Cults
Types of cults
Two main kinds of cults exist today:
Messianic Cults
This is a cult that has a leader. Whatever the leader orders his members to do must be done, whether it would be sacrifice or murder, it must be done. In return the leader of the cult would "save" his followers.
Mellenarian Cults
This is a type of cult that refers to the 1,000 year reign of Christ.
These groups believe that dramatic events, such as the end of the world or judgment day, will occur at the turn of the century.
Traits of cults
A feeling and a certainty of belief.
A single strong and powerful leader.
A tendency to control communication.
A totalistic outlook; a view that spiritual life in the group must be present 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This would not allow a member to do any hobbies, work or interests outside of the cult.
People who join cults
There are four different types of people who participate in cults. The first type of people are normal people who come from intact families and turn to cults at a moment of difficulty in there life. These people haven't had any other problems previously. The second group of people are people who had problems in there past in development and emotion. The third and smallest group of cult members are psychotic individuals. The fourth group of people feel as if they don't fit into society.
Different cults
Charles Manson was never close to his parents, for he never met his father and his mother was an alcoholic. This lead Manson through a confusing age. He was always getting in trouble with the law. After he got out of prison he began to experiment with the psychedelic drug LSD. In San Francisco he learned how to talk like a hippie and sounded very wise, to lost and confused young men and woman. He always looked for sad or disordered young women. As he found them he talked to them, and they quickly trusted him deeply. In a short time he had gathered up enough young women to be his slaves and do whatever he asked. This is were Charles Manson began his cult leadership. Manson told four of his followers to break into a wealthy home in Los Angeles and kill everyone
two murders, but during his incarceration awaiting death row he truly changed for the better
He was an important member of the town's church, had all the best tutors growing
Merriam Webster’s Collegiate dictionary defines cult as: 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 : a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion.
Cults Each year, hundreds of North Americans join one of the increasing, estimated 3000 unorthodox religions that exist across North America. The increasing number of cults, to date in North America, is due to the fact that cults are a social movement that attempts to help people cope with their perceived problems with social interaction. Cult recruiters target those who perceive themselves as different from the rest of society, and give these individuals the sense of belonging that they crave. Cult literature lures potential cult members by appealing to their desperate need to socially fit in. Cults provide a controlled family environment that appeals to potential cult members because it is a removal from the exterior society.
quickly as possible, and he accomplished his goal by ridding the land of all the
For years, there have been problems surrounding the definition of the term 'cult'. The literal and traditional meanings of the word cult, which are more fully explored at the entry Cult (religion), come from the Latin cultus, meaning "care" or "adoration," as "a system of religious belief or ritual; or: the body of adherents to same." In French or Spanish, culte or culto simply means "worship" or "religious attendance"; therefore an association cultuelle is an association whose goal is to organize religious worship and practices. The word for "cult" in the popular English meaning is secte (French) or secta (Spanish). In formal English use, and in non-English European terms, the cognates of the English word "cult" are neutral, and refer mainly to divisions within a single faith, a case where English speakers might use the word "sect". Hence Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism are cults within Christianity. However, in common usage, "cult" has a very negative connotation, and is generally applied to a group in order to criticize it. Understandably, most groups, if not all, that are called "cults" deny this term. Some groups called "cults" by some critics may consider themselves not to be "cults", but may consider some other groups to be "cults". Although anti-cult activists and scholars did not agree on precise criteria that new religions should meet to be considered "cults," two of the definitions formulated by anti-cult activists are: Cults are groups that often exploit members psychologically and/or financially, typically by making members comply with leadership's demands through certain types of psychological manipulation, popularly called mind control, and through the inculcation of d...
The term cult has many different meanings. According to Jan Groenveld, a cult researcher and author, Christians define a cult as anything that differs from traditional orthodox teachings, but the general definition is that, a cult is defined as a pyramid structured group with a single, often charismatic leader. If the cult is religious in nature then often the group will claim to be the one true religion (Groenveld).
Before I get any further into this essay, I think it’s important to provide some background information of the cult. Firstly, it was founded as the Society of Saint Pious X (SSPX) in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who I do not believe was a cult leader. In fact, I think he was only an overzealous archbishop. Which is supported by his “breaking away” from The Vatican in 1988, not because he wanted to become a cult leader, but I think because he thought it was his only option.
Everyone is in a consumer’s hypnosis, even if you think you are not. When you go to a store and pick one brand over the other, you are now under their spell. The spell/ hypnosis is how companies get you to buy there things over other companies and keep you hooked. Either through commercials or offering something that you think will make your life better by what they tell you. For example, you go to the store and you need to buy water, once you get to the lane and look, there is 10 different types of water you can buy. You go pick one either because the picture is better or you seen the commercial the other day and you want it. During the length of this paper we will talk about two important writers, Kalle Lasn the writer of “The Cult You’re in” and Benoit Denizet-Lewis writer of “ The Man Behind Abercrombie & Fitch”. They both talk about similar topics that go hand and hand with each other, they talk about the consumers “Dream”, how companies recruit the consumers, who cult members really are, how people are forced to wear something they don’t want, and about slackers.
Cult is a “system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object.” (Sopko). There are different cults all across the world. Cults have distinctly different beliefs and devotions. For instance, some cults that are formed to follow a particular real life figure, and other cults are formed to follow (or worship) a spiritual being that might be part of a certain organized religion. One example of a cult would be the KKK (Ivan).
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).
early years he was a man who liked to drink and used to spend a lot of
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:
regardless of the ethnic or culture as this may help strengthen and broaden the circle of trust. He went