Andries,

                  I didn't say anything about apologism or activism - what are you referring to ?

What I object to is academics being quoted merely because they are academics and not on the basis of the strength of their work. The fact that Barker does or does not like Sun Young Moon doesn't change the fact that her 'work' is very, very thin.

Barker is a contributor to the myth of disinterested sociological investigation of religion - a myth worryingly similar to the myth of Wiki's NPOV. What this myth does is to remove all critical judgement - something that is unacceptable in every area of 'scientific investigation'. Barker is entitled to her opinions - but she is not entitled to have them respected beyond the quality of her academic contribution - which in my view is very poor.

Barker's INFORM organisation has certainly served the interests of apologism and has frequently acted as a legal counter to the UK Cult Information Centre. I don't particularly care whether Barker is or is not an 'apologist' - I do care that a UK academic is taken seriously when all she is doing is promoting the intellectual soup of cultural and moral relativism.

Nik