In the 1960s and 1970s the religions classified as "cults" or "new religious movements" (NRMs) were largely populated with people in their late teens and early twenties. Often characterized as rebellious youth, disenchanted "dropouts" who had rejected the values of mainstream religion and culture to create their own counterculture and protest movements, few of them had children or other responsibilities. Their enthusiasm for Asian mysticism, new forms of psychotherapy, or new fervent expressions of evangelical Christianity led them to join exciting new religions in the hope of experiencing the numinous, finding the authentic self, or transforming the world and themselves. This religious resurgence occurred in both America and Europe. By the 1980s and 1990s the demographic picture worldwide had changed dramatically. The young seekers had matured into middle age, and children had become a significant feature of most NRMs.

Children...