Nickname of
Ted Patrick,
notorious cult deprogrammer who operated in the
1970s. His
techniques were
controversial and met with fierce opposition from everyone but the
parents who wanted their
children back. Patrick's argument was based on what he called
freedom of thought, that a cult member's ability to think for himself was destroyed by the
cult, ergo, the person is no longer entitled to the right of
freedom of religion.
Patrick claims to have successfully deprogrammed approximately 1600 people from Krishna, Sun Myung Moon, Scientology, Synanon, the Children of God, the Divine Light Mission, the New Testament Missionary Fellowship, Dianetics, the U.S. Labor Party, and the Move. (Patrick on deprogramming a Moonie: "But I knew Moon's Divine Principle better than he did. I tore him apart on Divine Principle.")