Brainwashing is what these religious cults are mostly known for. The act of taking away someone’s own thoughts from them should be a crime in itself. However, these cult leaders go above and beyond by having the cult members believe that their families want nothing to do with them. A researcher points out that contact with a cult members real family and the world outside the cult is frowned upon; the has been redefined as the member’s new family (Tamm). This statement shows that religious cult leaders have complete control over their members thoughts as to what is defined as family. The reason why cult leaders segregate the members from their family is because the leaders is threatened by the family. The leader knows that if the cult members …show more content…
After a normal citizen is taken under a cult leader’s spell, the now member is brainwashed into thinking that the leader has saved them and can do no wrong. This type of indoctrination is known as Stockholm syndrome and happens frequently throughout religious cults. A researcher defines Stockholm syndrome by writing, “Stockholm syndrome refers to the ability of powerful captors, in this case hostage takers, to create in their victims a loyalty and identification that defies reason” (Haag). This quotation compares cult leaders to captors that take their hostages outside of the hostage holding event. Like captors, the cult leaders take the future members away from their current environment and lead them to believe what they are doing is morally right. However, the members do not realize at the time that they are being brainwashed into having these feelings of loyalty for their leader. Another researcher categorizes brainwashing into blind obedience by declaring with blind obedience, there is no questioning inside the group of what their authority is doing (Connor). A statement like this proves that the leader has the ability to indoctrinate the members into having no doubt in them. Within a cult society, blind obedience is key because without it, doubt could arise in the members. So, to stop this from happening the religious …show more content…
These actions are done daily but religious cult leaders around the world. Jim Jones, Warren Jeffs, Charles Manson, and many more have committed all the same crime of denying a human being their basic rights. Any other human being would be prosecuted for these offenses. However, since these cult leaders lead a religious organization, they say that these acts of violence are apart of their ritual and are basically untouchable. We as a nation must come together to stop this violence from religious cult leaders at once. In no way should the horrendous acts religious cult leaders force upon their members fall under the first amendment. To pursue legal action, this nation must bring these stories to local congress members. Once these religious cult members have the attention of congress, they should pass a law stating that religious cult leaders that have committed such acts should be seen as criminals and have the appropriate punishment be put forth upon them. No more shall someone’s mind be controlled by another. No more will women and children be raped for the purpose of “salvation.” The only way for ex-cult members to gain salvation is to be free from the cult leader’s clutches. This nation must serve justice to those it has
Cults are dangerous institutions that have existed for many years, corrupting and reforming the minds of innocent people into believing outrageous doctrines that eventually result in disaster. Horrifying cases involving men such as Charles Manson, Jim Jones and David Koresh have bewildered people and raise the question: how could individuals be easily susceptible to the teachings of these men, so influenced that masses go as far as to commit the unthinkable? Individuals who are in a vulnerable position in search for an identity are attracted to cults because they offer a sense of belonging. In addition, isolation from society contributes to the functioning of a cult for it creates an atmosphere where submissiveness and obedience runs high. These two factors seem to hold true for one of the most notorious cults currently established in the United States and Canada. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or, FLDS, is an international polygamist sect that incorporates belonging and isolation along with a dangerous mentality that have resulted in the abuse of women and children in the name of God.
Bloody rituals and moonlit sacrifices define a cult. As long as religion exists, cults also exist. Initiation involves feats of courage and skill and often results in fatality. Once they complete their initiation they gain the status of an official member. Members advance in rank by following the regulations and being faithful to their deity. New recruits rank lowest and the priest or prophet are the highest ranking members; climbing through the ranks takes years. Judith Lorber, the author of “Believing Is Seeing: Biology as Ideology,” assists in understanding the ideas presented in Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber’s article “The Spread of the Cult of Thinness…” ; society gives “cult” members body expectations they must follow for them to secure their places in the “cult” of thinness, or society rejects them.
Schawrtz, L. L. (1979). Religious Cults, the Individual, and the Family. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, (5), 15–26.
...at person’s belief but is carried out to achieve rewards or to avoid punishment (Winner 2011:287). Conformity is behaviour that blends with the behaviour of the majority of the group needed to function effectively in a large group (Winner 2011:290). Conditioning the members of a cult is an effective way to change attitudes of the members to ones that are approved by the cult’s social standards and ideas.
...psychological offenses, the people that belong to their cults are brainwashed into doing things they wouldn't normally do in their right state of mind. Cult leaders used various ways of molding a follower's mind and brainwashing them to do things for them. Some cult leaders used punishments as a way of breaking the follower's that were resistant to their demands. Others used and perfected the art of persuasion. Either way, the mind of their followers or 'family' are in total control of the leader.
In the text, “The American Cultural Configuration” the authors express the desire of anthropologists to study their own culture despite the difficulty that one faces attempting to subjectively analyze their own society. Holmes and Holmes (2002), use the adage “not being able to see the forest through the trees” (p. 5) to refer to how hard it is for someone to study something they have largely taken for granted. Holmes' article focuses predominately on paradoxes within our own culture, many of which we don't notice. In a paradox, two contradictory statements can appear to be true at the same time. This essay looks at two paradoxes commonly found in everyday life: the individual versus the family and religion.
Cults have existed throughout history since the beginning of time. A cult is defined in Webster’s dictionary as a “system of religious worship with a devoted attachment to a person, principle, etc.” Over the past thirty years numerous religious cults have caused “ tens of thousands to abandon their families, friends, education’s, and careers to follow the teaching of a leader they will never meet”(Beck 78).
Throughout the last couple of decades more and more stories of illegal cult activity or murders by satanic cults appear on the news each night. This surge of reported cult activity has caused a spark in public interest. There has been a large increase in the fear that surrounds cults over the past couple of years. A cult is “a therapeutic or unconventional religious movement (McBride, 1985, 22),” and the more cults that fall beneath the public eye, the more serious the fear of cults becomes. Much of this fear has been sparked by major cult related incidents such as mass suicide by the People’s Temple or the murder of Sharon Tate. These incidents, and incidents like them, grab the nation’s attention and create widespread panic. But as the nation reads about these stories in the paper, the same questions seem to surface. Questions like “How does this happen?” or “What can we do to stop this from happening again?” are often asked.
Cults can be bad influences in several different ways. This article is about real facts of why cults make society a much worse place.
“A cult is a group of religious and dedicated members directed toward a particular belief or figure” (Thriving Cults). Cults are often misjudged and mistreated because what they believe in is strange or different than what the rest of the world believe in. Lesser known cults are often persecuted for what a few evil and corrupted cults did, but they never stop and look and see if the cult is a truly peaceful group. People in cults are often persecuted for being devoted to the cause of the cult they joined. “Certain people lack the inner resources and inner abilities to fully understand the world going on around them. They do not enjoy feeling lost, feeling abandoned, or hopeless” (Church of Reality). “They have no real conception of themselves and a weak and uncertain sense of self-identity or self worth” (Campus Cults). Sometimes we feel that we lose the purpose of living and we need something to fall back to. “Naturally, we follow the advice of people or groups who seem to ...
Fine lines proceed to subsequently blur the separation between a religion and a cult. Throughout history, the label cult has consistently succeeded in disparaging numerous religions including Christianity. To bring a standstill to the confusion amidst all personages, the narrow slash between these two matters need to be entirely divulged and established. Distinctions separating a religion and a cult are elucidated primarily by their treatment of individuals and relations. Variances can be seen through examples of behaviors, the “Moonies” cult, and the works of the Christian religion.
Society strives to feel a sense of belonging. We want to be a part of something that shares the same beliefs as us. We spend our time trying to place ourselves in a group to satisfy these needs, whether it is in a hobby club, a group of friends, or religion. Some people go to more extreme measures and find this in what we call a cult. According to Henslin, a cult is a new or different religion whose teachings and practices put it at odds with the dominant culture and religion. (2013:405) Cults are often identified with the ideas of mass murder, deviant behaviors, unusual beliefs, and extremely devoted members. Cults are also highly known for their leaders. The leaders of cults usually are the ones that portray the image for the entire group. Successful cults take a strong-minded and, according to Max Weber, charismatic leader.
Differentiation of self will be explored, as well as how it relates to a church congregation. Furthermore, “the central premise of this theory is that one must resolve all emotional issues with the family of origin, rather than reject reactively or accept passively that family, before one can become a mature and healthy individual” (Charles, 2001, p. 280). Bowen believed that the change in the self occurred through the change in relationships with others, so he encouraged the client to reconnect with the nuclear family members and resolve all emotional issues with them. This is because Bowen believed that unresolved conflicts with the family of origin would catch up with the client and affect his or her present relationships. Also, conflicts do not exist in the person, but in the family system.
John Saliba’s approach to new religious movements is secular (despite his position as a Jesuit Priest) and well rounded. He begins by exploring how new religious movements are viewed today, how they have been reacted to in the past and why that may be. He examines the original definition of the word “cult” as well as the modern derivations of it and how it affects these new religious movements. By considering multiple opinions on new religious movements as well as looking at the historical, psychological, sociological, legal and theological context in which these religions came to be and attract new followers, he is able to advocate for a more open approach to these new religions and offer a better way to handle them; to respond to them, rather than react.
Still, some narcissistic people gravitate towards religion in order to be praised by followers, exploit for personal gain, or dominate others (Sandage & Moe, 2012; Kernberg, 2014). In essence, what Sandage and Moe (2012) refer to as exterior religiosity (e.g. structure, benefit, and gain) are what often attracts narcissists to organized religion. For instance, several religious organizations are comprised of layers of hierarchy in which narcissists can entrench themselves, several church leaders have abused their posts for personal gain, and some organizations offer rewards for the faithful–such as the early Mormon Church’s offer of bigamy, worlds like the Earth for the deceased, and to eventually become god-like when one dies (Young, 1852).