March 27, 2023
PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS AND SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS — STEPHEN A. KENT
October 14, 1992. Presentation on the Hobema Reserve (Alberta) about teen Satanism.
November 3, 1992 Presentation to high school students (via St. Albert Family and Community Support Services) on “Satanism.”
November 25, Presentation to elders of the Hobema Band about
1992 teen Satanism.
January 11, 1993 Day-long seminar presenter on “Satanism” to mental health and law enforcement personnel, Grande Prairie, Alberta.
January 19, 1993 Invited lecture to the Alberta Mental Health Nurses on “Satanism.”
February 2, 1993 Presentation on “Satanism” to Philia, the Sociology Club of Augustana University College
February 5, 1993 Day-long presentation through Riverwalk Counselling Services (Edmonton) on “Satanism.”
February 16, 1993 Invited lecture to Mental Health Nurses on “cults.”
March 10, 1993 Invited Lecture to the chaplaincy department of Foothills Hospital (Calgary) on “Satanism.”
March 11, 1993 Two invited lectures on “Satanism” at the Alberta senior child welfare workers conference (Calgary).
March 12, 1993 Day long presentation to counsellors, mental health personnel, and law enforcement officials on “Satanism.”
March 18, 1993 Half-day seminar to Family and Social Services, Children-In-Care District Office (Edmonton) on “Satanism.”
March 19, 1993 Invited lecture to the psychiatry rounds at Grey Nuns Hospital (Edmonton) on “Satanic ritual abuse and the false memory syndrome debate.”
March 23, 1993 Lecture on “Satanism” to Grace Lutheran Church (Edmonton).
March 24, 1993 Panelist at Mount Royal College (Calgary) conference (“The Realities of Life and Justice”) on Satanism.
April 1, 1993 Admitted as an expert witness on “deviant and alternative religions” in the first degree murder trial of “R .v. Ronald Lee Stephenson,” Edmonton, Alberta.
April 7, 1993 Presentation to high school students (via St. Albert Family and Community Support Services) on “Satanism.”
April 23, 1993 Invited speaker on “teen Satanism” to physician at the Charles T. Fried Postgraduate Pediatric Symposium (Misericordia Hospital, Edmonton).
September 13, Presentation to Psychiatry Rounds, University
1993 of Alberta Hospital, “Satanic Abuse and the False Memory Syndrome Debate.”
October 2, 1993 Public Presentation during the University of Alberta’s “Super Saturday” on Satanism.
October 8, 1993 Presentation to Psychiatry Rounds at the Grey Nuns Hospital (Edmonton) on “Scientology’s War Against Psychiatry.”
October 20, 1993 Presentation on “Satanism” to chaplains, pastoral care, and mental health personnel at Foothills Hospital (Calgary).
December 7, 1993 Presentation to the University of Calgary, Department of Psychiatry, Behavioural Sciences Research Group, Visiting Speaker Rounds on “Cults and the Psychiatrist.”
December 13, Presentation to high school students (via St.
1993 Albert Family and Community Support Services) on “Religious Deception.”
May 5, 1994 Presentation to the Emergency Response Consultants of Edmonton Public Schools on “Problems Resulting From Children Involved with Occult Practices.”
June 16, 1994 Presentation to the Public and the Alberta Association of Social Workers, Edmonton Area Coordinators on “Ritual Abuse and False Memory Syndrome.”
October 5, 1994 Co-Presenter with Grant Charles on “The Ritualistic Abuse of Young People,” 9th National Child and Youth Care Conference, Edmonton, Alberta.
November 5, 1994 Presenter on ‘Cults,’ Speak Out Teen Conference (Whitecourt Community Services), Whitecourt, Alberta.
November 17, Admitted as an expert witness on “ritual abuse”
1994 and “alternative religions” in “Paterson v. Paterson, Court of Queen’s Bench, Swift Current, Saskatchewan.
November 19, Participant, “Methodological and Ethical Issues in the
1994 Study of Contemporary Religions,” New Religious Movements Interest Group of the American Academy of Religion.
November 24, Presenter in Calgary, Alberta on “Victims and
1994 Offenders in Deviant Religions (Cults),” at the “Organized Child Sexual Abuse” Conference, co-sponsored by Woods Homes (of Calgary, Alberta) and the Institute for the Prevention of Child Abuse (of Toronto, Ontario).
January 20, 1995 Presenter of day-long workshop on “Ritual Abuse,” sponsored by the Barrhead Foster Parents Association and the Grizzly Trail Adoptive Parents and Families Association.
April 19, 1995 Presenter of a two hour presentation on the Children of God/The Family to social service caregivers, sponsored by the Edmonton Youth Emergency Shelter.
August 4, 1995 Presentation to the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce “Opportunities Unlimited” breakfast meeting on “‘Cults’ in the Workplace.”
September 25, Presentation on “‘Cults’ and Child Abuse” to CASA
1995 (Children and Adolescent Services Association), Edmonton, Alberta.
November 8, 1995 Presentation to Third Year Nursing Students, University of Alberta Hospital, on “Cults.”
November 10, Presentation on “Conversion to Abusive Religions” to
1995 Psychiatry Rounds, Grey Nuns, Hospital, Edmonton, Alberta.
April 23, 1997 Presentation on “Cults” to the Sherwood Park Department of Social Services youth care workers, Edmonton, Alberta.
May 7, 1997 Presentation on “Satanism” to the Edmonton Sexual Assault Centre, Edmonton, Alberta.
May 15, 1997 Presentation on “Teen Satanism” to community members on the Hobbema Reserve (Alberta).
June 20, 1997 Presentation on “Scientology–Is This a Religion?” at a session in the 27th Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag (Leipzig, Germany).
June 28, 1997 Presentation on “The Globalization of Scientology” to the Polish Family Association (Lublin, Poland).
July 2, 1997 Presentation on “The Scientific Study of Religion and the New Religious Movements” to graduate students at the Freie Universitat Berlin (Berlin, Germany).
July 2, 1997 Presentation on “The Globalization of Scientology” to guests at the residence of Cornelius Graf Bernstorff (Berlin, Germany).
August 14, 1997 Presentation on “Cults” to teens in the Summer Concession program of St. Albert (Alberta) Department of Community Services.
September 1, Two invited presentations (“Scientology in the
1997 United States” and “Scientology in Canada”) at the Expert Conference, “How To Deal with Scientology–An International Comparison,” sponsored by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (Bonn, Germany).
September 2, Luncheon presentation to invited government
1997 aides and Foundation researchers on “How Dangerous is Scientology?–From a U.S./Canadian Perspective.” Konrad Adenauer Foundation (Sankt Augustin, Germany).
September 22, Presentation to a parliamentary committee (The
1997 Enquete Commission) of the German Bundestag [Parliament] on Scientology (Bonn, Germany).
January 9, 1998 Presentation to Psychiatry Rounds, Grey Nuns Hospital, “Cults, Coercion, and Brainwashing.”
February 22, 1998 Presentation to the German Enquete
Commission delegation in Washington, D.C.
September 14, Presentation to the Alberta Government Civil
1998 Lawyers Association Fall Conference, “‘Cults’ and the Attack on Jurisprudence.”
December 2, 1998 Presentation at the Mental Health Clinic, Edmonton Region on “‘Cults’ and Religious Abuse.”
May 15, 1999 Presentation at the American Family Foundation (in Minneapolis, Minnesota) on “Current Debates in the Sociology of New Religions.”
September 26, Invited Presentation at the Consultation on
1999 Religious Persecution, Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut.
December 3, 1999 Invited Presentation at the Conference on the Methodology of Sociology of Religions in Relation to Controversial Religions, University of Aarhus, Centre for the Study of New Religious Movements (Aarhus, Denmark).
February 11, Press Conference Presentation with the Social
2000 Democratic Party (SPD) on “The Globalization of Scientology” (Berlin, Germany).
February 12, Presentation on “The Euro-American Debate about
2000 the New Religions,” Dialog Centre International (Berlin, Germany).
February 16, Presentation to Hanns-Seidel Stiftung [Foundation]
2000 on “Hollywood’s Celebrity-Lobbyists and America’s Foreign Policy Toward German Scientology” (Berlin, Germany).
March 5, 2000 Two Invited lectures on “New Religions and the Millennium,” in the Distinguished Speakers’ Series, Centre for Studies in Religion and Society, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia.
March 18, 2000 “Human Rights versus Freedom of Religion,” Leo J. Ryan Education Foundation, Stamford, Connecticut.
April 14, 2000 “Dentists and ‘Cults,’” Presentation to the Central Alberta Dental Society (Red Deer, Alberta).
April 29, 2000 “Child Sexual Abuse in Alternative Religions.” Presentation at the American Family Foundation (Seattle, Washington).
October 21, 2000 “Child Sexual Abuse in Alternative Religions.” Public Lecture for F.A.I.R [Family Action, Information, and Rescue], London, England.
October 23, 2000 Press Conference Presentation on Scientology’s Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF) with the Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg. Behörde für Inneres–Arbeitsgruppe Scientology und Landeszentrale für politische Bildung, Hamburg, Germany.
October 24, 2000 Press Conference Presentation on Scientology’s Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF) with the Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag, Berlin, Germany.
October 25, 2000 “Child Sexual Abuse in Alternative Religions.” Lecture at the Free University of Berlin [Gemany].
October 26, 2001 “Terrorism.” Panelist at the Leo J. Ryan Educational Foundation, Cleveland, OH.
October 27, 2001 “Child Sexual Abuse in Alternative Religions.” Luncheon Speaker, Leo J. Ryan Foundation, Cleveland, OH.
June 3, 2002 Invited Co-Presentation to ministers on Scientology at Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA.
April 25, 2003 Presentation on “Scientology’s Attack on Psychiatry” to the Mental Health Unit, University of Alberta Hospital.
January 14, “Cults and Children.” Presentation (3 ½ hrs.) to Edmonton
2004 & Area Child & Family Services.
May 14, 2004 “Cult Activities and Recruitment Strategies.” Presentation (1 ½ hrs.) at the 2004 Campus Security Administrators Workshop, University of Alberta, Edmonton.
May 30, 2004 Invited Panel Presentation on “Speaking to the Media,” Canadian Society for the Study of Religion, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
May 21, 2005 “Education and Re-Education in Ideological Organizations and Their Implications for Children.” European Federation of Centers for Research and information about Sectarianism (FECRIS). Vienna, Austria.
November 28, Evening presentation to a local chapter of Na’amat (a
2005 Jewish women’s organization) on Scientology.
February 8, 2006 “Cult Sexual Abuse in Alternative Religions.” Presentation sponsored by the Department of Sociology and the Department of Religious Studies, University of Lethbridge (Lethbridge, Alberta).
February 8, 2006 “Celebrities and Their Strange Gods.” A public lecture sponsored by the Ecumenical Campus Ministry–University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge Public Library, University of Lethbridge–Office of the President, Faculty of Arts and Sciences–University of Lethbridge, and Office of the President– Lethbridge Community College.
February 9, 2006 “Alternative Religions in Western Canada.” Lunchtime Speaker to the South Alberta Council on Public Affairs (Lethbridge, Alberta).
June 8, 2006 “Scientology’s Attack on Psychiatry.” Presentation to Psychiatry Grand Rounds, University of Arkansas for Medical Services (Little Rock, Arkansas).
October 25, 2006 “Mechanisms of Control: How Cults Exploit Human Weakness.” Keynote Address at the Family Action Information Resource Conference (London, England).
July 2, 2007 “How Institutions in the United States and Canada Address the Cult Issue.” Invited Presentation to the Centre d’Information et d’Avis sur les Organizations Sectaires Nuisibles (Brussels, Belgium).
November 14, 2007 Participant-debater in The Literary and Historical Society Debate, University College Dublin (Ireland) on Scientology.
November 17, 2007 “The Brainwashing Debate: Is It a Valid Concept?” Dialogue Ireland Conference [Dublin, Ireland], (November 17); Invited 45 Minute Lecture.
November 17, 2007 “Influence, Undue Influence, New Religions, and Scientology.” Dialogue Ireland Conference [Dublin, Ireland], (November 17); Invited 45 Minute Lecture.
December 5, 2007 “Scientology’s War on Psychiatry.” Psychiatry Rounds, Department of Psychiatry, University of Alberta Hospital.
June 27, 2008. “What the Scholars Missed and Why They Missed Them: A Retrospective Examination of Several Major ‘Cult’ Stories from the End of the Twentieth Century.” International Cultic Studies Association Conference (Philadelphia).
July 3, 2009 “Sociology’s Antipathy to Psychobiographical Accounts of Religious and Religious ‘Cult’ Leaders.” International Cultic Studies Association conference (Geneva, Switzerland).
July 7, 2009 “Malignant Narcissism, L. Ron Hubbard, and Scientology’s Policies of Narcissistic Rage” (About the Impact that Dysfunctional Leaders Have on Cultic Groups). Freie Universität Berlin.
July 8, 2009 “The European Versus American Debate Over Scientology, and why Scientology is Dying.” Conference on Cults, Dialog Centre—Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
July 9, 2009 “Scientology’s War Against Psychiatry.” Presentation to Psychiatrists and Medical Staff at the Kőnigin-Elisabeth Krankenhaus Herzberge, Berlin, Germany.
March 3, 2010 Keynote Speaker, Alberta Law Review Society, Edmonton, Alberta (Canada). Topic: “‘Cults’ and the Attack on Jurisprudence.”
July 1-3, 2010 Presentation of Research Findings by Stacey Gordey, “Second Generation Disaffiliation from Alternative Religions.” International Cultic Studies Association, New York/New Jersey.
January 19, 2011 Amicus Curiae Submission Concerning Polygamy on Behalf of Stop Polygamy in Canada; Cross Examination in the Supreme Court of British Columbia at Vancouver, Concerning the Constitutionality of Section 293 of the Criminal Code .
May 5, 2011 “Personality Disorders Among Cult Leaders,” Conference at College of Education and Administration, Poznan, Poland.
May 7, 2011 “Credibility Issues Regarding former Cult Members,”
Presentation at the FECRIS [European Federation of
Centres of Research and Information on Sectarianism] Conference, Warsaw, Poland.
May16, 2011 Presenter on “The War: Understanding and Confronting Scientology’s Efforts to Destroy Psychiatry,” American Psychiatric Association, Honolulu, Hawaii.
February 3, 2012 Presentation on “Cults and the Attack on Jurisprudence” to the Intimidation of Justice Officials, Committee Directed From the Chief of Chiefs Committee, Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (Edmonton).
July 6, 2012 Presentation at the International Cultic Studies Association on “Sects, Cults, and the Attacks on Jurisprudence.” (Montreal, Quebec).
July 4, 2013. Presentation at the International Cultic Studies Association on” Freemen, Sovereign Citizens, and the Threat to Public Order in British Heritage Countries.” (Trieste, Italy).
July 4, 2014. Presentation at the International Cultic Studies Association on “Narcissistic Grandiosity and the Life of Sun Myung Moon.” (Washington D. C.).
September 25, 2014 Invited public presentation for Family Information Action Recovery (F.A.I.R—a British non-profit cult information organization) on “From Slavery to Religious Violence” (London, England).
July 4, 2015 Presentation at the International Cultic Studies Association on “Social-Structural Factors That Facilitate Child Sexual Abuse in Sects, Cults, and Alternative Religions” (Stockholm, Sweden).
August 15, 2015 Presentation at the Beijing International Academic Symposium on Cultic Groups and Religious Culture on “Narcissism and other Mental Disorders Among Cult Leaders” (Beijing, China).
March 20, 2016 Panelist, “What Does It Mean to Be Secular?” University of Alberta Atheists and Agnostics (Edmonton, Alberta).
July 1, 2016 (Co-Presenter with Andrea Willey) Prosecuting Child Sexual Abuse in Alternative Religions” International Cultic Studies Association (Dallas, Texas).
March 31, 2017 “The Dangers of Studying Cults.” Dangerous Research: When Research Poses Serious Harms to the Researcher.” University of Alberta.
June 27, 2017 “Possible Sociological and Cultic Studies Contributions to Radicalisation Awareness.” Radicalisation Awareness Network (June 27, 2016). (Bordeaux, France).
June 30, 2017 “Mental Disorders Among Cult Leaders.” International Cultic Studies Association(Bordeaux, France).
July 7, 2018 “Child Sexual Grooming in Alternative Religions, Sects, and Cults.” International Cultic Studies Association (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).
September 21, Testified in the case, Carmen Pratt v. University of Alberta, 2018 before the Alberta Human Rights Commission.
September 22, “Corrosive Cults: Their Causes and Consequences.” U of A
2018 in a Day Alumni Weekend.
November 23, “Do Cults and Other High Demand Groups ‘Brainwash’?”
2018 Public lecture, Concordia University of Edmonton.
March 23, 2019 “Cults.” Public lecture, St. Paul’s United Church, Edmonton.
July 6, 2019 “Late Twentieth Century Psychoanalytic Interpretations of Sects and Cults: Weston La Barre, Norman Cohn, and E. P. Thompson.” International Cultic Studies Association (Manchester, U.K.).
July 12, 2020 Interviewer, “Nxivm: The Reinventive Path to Success?”
May 28, 2021 “Sexual Grooming in Sects, Cults and Alternative Religions.” Online Conference. Kazan, Russia.
July 3, 2021 “Trauma-coerced Attachment, Brainwashing, and the Hostage-Captor Effect (Stockholm Syndrome).” International Cultic Studies Association (online).
October 12, 2021 “How Child Sexual Grooming Occurs in Alternative Religions.” Villanova University Task Force on the Sexual Abuse Crisis in the Catholic Church. (online).
June 26, 2023 (with Kelsey Lindquist). “Forgery, L. Ron Hubbard’s Brainwashing/Psychopolitics Manual, and the Creation of a Scientology Conspiracy Myth.” International Cultic Studies Association (on-line).
March 1, 2023 Meeting with Woodland County Council officials about John DeRuiter
Stephen A. Kent 