Steven Hassan

thumb|Hassan in 2023 Steven Hassan Steven Alan Hassan (pronounced h æ s ə n) is an American mental health professional and author who specializes in the area of cults. In his early career, in the late 1970s, he participated in deprogramming, but since then has advocated non-coercive exit counseling. Quotes about Hassan … Hassan promotes the BITE model as a scientific method for identifying “destructive cults,” claiming it can distinguish legitimate religions from dangerous groups. In practice, however, the model functions less as a diagnostic tool than as a means of labeling any movement he opposes as a “cult.” Its criteria are so broad and indeterminate that they can be applied to political movements, established religions, or even public-health debates, depending on the evaluator’s preferences. The result is a subjective framework that reflects Hassan’s own moral and political prejudices. Massimo Introvigne, "The Truth, Please, About Steven Hassan. 2. “Cults,” “Cults” Everywhere!", Bitter Winter (March 6, 2026) The April 21 indictment of the SPLC raises a glaring paradox: by what moral authority have organizations such as [the] SPLC, Clarkson’s Political Research Associates, and Hassan’s Freedom of the Mind appointed themselves as arbiters of which religious communities to protect and which to exterminate as “hate groups”? Thomas J. Ward, "Not-So-Strange Bedfellows: The Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Cult Movement", Bitter Winter (May 6, 2026) External links Category:Living people Category:Jews from the United States Category:Psychologists from the United States Category:Social scientists from the United States Category:Critics of religion Category:Non-fiction authors from the United States