Sam Harris

Does anyone know anything about this group?
I have a friend who's been involved off and on over the last few years and at times I've been concerned regarding the agenda of the people involved.

Thanks.

~singularity

http://thewayofpeace.org/what_is_a_landmark_baptist.html

I am not sure what you want to know, but here is a kind of summary.

They are fundamentalist, and broke off from the Baptists over doctrine and politics, although some of the Landmark churches belong to the Southern Baptist Convention

Each Church however is an independent entity, so it would matter WHICH Landmark Church he is attending as to how cult-like that particular congregation is.

I can get a serious headache wading through all the different Baptist Conventions.

I’m talking about a different Landmark.  This one is more similar to LR Hubbard’s Dianetics.  In a prior incarnation it was called EST.  Its a Large Group Awareness Training (LGAT) program that has been described as quite coercive in its methods.

~singluarity

It was a living hell.  My father conned me into it.  Yes, it’s just EST without Werner Erhard.  Steven Pressman wrote an excellent book, OUTRAGEOUS BETRAYAL, on the subject.

I have a number of friends who have joined this group. I went along to an introductory meeting and it left me with two main impressions: first, the psychology is rather low-grade and consists pretty much in the power of positive thinking; second, the pitch is very high-pressure, and requires a great deal of assertiveness to resist. I was not impressed, in both senses of the word.

The Landmark Forum is a great program which I attended in 1995 and which has benefited me every day since.  Every few years I will take one of their special interest seminars for those who have completed the Forum.  While Landmark is shameless in expressing their desire for participants to enroll in seminars continuously, I don’t let their selling efforts get in the way of reaping the value of their programs, which is considerable and frequently life altering.  Nothing to be afraid of, and nothing to be put off by.  There are plenty of clergy, doctors and other professionals in Landmark courses who get big-time value and are appreciative of the results.  Best to you . . .