Cults Defined: Then and Now

Cult

1 : formal religious veneration : worship 2 : a system of religious beliefs and ritual ; also : its body of adherents 3 : a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious ; also : its body of adherents 4 : a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator <health cults> 5 a : great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book) ; especially : such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fad b : the object of such devotion c : a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion

          Cults began as way for people to express their freedom of religion. Cults were first studied as a religious behavior in the 1930s. This study of cults was orchestrated by the Christian Countercult Movement which criticized and ostracized any members of secular groups. In the 1970s the anti-cult movement began which was in response to radical and violent acts that had been recently increasing in severity. These acts of violence were caused by emerging cults. The word cult in modern day terminology is going out it is more common to hear New Religious Movement, Alternative Religion, and Novel Religion when describing a modern day cult. Cult is said to have too many negative connotations attached to it due to the popularity of mass media and communications. Max Weber a sociologist in the late 1800s found that cults are either based on one of two trains of thought. The first is charismatic leadership which states that whoever is the charismatic authority in a situation pushes the boundaries set by your own rational and traditional mental authority. This means that you will be willing to do things you rationally would never do on your own except that this charismatic authority is so convincing and coercive that you are no longer thinking with a traditional mindset. The second is epistemological individualism which is where there is no definitive leader of the group beyond the individual members.

Final Step: Assimilation

The last step in starting a cult is assimilation. Assimilation is when an individual begins to adopt the psychological and social characteristics of a group. To begin this process you must begin to separate the doubters and find a humiliating punishment for disobedience. You must lead your followers with an iron fist and show them that your word is law. You must never tolerate anyone challenging your authority and they must be dealt with properly. This shows the other followers what will happen to them if they even think about following suit. The followers must watch the punishment for this process to be effective. Some examples of acceptable forms of punishment include lapidation, live burial, ostracizing, whipping, the stretch rack, removal of extremities, and complete isolation from the group depending on severity of their disrespect to the founder. There must be a book of rules that must be followed such as the commandments by the group and anyone caught breaking these rules will also have to suffer the consequences. Some examples of rules for your book include never be late for sermon, never question the founder, designated curfew times and meal times, and also a dress code. Upon completion of these steps you will have a fully functioning cult to use at your disposal.

Fourth Step: Make Demands

            Starting small begin to make more and more increasingly high demands from your followers. You must first begin with demanding your followers time. To completely absorb your followers time you must create lengthy sermons that occur many times during the week. You must create positions of value in the group so that way the members will have a goal to work toward in the cult. You must then demand some sort of monetary donation that becomes necessary to keep the group financially stable. Mind control is a very important part of securing the obedience of your followers. You must make them trust your guidance more than their own free will, logic, and common sense. You then need to decide are you going to make your cult religious, commercial, or political. Each has their own set of pros, cons, and conditions to their growth but it is best to decide your focus that way you can convince your followers that your decisions are the best for the group. As a religious cult you can either follow a religion or create your own belief system you must demand blind faith from your followers. An example of a religious cult would be the New Age Movement which hopes to create world wide communism. As a commercial cult you would demand money from your followers and lead them to believe that you will all become rich based on your proposed plan of action for the family. An example of a commercial cult could be considered the U.S. Government which is based on greed When you are a political cult you must have an adversary to pit your followers against that is the Arch enemy of your group. The negative focus must be on the enemy. An example of a political cult would be the Nazis who made the Jewish community their target during World War II.

Third Step: Isolation

In this third section of my guide i'm going to cover the major concepts of beginning a cult. Now that you have a following and an outlet it is now time to find a location. When selecting a compound for your cult you must select a building that is on a large area of land. There must not be neighbors for miles and it would be even better if you have a large fence built around it. The focus is on isloation because when starting a cult you must create your own reality. It is very hard to do that when there are outside influences that can taint your followers. They must be completely under your control 24/7. You must control what time they wake, sleep, eat, and shower. You have to maintain a strict schedule so that they will constantly be busy. A busy person is someone that doesn't have time to think. You must begin your own school on your compound and control and distort what you teach so that the children are brought up following your aforementioned doctrine.

Top 10 Most Notorious Cults

10. Heaven's Gate
              They believed aliens would take them to heaven. 39 members committed suicide during the Haley Bopp comet.

9. Ho No Hana:
              This cult believed their leader could diagnose diseases through reading their feet. This cult had over 30,000 members at its peak.

8. Order of the Solar Temple:
              This cult committed many murder suicides in the 90s. They were highly involved in money laundering and gun trafficking.

7. Aum Shinrikyo:
               Doomsday Cult that feared the end of the world due to the start of a World War III. This cult committed a Sarin gas attack on a subway station in Tokyo.

6. Chen Tao:
              This cult believed God would rescue them from earth with flying saucers. They predicted that God would appear on television and he did not.

5. Manson Family:
              This cult believed an apocolyptic race war was predicted by the Beatles song " Helter Skelter". This group committed murders trying to ignite the war themselves.

4. Restoration of the 10 Commandments:
              This cult predicted that the world was going to end in the year 2000. When the world didn't end the leaders of the cult were executed during mass.

3. Branch Davidians:
             This cult had an end of days plan to hoard weapons and ammunition for the end of the world. Their stockpiling ended when they were raided by the FBI for a 51 day siege of their compound.

2. Raelian Church:
             This cult believed that aliens arrived over 25,000 years ago and created human beings. They seek immortality through seeking the technology needed for cloning and mind transfer.

1. The People's Temple:
              This cult attempted to build a Utopia for the Reverend Jim Jones. This cult was so controlled by the Reverend that it led to the Jonestown Massacre where 900 members committed suicide by willingly drinking poison while Jim Jones chose the alterior route and shot himself.

Cult References in Popular Culture

           The screenplay for The Skulls has many cult references included in the dialogue. The story is about Luke a college student who was pursuing his Law Degree and recently was accepted to Yale on a rowing scholarship because he came from a poor family. Upon acceptance at Yale he was recruited by an elite underground fraternity called The Skulls. He was hesitant about joining but was tempted by the promise of immediate selection in the next semester at Harvard Law School. Seduced by the wealth and power that surrounded the group he became a member and enjoyed the benefits. After his close friend in the group supposedly commits suicide he begins to investigate the group. He soon finds out that as easy as it is to join the group it is fatal to try to leave the group.

          The psychological process behind this story as that the founding group members saw Luke as someone that could potentially manipulate into a position of power in the community and manipulate for their usage at any point in time. Basically they are creating their own judges, lawyers, and government officials to be able to do what they want which is how they have so many perks as being a part of their group. They can get you out of trouble legally and could get you into any college. That is a very tempting offer to someone with very little financially and the inability to attain these things of value on their own accord. Luke was looking at it for his benefits without looking at how the elitist fraternity really needed his assets that he could bring to their members. Luke seems to be a very easy target as a new member because of his willingness to fit into a new school with new people. He must have felt honored to be asked to join and didn't feel the need to question intentions and motives.

       
          Rosemary's Baby was a very pivotal movie when it came out because it crossed lines that a lot of movies wouldn't cross during that time period. Touching on satanism, devil worshiping, and child sacrifice.The story begins with a pregnant woman that is scared that her husband and neighbors have something horrific that they are hiding from her. She comes to find out after doing her own investigation that her husband promised their unborn child to the neighbors to be apart of their sacrificial ritual to Satan. He chose to give their child as a sacrifice because he wanted success in his acting career. Rosemary is held by the neighbors in a secret room in her home and she gives birth. After she gives birth she thinks everything was just a dream because she still has her baby. The only problem is that her baby has demon eyes.
          In this story the psychological process is almost the same as "The Skulls" the father of the child is tempted with wealth and power by the cult group which would be considered the neighbors. The neighbors were formed and had probably gained his trust in the community and convinced him to join by promising to make all of his dreams come true the same as the fraternity did to Luke. When recruiting for a cult it is beneficial to seek out individuals who are in the lower socioeconomic class because they are more cooperative when it comes to being coerced into joining the cult. You must always tell your recruits what they want to hear when attempting to speak with them about joining. It is beneficial to gain their trust because they will believe that you only want what is best for them.

Cults Throughout History

The word cult is the American version of the French word “culte” which refers to a form of worship. There have been many cults throughout history. It all began with the Ancient Pagans in the Renaissance period they were usually county bumpkins, villagers, which were considered uneducated and unskilled. Paganism was anyone that was outside of the Christian religion. The Early Christians were the Jewish Christians in history and could also be considered a cult because during the 16^th century they destroyed many pagan churches. The Christian church also made paganism punishable by death. They believed that the bible commanded them to kill anyone who was a non believer. A once great kind was documented as even killing children for playing with pagan statues. Another cult in history is the Gnostic branch of Christianity. The Gnostics is a cult that had been formed during the 15^th century and embraced the spiritual world and rejected the material world. The Gnostics honor the snakes role in the bible as a way of liberating Adam and Eve from the shackles of the lack of knowledge that they had not know they were hidden from. Gnostic itself means knowledge they believe that knowledge frees people from mental and spiritual bondage. The Gnostics believe that they alone understand God's message for the world and that all of the other denominations are wrong. Alternatively, there is also the Wiccan culture that can be referred to as well which is also considered witchcraft. The Wiccan religion become moe independent of paganism during the 18^th century. Wiccans believe in a female force that the call the goddess and she is mostly referred to as Mother Earth.The Wiccan cult survived the Norman, Saxon, and Roman invasions by going underground. Witchcraft has undergone some very harsh time periods in history such as, the Salem Witch Trials. There wee over 50,000 people killed during the 500 year period that these time periods extended. The Wiccan cult also lost many members during the Christian genocides when they waged their war on paganism. These people were brutally murdered by hanging, drowning, and burning at the stake simply for practicing their freedom of religion. Most recently during the 20^th century a group called the New Age Movement this is a western religion. The main goal of this group is to give way to a one world leader. They call this new leader The Christ or The Maitreya. Their path to paradise is to bring peace to the world upon entering the Age of the Aquarius. They seek to establish a World Food Authority,World Water Authority, World Economic Order, and New World Order. This is very commonly referred to as the Illuminati and the Free Masons. Some say these organizations have been around long before the 20^th century but it all depends on the source. The do not believe in a God because they believe that everyone who dies is reincarnated and comes back after death in another role maybe even as an animal.