Charismatic Disorders: Cults And Religion

When one hears of a cult, one thinks of organizations such as the Church of Scientology, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and small fanatical groups such as the Assembly of God. According to Robert J. Lofton, author of Letters to an Elder, there are two kinds of cults; those that use mind-control, and those that do not. Lofton describes eight characteristics of destructive mind-control cults, saying, “If any group exercises all eight of these control elements, they are, in fact a destructive mind control cult”. Lofton’s characteristics are ‘Environmental Control’, ‘Mystical Manipulation’, ‘Demand for Purity’, ‘Cult of Confession’, ‘Sacred Science’, ‘Loading the Language’, ‘Doctrine over Person’, and ‘Dispensing of Existence’. These eight

The beliefs of the Manson family i’ve found to be sick, mind-controlled to people like robots. There teachings seemed to revolve around armageddon scientology and more obscure cult churches such as Church of the final judgment were also fleeting interests. “It was these ideals and teachings that led Manson and his followers on a murderous crime spree. The Family, along with Manson, are thought to have carried out at least 35 murders” (topsecretwriters, 2010). In research most of the “Mason Family” members seemed never be tried due to the lack of evidence or because the alleged perpetrators were already serving life sentences for the Tate/La Bianca killings sadly.

While individual cultic groups may vary in discipline (political, religious, social/philosophical), they often operate with a similar premise: the world is bad, we are good, become a part of us (Salande & Perkins, 2011). Viewing the world in this way is not, in and of itself, destructive; and many mainstream religious and political movements embrace similar philosophies (2011). However, cult leaders often reinforce these ideas in frightening ways. By making their members use hallucinogens, sleep deprivation, group sex, strict prayer rituals, and deprogramming. Deprogrammers usually used “facts” about their religious group to shake up the person’s faith, this confrontation would often transpire in intense, emotionally charged situations (Donald & Robbins, 1982). The point of this was to rid the cult member of their ego, and past beliefs. The goal was for the member to have a blank slate, they could then me made to believe whatever the cult leader wanted them to.

Still, in our society, there are certain insane cults in the name of religion but they don’t have any importance in the society. So, these are considered as the non-religious cults that won’t give any positive impacts in the society. Now, here are mentioned the 10 non-religious cults that would help you to get familiar with the real facts:

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

Ever since we were little, our parents, guardians, or even ourselves grew up to know the difference in between was would be considered peversive and what isn’t. Many people find it difficult to understand how people can be so devoted to a religion or something that can’t be scientifically proven, but the real question is how can a normal resident be allured by cults. A religious cult may be well known to us as a religious imposter who claims to lead the way to salvation and a lifespan of well being filled with blessings and free of the damnation a disease may bring, only because he or maybe even she may claim that he was sent from the heavens to the filthy earth. People who are believers in a omipitent kind believe this to be a ludicrous idea ,

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.

Since europeans have arrived in America women have been abused by various cults. Through the different cults women are abused and used in different ways. Cults are not only religious groups but are groups who have certain beliefs and dilemmas. Cults can rein from the religious groups like christianity to certain groups like the pueblos. Multiple cases have been found where history has proven that women have been abused in cults from the 1500’s all the way till today. This is a problem that we want to discuss and come up with a solution.

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).

Over nine hundred people dead within five minutes and all done by one all-powerful cult leader. Unfortunately, that was the case for the members of Jim Jones's cult of Jonestown. Jonestown is a prime example of how a religious movement can turn into a cult in the matter of time, and how it can be difficult to protect people against. This is due in part to our general acceptance of most religious movements in accordance to the first amendment, but also due in our classification of what a cult is. "Cults" are just destructive religious movements and are still protected by the first amendment. But one can't help but wonder how many cults are getting away with doing terrible things under the guise of religious choice. It's hard to admit that there's

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines cult as: "a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also: its body of adherents." Indeed, any religion involving unconditional worship and unquestioning obedience to God could be labeled as a cult (using the derogatory suggestion of the word), since such a religion would have that high level of dependency, obedience, and unwavering compliance ascribed to cults by definition. Many mainstream religions still require their members to believe in God unquestioningly, to have faith that he is good and that what he does is good, to consider one's own wants and needs as unimportant while accepting the will of God as paramount. All of these are certainly characteristics commonly attributed to cults, but while it would not be unreasonable to apply this definition of a cult to any dogmatic religion that requires strict compliance with God's word and will as a condition of membership, the notion of applying the word "cult" to Christianity, Islam, Judaism, or any other major world religion today is considered absurd. There are those who make this very claim: that those who worship God fit the classic depiction of cult members in their dogmatism, unswerving

A cult is defined as a social group or a social movement under one charismatic leader. It maintains a belief system, which includes a transformation of a group member. Members of the group have a high level of commitment to the leader, members, and beliefs (Lalich). An additional definition to consider is from the American Journal of Psychotherapy:

The charismatic gifts debate is an important topic today developed over time in three phases. The first phase began with the Pentecostalism in the first century. The second phase began in the 1960s with the charismatic movement. The third phase began in the 1980s in the Western world. Charismatic gifts are wisdom, knowledge, faith, gift of healing, performance of miracles, prophecy, ability to differentiate spirits, speaking in tongues, and interpretation of tongues. These gifts are stated in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10. Christians believe that the Holy Spirit is working in each of us and gives us gifts to do the ministry that God has called us to. “But evangelical Christians are divided on the issue of whether charismatic gifts are for today and should be practiced today.” There are two sides to this debate. On one side is the continuationist view and on the other side is the cessationist view. The question being asked is “Were these gifts intended by God to be used throughout the entire church age until the Lord returns?” The continuationists asserts that these gifts are meant for Christians today along with all the other gifts in the New Testament and will continue to the end of the age. The

destructive cult is a rigidly structured absolutist group usually under an authoritarian, charismatic leader which isolates itself from established societal