Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow - The New Age Movement

The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow, by Constance Cumbey, was published in 1982. It became an instant bestseller in conservative evangelical and fundamentalist Protestant circles, and became controversial in those same social groups, for its assertion that the New Age movement was set to infiltrate modern culture. In fact, these days, Cumbey is something of a persona non grata in those circles; they closed ranks on her because they refused to believe her assertions that the New Age movement was, in fact, a vast conspiracy of networks, designed to get all of us to blindly, unthinkingly accept a one-world government and religion.

Much of what she said has come to pass, in some ways. Our definition of tolerance, for example, has changed. We have gone from defining that term as "I have to barely put up with something, but I don't have to like it" to "I must accept everyone as my equal, even if they live the most squalid life imaginable; in other words, there is no such thing as an unacceptable belief system or set of actions, except those associated with fundamentalist religions."