From Apologetics to Persecution: Anti-Cult Discourse, Deviance Labeling, and Transnational Stigmatization

This paper analyzes how certain strands of Christian apologetics function sociologically as mechanisms of deviance labeling that generate religious stigma and social exclusion toward minority Christian communities. Drawing on classical theories of deviance and stigmatization developed by Howard Becker, Edwin Lemert, Frank Tannenbaum, and Erving Goffman, the paper argues that apologetic discourse associated with the evangelical anti-cult movements of the 1970s transformed theological disagreement into social deviance through symbolic power and ideological boundary-making. It further traces the transnational circulation of these stigmatizing narratives, showing how labels in North American anti-cult discourse were later appropriated as “evil cults” (xiejiao) within the political and legal framework of 1980s China to justify repression of underground Christian communities. Qualitative evidence from the testimonies of persecuted Christians illustrates the lived consequences of such labeling. The paper also examines how digital media amplify these dynamics by accelerating the circulation of stigmatizing narratives across transnational religious networks.