Cults: Jonestown And Family International

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.

The history surrounding cults is not as simple as one might think. Cults raise a

The first step being the mental preparation and physical reenactment, also known as the “white nights”. The second and third step can be considered the investigation by the US government through congressman Leo Ryan and the Jonestown defects that tried to escape with Ryan. The last and final step would be the final speech given by Jones in the center pavilion where he encouraged his people to drink the poison, which seemed to be a way out of the inevitable government prosecution Jones would receive after assassinating Ryan and his party. After his convincing speech, about 900 people, including 276 children, took their lives by drinking poison. However, this “suicide” can be considered a murder because many of the people who died (the children) did not have a say and/or did not fully understand what was happening and why they were doing what they were doing. The future of Peoples Temple does not look prosperous at all, considering almost a thousand members took their life in Guyana and after the tragedy, the existing members in the United States formally disbanded and continued to live their life, but faced prejudice and

They offered money for my silence and then threatened to kill me if I spoke. I laughed at their remark and reassured them this wasn’t the reason why I came. By the end of the day, I was a new member of their little cult.

Cultic activity has taken place since the practice of religion was established thousands of years ago. Since then, literally thousands of denominations have been inoculated throughout the world, especially in the United States. A cult, according to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary is a system of religious beliefs and rituals. By definition, this includes organizations such as Baptists, Catholics as well as Satanists and Witches. While this maybe true, cults have been popularly perceived as Separatists who are consumed by the belief of apocalyptic events, and the leader is someone who believes he or she is chosen by God or some other deity to lead those who are to follow him or her. One group that fits this description is the

By the time of the final ritual, opposition or escape had become almost impossible for most of the members. Yet even then, it is doubtful that many wanted to resist or leave. Most had come to believe in Jones -- one woman's body was found with a message scribbled on her arm during the final hours: "Jim Jones is the only one" (Cahill, 1979). They seemed to have accepted the necessity, and even the beauty, of dying -- just before the ritual began, a guard approached Charles Garry, one of the Temples hired attorneys, and exclaimed, "Its a great moment... we all die" (Lifton, 1979). A survivor of Jonestown, who happened to be away at the dentist, was interviewed a year following the deaths:

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).

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

In the documentary Join Us from award winning director, Ondi Timoner, some of the members from the cult Mountain Rock Church broke off and sought counseling. At The Wellspring Resort- the only rehab center for ex-cult members in the US- they opened up about their experiences and desire to recover from the abuse they endured (Join Us). Some of the members were there for about ten to fifteen years and didn’t know how to function without someone telling them exactly what to do (Join Us). Deborah Melz, the first one to speak up on her desire to leave, details times when The Reverend would corner the kids and beat them just for being loud. Watching her kids become terrified and depressed she sought help for her family (Join Us). Although her husband, who’d been with

Since from the beginning and as far as the eye can see, cults have been and will continue to be part of human life. These small religious groups can happen anywhere and have been the cause of much debate and interest. For humans have an innate need to know why things are the way they are. Cults for one have done some rather unmoral things that lead the people to ask, "Why did they do it?" The People 's Temple, Aum Shinrikyo, and Ku Klux Klan are extraordinary examples of wicked cults that begged the question "Why?"

In 1977 Jones was forced to move his church to a secluded jungle in Guyana, South America. There he created Jonestown (Cults R Us, 2000, September 27, p. 1).

Some of the people were just compliant. They yielded to social pressure in their public behavior, even though their private beliefs had not changed. I believe these people to be the ones who ended up wanting to leave the cult. Some of these people were killed for trying to leave. There were still others who conformed to the social norms for fear of negative social consequences which they called catharsis. Their example of catharsis was, for example, if a teenager was accused of being rude to a senior citizen , the congregation would hear the evidence and vote on the teenagers innocence or guilt. The punishment could be a severe spanking administered by Jones. Adults who transgressed were punished by being placed in a ring and forced to box with bigger, stronger Temple members. Transgressions subject to catharsis ranged from selfishness, sexism, discourtesy to drug and alcohol abuse, and petty crimes for which members could be arrested and convicted by public authorities.

For the most part, I belong to a cult known as My Beloved Family. My father and mother are the leaders who implant their beliefs and culture onto me. They preach on how I should go about my life and what is considered right and wrong. Although I do not acquire exactly the same principles and beliefs as my parents, the prejudice I have towards certain things are due to their teachings. In the same manner, the narrator of the article “The Man Who Saves You from Yourself” by Nathaniel Richmond, portrays himself as a devoted follower of the anti-cult leader, David Sullivan. He/she includes incidents that involve Sullivan and uses them to justify their argument that cults are manipulating and fatal. Through the specific diction, quotes, and scenarios

Throughout history we have been able to witness the effects in which social influence has had on thousands of people: suicide bombers, Hitler Youth. These extreme mentalities do not just arise on their own, but have been manufactured by influences who have altered one’s beliefs into thinking that they are doing something which is truly good. When one is invested with unthinkable and repulsive ideas which have been encrypted through the use of cult mentality they are essentially “hypnotized” into believing that their actions are for the greater well-being of others. Supporting the evidence of the social influence theory of hypnosis, cult’s work to control their members by creating an authority figure. This then increases the likelihood of the cooperation of the members, thus gaining the amount of influence and suggestibility cult leaders have on the rest of their cult.

Live the life of a regular cultist to be semi normal or normal in it’s own right or to risk everything to get out and to start anew, the choices I will have to make … as he drifted to sleep on the cold stone floor.