Characteristics Of Cult Classification Of The Family

Cult development is fascinating phenomenon that occurs all around the world. Their membership growth is a complex interaction facilitated by conformity and manipulation. Cult membership can have a major impact on those who are involved. Leaving a cult can cause much distress for both the ex-member and their family. It is important to understand cult affiliation factors and the development of their membership in order to provide proper therapeutic intervention for those who leave cults.

How does one define family? Throughout our readings, we find ourselves learning the ideas of theorist, concepts, and definitions to help us define and describe what family is. The family could possibly be what or who we say they are, or in simpler Bozett’s term, who the patient says it is! (Plumer, 2010). A family could consist possibly of values, roles, communication, environment, and relationships. Families may transition through all of these principles that either unites them or tears them apart. For instance, the movie Mrs. Doubtfire portrays these perceptions of what family is when family processes are shifted within a household. We will now discuss in more detail of the family assessment found throughout the movie starring the Hillards.

There are many of us that can identify with the idea of “counter-culture.” Through all generations in all walks of life, there existed or will exist a trend that someone will negatively criticize, whether it be cool clothes or the popularity of the fidget spinner. In her work, The Cult You’re in, Kalle Lasn establishes her own definition of the term pop culture by comparing some simple everyday activities to those of cults, manifesting themselves into our routine through the similar manipulative rhetoric.

As of 2015 the U.S Census Bureau revealed that approximately 116 million families are living in the United States. These families possess their own unique style, culture and set of beliefs. My family, consisting of my married parents and my older sister, are no different in the aspect that we too hold our own set of beliefs. The socially constructed term ‘family’ traditionally is defined as a unit that is related by marriage or blood, share financial responsibilities and care for any children/dependents (Lofquist et al., 2012). Growing up as a Haitian American, my ideas of what it means to be a family have been greatly influenced by my cultures and my religion. The Haitian culture greatly emphasizes family relationships and familial

This paper explores the lifestyle of the different groups of people that follow a religion or a cult and the similarities that exist between the latter two. Everywhere in the world, religion has a strong influence on people’s beliefs and leads them to perceive cult followers in a negative fashion. In particular, the word “cult” is often associated with evil; horrific rituals; and the opposition to religious beliefs. However, this is often not the case as cults in fact, tend to be not dangerous and even share customs with popular religions. Religious principles may directly be compared to those practiced by smaller cults today. That being said, this paper takes both religion and cult into consideration when examining religious practices; by

There are many different family dynamics in today’s society. But what really makes a family? Every definition found has defined family, in simple terms, as “A father and a mother raising their children together.” However, not every family is like that. Most families are not like that at all. Different aspects come into play in families such as divorce, death, and abandonment that can redefine the family structure, either for the better or for the worse. A family does not have to consist of the traditional sense of the nuclear family, but rather a family can consist of friends, step-siblings, step-parents, half siblings, or family members outside the immediate circle of parents and brothers and sisters. Anyone who can come together is a family;

A total of 74 members of Order of the Solar Temple died from various mass murder-suicides between 1994 and 1997 in Switzerland, Canada and France. The first known instance was the murder of Tony Dutroit and his wife and son. Dutroit was a member of the cult, but spoke out against it upon realising its hypocrisy and deception and left. Soon after, he, his wife Nicky and son Emmanuel were the victims of a grisly murder in Morin Heights, Québec, committed by members of the cult. It was believed that this was upon Di Mambro’s orders, apparently on the basis that Emmanuel was the Antichrist and had come to stop Di Mambro from doing his spiritual bidding, but evidence shows that it might be due to Dutoit’s unwarranted exposure of the cult’s

Kalle Lasn, in the his essay shows the stereotype of the bigger population being in a cult without even knowing. In, The Cult You’re In, Kalle says that all people want the same dreams, and that they are not unique by wanting this dream. The dream he entails that everyone wants is, “ wealth, power, fame, plenty of sex, and exciting recreational opportunities.” Another piece of evidence Lasn uses to show that the general public is in a cult is, “so you scaled down your hopes of embarrassing riches to reasonable expectations of adequate comfort— the modest condo downtown, the Visa card, the Braun shaver, the one good Armani suit.” The author’s use of you in this case and throughout the entire easy shows that to the typical person this does happen.

With the advancements in the study of social sciences, there has been a somewhat parallel growth of cults which though have their foundations in the original Bible and the Christian teachings, yet one may observe that the majority of the present day cults not only deny the essential doctrines, they openly emphasize and present their own personal reinterpretations of the biblical scriptures. The following paper will present two such cases, those of Christian Science and the Mormons, and strive to present some of the comparative elements, their beliefs, customs, religious ceremonies and leadership aspects.

Cults in my opinion are authoritarian, enigmatic, and often exclusive with an “us versus them” mentality. They may ostracize and shun members that fail to accept their claims exclusively or they may force members to conform through threats or coercion. I had to reflect long and hard in order to determine which side of the line in which Becky Fischer’s congregation fell. I concluded that Fischer and her followers remained on the side of religion. I based this conclusion on the point that their convictions failed to possess all the elements that I identify with cult status. For example, although they favored strict rules, obedience to the ruling person or group was not strongly enforced. I had the sense that if one disagreed with their philosophy they were free to decide not to participate and to leave. Additionally, there seemed to be transparency about their beliefs and way of life, as there were no hidden secrets. Finally, I was unable to discern any obvious evidence of coercive or threatening tactics to enforce obedience. The only element that caused them to lean in a cult direction was the “us versus them” mentality; however, I felt that it was very

Psychological methods including deindividuation, cognitive dissonance, and entrapment are essential elements in any organized cults as evidenced by Jonestown and the Klu Klux Klan. Deindividuation is a concept in social psychology that is generally thought of as the loss of self-awareness in groups. Cognitive Dissonance is when one has inconsistent thoughts especially relating to actions. Entrapment is a decision making process whereby individuals escalate their commitment to a previously chosen, though failing, course of action in order to justify or 'make good on' prior investments (“What is entrapment” 1). Cults are universal and have been prevalent in our society in the past, present, and will be in the future.

David Mains wrote this book to explain his belief that the destructive family patterns are one of the issues relating to the relational dysfunctions of the Church body. There are many types of negative behavioral patterns so he has highlighted eight that he will explain. His introduction uses a personal lecture event that changed his view of dysfunctional families and their relationship to the Church. In that hour, the speaker laid out fifteen traits of dysfunctional families. I quote Mains, “Back at the office I set my work aside and again went through the list of unhealthy family traits. Then it dawned on me that the church family can often be marked by the same dysfunctions.” (p. 11) It is David Mains desire that the exposing of these traits

I appreciate your contribution to this week's topic "Cults." You indicated, "That demonstrates impartiality, and openness, and willingness to engage in discussion the individual. The individual already believes he or she may be right, or that their possible doubts are because of their personal lack of faith." To further elaborate on your point, it appears that most cult members are extremely witty and lose the love and hope of being, thus "the members" covet to be in a group, to feel a sense of love, hope, and belonging. What these cult members do not know is that, they are headed for destruction and calamity. No man or woman will ever be able to fulfill the emptiness without God's presence. Muck declares, in contemporary cultures, there

     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.

The family structure determines where you derive from and provides a sense of who you are. The typical family structure is perceived as a father and a mother, two children, one boy and one girl, and a pet. The typical family description described above is still promoted and expected to be the “dream family.” Author Meyerhoff, “While the nuclear family with Dad, Mom, and offspring happily coexisting beneath one roof-remains the ideal, variations in family structure are plentiful and often successful” (Meyerhoff). Meaning that a lot of families are remarried spouses with prior children and more common in the last decade same sex marriages. So, do these nontraditional families have the same qualities? Personally, I would think so. After