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.