Significant Danger Markers Analysis

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

The central issue or theme of cults today is that it uses mind control over the group or individual. By using mind control as its central theme, the leader uses certain methods to go by. There is first something called milieu control, which means environment or surroundings. They are able to control this with the members in many ways. The most used form is isolation. Members of a cult separates themselves from society, family, and media such as television or books in fear that this might cause the members to start “thinking for themselves.” “The cult keeps information on each one of

The United States has had its share of cults, religious, and non-religious alike. Behind all of the cults I will be talking about are charismatic baby boomers. David Koresh formed the Branch Davidians. Koresh was born in 1959, names Vernon Howell. He first became a member of the Church of the Seventh Day Adventists, but was later dismissed because of his fundamental views. Some of his radical views include that he thought he was a messiah and that women should be his spiritual wives. Located in Waco, Texas the Branch Davidians, believed that Koresh spoke the word of God, and that the end of the world would be in their lifetime. While the world didn’t come to an end, it did end for those in the cult. In March 1993 failed raid by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms lead to a 51-day siege of the compound that resulted in the death of 77 Branch Davidians including 20 children. Another baby boomer, Jim Jones founded the Peoples Temple. Jones’s propagandizes appealed to many African-Americans from the 1950s to the 1970s, because of his progressive views on racial equality. In 1977, the New West Magazine published an expose of Jim Jones and his cult that resulted in mass suicide with 900 members of the Peoples Temple drinking poison. Scientology was started in 1952 by science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard.

It is estimated that there are between 2,000 to 5,000 cults in the United States. Many do not gain national attention until something implodes with violence, gets extremely costly or has a sensational side. For the purpose of this exploratory, cult will be defined as, “a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object” (Merriam Webster). Cults are deemed as mind-control systems, and have religious practices typically known as sinister. Jim Jones of the Jonestown massacre and the Peoples Temple leader, Charles Manson leader of the Manson Family, and David Koresh of the Branch Davidians are just a few of the notorious cult leaders in history. These individuals have a common characteristic of pathological

“Did you know there are roughly five to seven million people who are in a cult or cult like group in America? As of July 31, 2013 there were an estimated 316,330,350 people in America alone." One way cults attract there members is by using psychological techniques to make young people in America want to join them in their holy journey. But are the leaders really insane? Some would argue yes others not so much, but how could someone who thought they knew everything there is to know about a book, written thousands of years ago, not be questioned on their sanity. Cults can affect many people as a society or individually, the effects cults have on certain people can be a great one due to they take away all your rights and give you certain rules to follow. The reason cults are shameful to society is because they control individuals and manipulate them into what they see as beneficial for a whole group not individually.

What effects -- if any -- do cults of personalities have on a culture and society? When we think of cults, we usually tend to think of a group who all follow one specific belief or leader. According to Webster’s Dictionary, a cult of personality is a situation in which a public figure (such as a political leader) is deliberately presented to the people of a country as a great person who should be admired and loved. Of course, there are many problems that may arise in this situation, one being that cults of personalities are a threat to a culture’s freedom because they directly target democracies and can extinguish a society’s liberties by elevating one person to such a point that they become god-like in the eyes of their followers.

What is a cult? The purpose of a cult is so an individual and/or group claiming to be sent by God, to rule the one true religion. To become a cult member you must believe the exact same things in the exact same ways with no room for differences. Entering a cult is a lifetime commitment. Systems of intimidation are used to veer the people from ever thinking about getting out. More specifically, a cult by the name of Aum Shinrikyo, was a Japanese doomsday cult founded by Shoko Asahara in 1984. The attack launched by this cult was seen to be terroristic

By definition religions can be considered cults. “Great devotion to a person, idea, object or work” (Merriam-Webster). But regardless of definitions, the media has made the word “cult” become surrounded by a negative connotation. A few famous examples of cults that have made headlines in America, especially in the 1980’s and 90’s include The Manson Family, Heaven’s Gate, and Scientology. Only Scientology is still active today and they have 25,000 followers in the US (Metzger). The former was made famous for the killing of Sharon Tate and four other people in 1969. It sparked instant media attention due to Tate’s popularity as an actress. Present day, Charles Manson is in jail serving life and

To understand the complexity of a cult a person must first understand the meaning of what that word truly defines. In a dictionary, you would find the meaning of the word as the system of religious worship or ritual. But if you take this definition literally then a Christian would be insulted. Just because a person follows God or a “god” does not mean they are in a cult. Nevertheless, the word “cult” has few different meanings.

There is not a set, universal definition of a cult. When looking at multiple sources or even making a quick search on the internet, many contradictory statements and definitions are brought about, most of them carrying a negative connotation. Upon hearing the word “cult,” one tends to associate it with satanic rituals, black magic, murder, and many other dark, mysterious things. In its simplest form, a cult seems to be a group of people with a charismatic leader. However, this definition is not complete. The definition of a cult can be subdivided into two categories: the benign or positive cult, and the bad or destructive cult. In a benign cult, the leader will share leadership with other group members. The cult as a whole

A cult has many different meanings. Our textbook defines a cult as a “group that is typically characterized by three things; the first being rituals and beliefs, showing devotion to a god or person, the second being a charismatic leader, and the third is isolation” (Myers, 2015). In general, when people think about cults the response is usually “why are people persuaded to leave everything behind and join a cult?” There are usually two views on cults. The first is that a cult is not different from other socially acceptable groups, however the second view is that cults use techniques different from other groups that can be considered harmful (Pfeifer, 1992).

Cults are here to stay because it is very difficult to identify modern cults because of their changing nature of operations. Modern cults are different from traditional cults that were characterized by weird dressing and practices because they are very organized and exclusive. It is therefore important for governments and the society in general to deal with some of the issues that make people to be vulnerable to cults instead of using force to fight the existing groups. More efforts should be directed towards rehabilitating former cultists because of the psychological trauma they go through in the hands of cult

Being self-conscious or persuadable is just a minor factor in the involvement to becoming a cult member. “Experts and former cult members have found evidence and have stated that people don't join cults just because they're unhappy or searching for something. While those may be factors, they insist that people are manipulated, pressured, and deceived into going into cults.”

A destructive cults calling is not one to a spiritual figure but to one of financial gain. Almost all of these cults have little to nothing to do with religion and in fact are only in it for wealth. Many totalist cults only join together with wealth or power in mind, but rely on false promises in order to obtain what they want.

As a layman, sects and cults may not seem all that different. Both are marginal groups and do not conform to society’s ‘typical’ views of religion. Their classification as ‘new religious movements’ then are based solely on their staying on the outskirts of the ‘norm’. Two groups that I will be focusing on specifically are Opus Dei and the Colonia Dignidad. Both are seen as extreme and strict, and I believe they belong to the same group as one another. Opus Dei seeks to return to the ‘roots’ of Catholicism and is unhappy with the way the Catholic Church embraces society. Colonia Dignidad is unhappy with society, too, although they chose to form a new way of life that followed a few parts of the fundamental goals of their former church. Both