A cult is a good place for social outcasts to express their ideas freely, to feel safe, and to be enlightened for the future. A cult is a good thing to be involved in especially if you are a delinquent or criminal. Most people that join cults have a desire to belong, a lack of self-confidence, a desire for spiritual meaning, or to quit their addictions. A cult is a religious group that is not part of a larger and more accepted religion and that has beliefs regarded by many people as extreme. The word cult, which formerly referred to an organized system of worship, is now a term that slanders any religion that you don’t know about and don’t like. “The term has come to do for religion what nigger has done for race relations” (Fellowship of Eternal Desire). “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 ... ... middle of paper ... ... they created or helped start and that helps keep them happy with themselves and with other cult members. Cults are basicly the same thing as churches in my mind. The only difference is that people do not really agree with the cult’s beliefs or actions. The cults are often just ridiculed for the fact that they are different than most of the average people that do the ridiculing. Cults are often used to help drunks, addicts, and now recovering drunks and addicts. The strict rules of the cult keep the cult member out of drugs and out of all forms of alcohol. The cult provide a steady home for cult members that can not keep up a good home.I think cults are a good place for the poor people that need some support to maintain their life and the lives of their families. You get new friends that watch your back. Joining a cult is a lot like joining a new second family.
When you believe in something you go into with your whole heart and no one can tell you any different. In a “The Man Who Saves You from Yourself by Nathaniel Rich, David Sullivan, the private investigator from San Francisco, stated, “No one wants to Join a cult.” David Sullivan in depth look at cults by studying them and even at one point joining one. He learned through his studies, how people are pulled into the cults with psychological methods. First, they break you down, they persuade you, they convenience you that you aren’t worthy. Second, they rebuild you, they lift you up, Thirdly, they finally have you where they want you. From that point on you believe everything they have to say, you do anything they want you to do. As Margaret
For years, there have been problems surrounding the definition of the term 'cult'. The literal and traditional meanings of the word cult, which are more fully explored at the entry Cult (religion), come from the Latin cultus, meaning "care" or "adoration," as "a system of religious belief or ritual; or: the body of adherents to same." In French or Spanish, culte or culto simply means "worship" or "religious attendance"; therefore an association cultuelle is an association whose goal is to organize religious worship and practices. The word for "cult" in the popular English meaning is secte (French) or secta (Spanish). In formal English use, and in non-English European terms, the cognates of the English word "cult" are neutral, and refer mainly to divisions within a single faith, a case where English speakers might use the word "sect". Hence Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism are cults within Christianity. However, in common usage, "cult" has a very negative connotation, and is generally applied to a group in order to criticize it. Understandably, most groups, if not all, that are called "cults" deny this term. Some groups called "cults" by some critics may consider themselves not to be "cults", but may consider some other groups to be "cults". Although anti-cult activists and scholars did not agree on precise criteria that new religions should meet to be considered "cults," two of the definitions formulated by anti-cult activists are: Cults are groups that often exploit members psychologically and/or financially, typically by making members comply with leadership's demands through certain types of psychological manipulation, popularly called mind control, and through the inculcation of d...
One of the things he writes is that the person doesn’t know that they are going into a cult. “The first rule of recruitment, […] is that...
Although many people may think that cults are only appealing to a small number of people in America, over 20 million people in the past 20 years have been involved in some kind of cult. Many people feel very lonely in American society and although they would not normally think about being in a cult, loneliness and depression can make people do crazy things. Many people in cults will do whatever they are told because they believe that is their only way of survival. Some cult leaders are so convincing, that they can sexually molest their followers, make their followers give them money and even in worse case scenarios they will make their followers commit murder and suicide.
A cult, according to the Webster Dictionary is “a small religious group that is not part of a larger and more accepted religion and that has beliefs regarded by many people as extreme or dangerous” (Merriam-Webster). One would rarely find a group or individual who considers themselves to be a cult or a cult member. “Cult” is a term that outsiders give unpopular groups who deviate from mainstream religious beliefs.
How much of a real difference is there from a cult and a religion? Could it be the money, or maybe the amount of people who are in it? It might be possible the leader is what defines the the line between the two. The cult of Mithras, which comes from present-day Iran, and the religion of Christianity, from Israel, used to be large rivals, but maybe back then Mithraism was the religion while Christianity was the cult. While the two may have been rivals, they both seemed to share quite a few similarities among their differences.
Philip Seymour Hoffman once said, “One person 's religion is another person 's cult”. It is true that all religions were once cults. Many religions began with a single messenger who was sent revelations from God that no one had ever heard or seen before, thus making them the source of torture and ridicule. Once a cult gains a massive amount of followers and acceptance within society, it becomes a religion. Both entities incorporate beliefs, practices, and community, however, they acquire completely different lifestyles and restrictions. It is also important to observe how cults like the Taliban and the Branch Davidians were able to amass large amounts of followers and the influence they had left on society. Finally, the conflict theory and
Nowadays when people hear the word “Cult” they immediately think of brainwashing, bombings, murders, and people who have turned away from our society. This is primarily because of what has happened with cults in the past. Cults like the Ant hill kids, the serpent handlers, the people’s temple, and one of the most famous, the Manson Family. Some, like the serpent handlers, had odd and dangerous rituals. Others, like the People’s Temple, ended with mass suicides. And then there are those like the Manson Family, who brutally murder innocent people. They all started out with a leader, who preaches their extreme beliefs to others. From this, a group of members is formed, and the cult is created. To lure people into their dark world, both violent and nonviolent cults often prey on people who are emotionally confused or distraught (Fennel, 1993). Linda James, a Montreal clinical psychologist, says that in some cases, cults become families for the vulnerable while offering to fulfill an individual's fantasies. Explains James: “They can offer wealth or the perfect relationship.'' (1993). The conceptualization of affiliation as brainwashing has been an influential theory of involvement in nontraditional religious ...
A cult society is an organization that basically disguises itself as a religion. In a cult, they normally perform rituals. There are usually many people in these societies. In Jim Jones’s cult, there were at least one thousand people in this community.
For many years, cults have been a subject of great controversy. A cult is a group of people that are bound together by an appreciation of the same thing, person, ideal, etc. Usually these groups keep close because of religious reasons, but their beliefs are almost always considered strange by outsiders. Cults are similar to clans or congregations, but are usually referred to as sects.
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).
One of the main characteristics of a cult is the idea that the Guru/leader becomes worshipped rather than the broader religious principles. This can be harder to analyze considering the fact that Scientology isn’t even a religion in the first place. If Scientology was a religion, it could be argued that the leader, or highest power, which we know as Sea Org, is worshipped more than the principles created
Can any religion be a cult? According to Marshall how do someone know they are following a cult? A common definition of cults are the religious groups. Cults express their truth as the only truth, and everything else is wrong. If you leave their religion
Although cults have become a very common practice in our society, not many people actually know what a cult is. A cult is a group that demonstrates an excessive dedication to an idea, person or thing. Cults will conduct manipulative and persuasive behavior to advance the goals of the leader (Langone). There are many different types of cults, but they usually fall into four categories: Religious, Commercial, Self Help and Counselling or Political. Many people mistake religions as cults, but that is not the case. Religious cults are cults that center around a belief system as many common religions do, but they are categorized as a cult because of their practices and mind control. Common religions do not practice these techniques. Commercial cults are those that are interested in gaining money. These cults use their scare tactics and mind control techniques to get members to give them money and even work for them. Self Help and Counselling cults are centered around a business that has programs designed to help people by counselling them. By taking their courses, members are told they will become better people. This of course is not the case and these cults are inte...