>" the chance is small if you make sure you do not get in sucked in deeply again by doing some research and thinking about the matter."<

I wasn't so much thinking about ex members getting sucked back in, but  rather the more subtle interactions that help confirm harmful attitudes for both parties. Of course any friendship has to be based on tolerance and compromise but any relationship formed within the toxic environment of a cult is unlikely to be untainted by that toxicity. Only where all parties are able to acknowledge the damaging nature of where they have 'come from' is the continuation of an unhealthy interaction likely to have any chance of being avoided. I'm sure there will be many good friendships maintained by exs and current members in all sorts of cult environments - but on a broad scale the problem seems unavoidable.

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