Welcome to The Cult Education Institute

The Cult Education Institute (CEI) is a nonprofit library with archived information about cults, destructive cults, controversial groups and movements. CEI is an educational tax-exempted charity and an institutional member of both the American Library Association and New Jersey Library Association. The CEI online library, which was first launched in 1996, is constantly expanding to include new research and information. The database contains thousands of files including news reports, peer reviewed papers, court documents, book excerpts and personal testimonies, all carefully organized within hundreds of titled subsections . There are also links to additional relevant research resources, a book list and a public message board attached for comments. Due to the size of the CEI library a search feature is available for your convenience. Also see the site map to learn where information and material is located.

News and Opinion

Is cult author Steven Hassan embellishing and/or exaggerating his bio?
Author Steven Hassan, who writes and speaks about groups called "cults," has a personal history of cult involvement. Hassan was in the Unification Church ("Moonies") founded by Sun Myung Moon for two years in the 1970s. And his origin story includes a dramatic "deprogramming" intervention arranged by his parents. However, it... More