David V. Barrett has been a teacher of Religious Studies and English, a computer programmer and intelligence analyst for the British and American governments, and a journalist. He has been a full-time freelance writer since 1991. As an author he now researches and writes mainly on religious and esoteric subjects. His various books have so far been published in thirteen languages and seventeen countries.
His highly recommended book THE NEW BELIEVERS (Cassell 2001) is a major study of new religious movements. In 1997 he began working on a Ph.D. in Sociology at the London School of Economics, studying new religious movements; he is a frequent speaker on this subject at conferences, and on radio and television. The introduction to the survey says:
QUESTIONNAIRE
FOR MEMBERS & MINISTERS
OF WCG OFFSHOOTS
I am researching my PhD at the London School of Economics, part of the University of London, England, on the schisms in the Worldwide Church of God following the death of Herbert W Armstrong. This questionnaire will give me valuable information about the opinions of members and ministers who left Worldwide to join one of the offshoot Churches. The more responses I receive from members of different Churches, the more accurate and useful my research will be.
Throughout this questionnaire:
- The word “Church” refers to individual Church of God organisations such as Worldwide Church of God, United, Living, Philadelphia, CGI, etc.
- The word “organisation” means both Churches (e.g. United, Living etc) and teaching/support ministries (e.g. Giving & Sharing).
- The phrase “Worldwide family” means the historic WCG and all the offshoot Churches and ministries.
- The word “leader” refers to the person currently at the head of each individual Church – Roderick Meredith, Gerald Flurry etc.
This questionnaire is only for members and ministers of offshoot Churches of God in the Worldwide family, so is not for (a) members of COG7 or other Sabbatarian Churches, or (b) members who have remained in WCG. Former members who no longer belong to any Church are welcome to answer whatever questions are relevant to them.
The events of the last few years have clearly caused a lot of disruption and distress for many ministers and members. It is not my intention to add to this. Please excuse me if any of these questions cause you offence. Feel free to ignore any questions you wish, or which are not applicable to you. Please add additional comments or reasons for your answers if you wish.
Thank you for your interest.
The questionnaire will go live during Monday October 20th, and I would be most grateful to you for taking the time to fill out this questionnaire and helping me with my research.
David V Barrett, October 2008
The web link for the Barrett survey is: www.quest.thenewbelievers.com
Entry to the questionnaire is password-protected to prevent false entries by people outside the [COGs]. The password is six letters followed by four numbers: the town where HWA first began his radio ministry, and the year this occurred.
Barrett's accredited, peer-reviewed, worthy scholarly research could give new insight into what happened and why it happened in the post-Armstrong era of the WCG. It is a welcome addition to the already published surveys and research available, such as Dr. John Buchner's Examination of the Doctrinal Reformation of the WCG, already highlighted here at AR.
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