Hi I live in Ausralia and my experience is that the salvation army is definately a cult. I spent three days in a detox unit. We were pushed (I would go so far as to say brainwashed) all day long to enter a rehabilitation centre that they owned. The inmates of this programme gave all their income to the salvation army, do eight hours unpaid work for the salvation army, intensely study the doctrines of the salvation army all in exchange for a seedy boarding house type room, donated food and medical care that the government pays for anyway. Most of the people in the detox facility were there A) to avoid jail time B) because their children had been placed in foster care and were attempting to regain custody or just plain homeless. I saw dozens of cases of bad practice but most people were unwilling to complain do to the reasons I already stated. Myself and an elderly gentleman were not in any trouble with the law, owned our own homes and our children were adults. We spoke out and from then on he was threatened to put him in a nursing home for the elderly, I i was threatened with a mental hospital (I suffer from anxiety attacks) Although I knew they did not have the power to do this We felt so under their control that we were frightened.They used group sessions in the beginning to find out our fears, incidences of childhood abuse etc and then used tis information to mess with our heads. I had a lucky escape and I thank God I was only there three days