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.
Everyone is in a consumer’s hypnosis, even if you think you are not. When you go to a store and pick one brand over the other, you are now under their spell. The spell/ hypnosis is how companies get you to buy there things over other companies and keep you hooked. Either through commercials or offering something that you think will make your life better by what they tell you. For example, you go to the store and you need to buy water, once you get to the lane and look, there is 10 different types of water you can buy. You go pick one either because the picture is better or you seen the commercial the other day and you want it. During the length of this paper we will talk about two important writers, Kalle Lasn the writer of “The Cult You’re in” and Benoit Denizet-Lewis writer of “ The Man Behind Abercrombie & Fitch”. They both talk about similar topics that go hand and hand with each other, they talk about the consumers “Dream”, how companies recruit the consumers, who cult members really are, how people are forced to wear something they don’t want, and about slackers.
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 many years, cult leaders always had a psychological hold on their followers' minds. Whether it was to kill other people or to kill themselves, they did it without question. Some cult leaders used fear, violence and guilt as a means of a weapon to control the minds of their followers. Other cult leaders used persuasive and spiritual speeches that made their followers believe they were doing good and fulfilling God's plan. Because cult leaders are powerful through 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.
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...
In some extreme cases, the cult members are not allowed to make any decisions without consulting the cult leader. The cult leader may also make the follower cut off all ties with their family and friends to show their loyalty to the group. Many people believe that people who join cults must be uneducated and easily manipulated, but that is not the case. For example, the Heaven's Gate cult (which ended up being a mass suicide) consisted of males and females of black, Latino and white ethnic backgrounds from all over the country. They also ranged from 26 to 72 years of age and they were all educated, most computer skilled and some even musicians. But as the author says, they were also very needy and depressed since many of them had abandoned their friends and family many years earlier.
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
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.
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 ...
Sociologists view cult behavior as a deviance from society’s norm. There are many theories as to why a cult leader forms a cult and how they garner such complete blind devotion from their members. While researching Jim Jones and The Peoples Temple I discovered that this particular cult adhered to several of the proven theories. Jones had few societal bonds and used fear and intimidation to control his members. In addition, he was an extreme socialist turned communist; when his original goals were met with resistance, he chose the path of rebellion, which was to reject society’s goals and seek to provide his own goals and means to accomplish them (Henslin, 2015).
The Ku Klux Klan A cult is a type of religious organization that stands apart from the
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
Next, you establish the basic rules of the cult. These are the rules, concepts, and moral codes that the cult will live by. The focus should be on how you can use this to transform your lives for the better. It is extremely wise to record the rules down in a document. Refrain from excessively using the word ‘cult’ in the rules, to prevent anyone from getting the wrong idea.
they have very good intention and some beliefs I don’t believe in shunning. Even though I probably do shun some family members it is not for being a Jehovah Witness. I personally don’t anything bad to say about them, I respect their religion, I’m just a lot more skeptical of not being able to leave, and consequences that can come from leaving, however Jehovah witness are very adversely on the bible but with all religions they cherry pick verses to explain their conversion to 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...