}}</ref>