Cult

A cult strictly speaking, is a particular system of religious worship, especially with reference to its rites and ceremonies. Used in a more pejorative sense, cult refers to a cohesive social group, usually of a religious believers, which the surrounding society considers outside the mainstream or possibly dangerous. In Europe, the term "sect" is often used to describe "cults" in this sense.

During the twentieth century groups referred to as "cults" or "sects" by governments and media became globally controversial. The rise and fall of several groups known for mass suicide and murder tarred hundreds of new religious groups of various characters, some arguably quite benign.

Definitions

The literal and traditional meaning of the word cult is derived from the Latin cultus, meaning "care" or "adoration." Sociologists and historians of religion speak of the "cult" of the Virgin Mary or other traditions of worship in a neutral sense.

With regard to the more negative meaning of the term, most religions start out as "cults" or sects, i.e. relatively small groups in high tension with the surrounding society. For example, Christianity was originally a sect within Judaism and the Roman Empire which faced difficulties because of its belief in Jesus as the Messiah and its rejection of Roman pagan tradition. Over time, such groups tend either die to out or become more established and in less tension with society.

Due to popular connotations of the term "cult," many academic researchers of religion and sociology prefer to use the term new religious movement (NRM). Such new religions are usually started by charismatic but unpredictable leaders. If they survive past the first or second generation, they tend to institutionalize, become more stable, find a greater degree of acceptance in society, and sometimes become the mainstream or even dominant religious group.

Controversies about "cults"

Some critics of media sensationalism argue that the stigma surrounding the classification of a group as a cult results largely from exaggerated portrayals of weirdness in media stories. The narratives of ill-effects include perceived threats presented by a cult to its members, and risks to the physical safety of its members and to their mental and spiritual growth. Anti-cultists in the 1970s and 1980s made particularly strong accusations regarding the danger of cults for members, the separation of "cult" members from their families, and potential harm to the larger society.

File:Jim Jones brochure of Peoples Temple.jpg

Brochure of the Peoples Temple, portraying its founder Jim Jones as the loving father of the "Rainbow Family".

Certain groups that have been characterized as cults, such as Heaven's Gate, Ordre du Temple Solaire, Aum Shinrikyo, and the Peoples Temple have clearly posed a threat to the well-being and lives of their own members and to society in general. The mass suicide of over 900 People's Temple members on November 18, 1978 led to increased concern about cults. The Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995 was carried out by members of Aum Shinrikyo, renewed this concern, as did several other violent acts—both self-destructive and against others—by other groups.

The number of violently destructive groups, however, is extremely small compared with the literally tens of thousands of new religious movements which are estimated to exist.

Some groups, while not universally condemned, remain suspect to the general public. Examples include Scientology, the Unification Church, and the Hare Krishnas. Each of these groups is now well into its second or third generation, and it is often difficult to distinguish between a group's public image (which may have become fixed decades earlier) and its current practices. Earlier "cults," such as the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, and Christian Scientists, are now generally considered part of the mainstream religious fabric of the American society in which they originated.

Although the majority of "cults" are religious in nature, a small number of non-religious groups are classified as as "cults" by their opponents. These may include political, psychotherapeutic or marketing groups. The term has also been applied to certain human-potential and self-improvement organizations.

Stigmatization and discrimination

Because of the increasingly pejorative use of the terms "cult" over recent decades, many argue that these terms are to be avoided.

Researcher Amy Ryan has argued for the need to differentiate those groups that may be dangerous from groups that are more benign. Ryan notes the sharp differences between definition from cult opponents, who tend to focus on negative characteristics, and sociologists, who aim to create definitions that are value-free.

These definitions have political and ethical impact beyond just scholarly debate. In Defining Religion in American Law, Washington DC attorney Bruce J. Casino presents the issue as crucial to international human rights laws. Limiting the definition of religion may interfere with freedom of religion, while too broad a definition may give some dangerous or abusive groups "a limitless excuse for avoiding all unwanted legal obligations."

In 1999, the Maryland State Task Force to Study the Effects of Cult Activities on Public Senior Higher Education Institutions admitted in its final report that it had "decided not to attempt to define the world 'cult' and proceeded to avoid the word entirely in its final report, except in its title and introduction.

Leaving a "cult"

There are at least three ways people leave a "cult." These are 1) On their own decision, 2) Through expulsion, and 3) By intervention (Exit counseling or deprogramming).

Most authors agree that some people experience problems after leaving a "cult." These include negative reactions in the individual leaving the group as well as negative responses from the group such as shunning. There are disagreements regarding the frequency of such problems, however, and regarding the cause.

Barker (1989) mentions that some former members may not take new initiatives for quite a long time after disaffiliation from the NRM. However, she also points out that leaving is not nearly so difficult as imagined by those who argue that "cult" members under such a high degree of "mind control" by their leaders that they cannot leave on their own. Indeed, 90 percent of those who join a high intensity group ultimately decide to leave.^,. —>

Exit Counselor Carol Giambalvo believes most people leaving a cult have associated psychological problems, such as feelings of guilt or shame, depression, feeling of inadequacy, or fear, that are independent of their manner of leaving the cult. However, sociologists Bromley and Hadden note a lack of empirical support for alleged consequences of having been a member of a cult or sect, and substantial empirical evidence against it. These include the fact that the overwhelming proportion of people who get involved in NRMs leave, most short of two years; the overwhelming proportion of people who leave of their own volition; and that 67 percent felt "wiser for the experience."

Criticism by former members

The role of former members in the controversy surrounding cults has been widely studied by social scientists. Former members in some cases become public opponents against their former group. The former members' motivations, the roles they play in the anti-cult movement, and the validity of their testimony, are controversial with some scholars who suspect that at least some of the narratives are colored by a need of self-justification, seeking to reconstruct their own past and to excuse their former affiliations, while blaming those who were formerly their closest associates, and that hostile ex-members would invariably shade the truth and blow out of proportion minor incidents, turning them into major incidents.

James T. Richardson contends that there are a large number of NRMs and cites a tendency among scholars to make unjustified generalizations about them, based on a select sample of observations of life in such groups or the testimonies of (ex-)members.

Prevalence of purported cults

By one measure, between 3,000 and 5,000 purported cults existed in the United States in 1995. Some of the more well-known and influential of these groups are frequently labelled as cults in the mass media. Most of these well-known groups vigorously protest the label and refuse to be classified as such, and often expend great efforts in public relations campaigns to rid themselves of the stigma associated with the term cult. But most of the thousands of purported cults live below the media's radar and are rarely or ever the subject of significant public scrutiny. Such groups rarely need to speak up in their own defense, and some of them just ignore the occasional fleeting attention they may get from the media.

A List of groups referred to as cults is a list so referred to by mainstream media and academic sources. A group's presence on the media list does not prove that they are a cult, only that someone has been reported as expressing that undefined opinion about them.

Cults and governments

In many countries there exists a separation of church and state and freedom of religion. Governments of some of these countries, concerned with possible abuses by cults, have taken restrictive measures against some of their activities. Critics of such measures claim that the counter-cult movement and the anti-cult movement have succeeded in influencing governments in transferring the public's abhorrence of doomsday cults and make the generalization that it is directed against all small or new religious movements without discrimination. The critique is countered by stressing that the measures are directed not against any religious beliefs, but specifically against groups whom they see as inimical to the public order due to their totalitarianism, violations of fundamental liberties, inordinate emphasis on finances, and/or disregard for appropriate medical care.

There exists a controversy regarding religious tolerance between the United States and several European countries, especially France and Germany, that have taken legal measures directed against "cultic" groups that they believe violate human rights. The 2004 annual report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom states that these initiatives have "...fueled an atmosphere of intolerance toward members of minority religions in France." On the other hand, the countries confronted with such allegations see the United States' attitude towards NRMs as failing to take into account the responsibility of the state for the wellbeing of its citizens, especially concerning children and incapacitated persons. They further claim that the interference of the United States in their internal affairs is at least partially due to the domestic lobbying of cults and cult apologists.

Most governmental clashes with groups alleged to have cult-like characteristics in the United States in recent years have been the result of real or perceived violations of the law by the groups in question.^{[citation needed]} There have been no well documented recent cases of the U.S. government persecuting a supposedly cult-like group based solely on its religious beliefs. It has been argued that the "brainwashing" ideology promulgated by theorists in the anti-cult movement has been a key contributing factor in recent violent events, including the deaths of close to 100 members of the Branch Davidian group in Waco, Texas. Revelations in the 1970s by the U.S. Senate's Church Committee investigating the FBI's COINTELPRO program revealed extensive evidence that the Agency had engaged in an illegal, large-scale covert program which included portraying various political dissident organizations as violent criminals and extremists as a prelude to and justification for crackdowns on these groups. It is also possible that negative perceptions of a group by prosecutors could make them more quick to prosecute than they might otherwise be; the income tax case against Reverend Moon is sometimes cited as such an incident.)

In addition, the United States has never had an established church. Groups characterized as cults or as having non-mainstream beliefs have often been able to gain political influence; for instance, the Unification Church (by way of ownership of the influential newspaper, the Washington Times), and Scientology (by way of its Hollywood connections, which some observers have suggested gave it clout with the Clinton administration).^{[citation needed]}

A 1996 French Parliamentary Commission issued a report unofficial translations, in which a list of purported cults compiled by the general information division of the French National Police (Renseignements généraux) was reprinted. In it were listed 173 groups. Members of some of the groups included in the list have alleged instances of intolerance due to the ensuing negative publicity. Although this list has no statutory or regulatory value, it is at the background of the criticism directed at France with respect to freedom of religion.

The "Interministerial Mission in the Fight Against Sects/Cults" (MILS) was formed in 1998 to coordinate government monitoring of sect (name given to cults in France). In February 1998 MILS released its annual report on the monitoring of sects. The president of MILS resigned in June under criticism and an interministerial working group was formed to determine the future parameters of the Government's monitoring of sects. In November the Government announced the formation of the Interministerial Monitoring Mission Against Sectarian Abuses (MIVILUDES), which is charged with observing and analyzing movements that constitute a threat to public order or that violate French law, coordinating the appropriate response, informing the public about potential risks, and helping victims to receive aid. In its announcement of the formation of MIVILUDES, the Government acknowledged that its predecessor, MILS, had been criticized for certain actions abroad that could have been perceived as contrary to religious freedom. On May 2005, former prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin issued a circular indicating that the list of cults published on the parliamentary report of 1966 should no longer be used to identify cults.

Cults in literature

Cults have been a subject or theme in literature and popular culture since ancient times. There are many references to it in the 20th century.

See also

• Apostasy
• Atrocity story
• Classifications of cults and new religious movements
• Cult Awareness Network
• Cult Films
• Cult suicide
• Cults and governments
• Development of religion
• Destructive cult
• Groupthink
• Hate groups and new religious movements
• Large Group Awareness Training (LGAT)
• Legalism (theology)
• List of groups referred to as cults
• New religious movement
• Opposition to cults and new religious movements
• Pious fraud
• Religious conversion to new religious movements and cults
• Sect
• Social implosion
• Sociology of religion (currently treating only one theory)
• True-believer syndrome

External links

• False Teachers EXPOSED: Defining a Cult - The Borderline Between Christian and Counterfeit: Article defining a cult by it's attributes from a Biblical Christian perspective.
• Apologetics Index: cults, sects, and related issues - Website of Anton Hein, essentially an evangelical Christian point of view.
• CESNUR See CESNUR (the works of some scholars in the area of new religious movements NRMs)
• "Cult" Defense of the term "cult" to describe the Children of God
• Cult Awareness and Information Centre Australian site.
• Cult Awareness Network - Website of the Cult Awareness Network now affiliated with Scientology
• Cultic Studies: Information about Cults and Psychological Manipulation - Scholarly articles, group descriptions and news by the International Cultic Studies Association
• Dutch Skeptics Society: Online papers, articles and books about Cults, New Religious Movements, and the Social Scientific Study of Religion
• FactNet: research on cults, sects and related issues, with an emphasis on Scientology
• [6] New Zealand listing of organizations
• Info cult Canadian site.
• Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance - articles and essays about religious groups and related subjects.
• Rick A. Ross Institute of New Jersey, a collection of news articles and information about cults, destructive cults, controversial groups and movements" by Rick Ross.
• Seven Years Since the Kanungu Massacre Cults in Africa
• University of Virginia Religious Movements Homepage - Website featuring the opinions and collected papers of the late sociologist Jeffrey Hadden, regarding new religious movements, now edited by Douglas E. Cowan
• Cult Exit A mutual support forum for people affected by cults.

Bibliography

Books

• Bromley, David et al.: Cults, Religion, and Violence, 2002, ISBN 0-521-66898-0
• Melton, Gordon: Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America, 1992, ISBN 0-8153-1140-0
• House, Wayne: Charts of Cults, Sects, and Religious Movements, 2000, ISBN 0-310-38551-2
• Kramer, Joel and Alstad, Diane: The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power, 1993.
• Lalich, Janja: Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults, 2004, ISBN 0-520-24018-9
• Landau Tobias, Madeleine et al. : Captive Hearts, Captive Minds, 1994, ISBN 0-89793-144-0
• Lewis, James R. The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements Oxford University Press, 2004
• Lewis, James R. Odd Gods: New Religions and the Cult Controversy, Prometheus Books, 2001
• Martin, Walter et al.: The Kingdom of the Cults, 2003, ISBN 0-7642-2821-8
• Oakes, Len: Prophetic Charisma: The Psychology of Revolutionary Religious Personalities, 1997, ISBN 0-8156-0398-3 Excerpts
• Singer, Margaret Thaler: Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace, 1992, ISBN 0-7879-6741-6 Excerpts
• Tourish, Dennis: 'On the Edge: Political Cults Right and Left, 2000, ISBN 0-7656-0639-9
• Zablocki, Benjamin et al.: Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field, 2001, ISBN 0-8020-8188-6
• Barker, E. (1989) New Religious Movements: A Practical Introduction, London, HMSO
• Enroth, Ronald. (1992) Churches that Abuse, Zondervan, ISBN 0-310-53290-6
• Phoenix, Lena: "The Heart of a Cult," 2006, ISBN 0-9785483-0-2

Articles

• Hardin, John W.: Defining a Cult - The Borderline Between Christian and Counterfeit: Article defining a cult by it's attributes from a Biblical Christian perspective.[7]
• Langone, Michael: Cults: Questions and Answers [8]
• Lifton, Robert Jay: Cult Formation, The Harvard Mental Health Letter, February 1991 [9]
• Moyers. Jim: Psychological Issues of Former Members of Restrictive Religious Groups [10]
• Richmond, Lee J. :When Spirituality Goes Awry: Students in Cults, Professional School Counseling, June 2004 [11]
• Robbins, T. and D. Anthony, 1982. "Deprogramming, brainwashing and the medicalization of deviant religious groups" Social Problems 29 pp 283-97.
• Shaw, Daniel: Traumatic abuse in cults [12]
• James T. Richardson: "Definitions of Cult: From Sociological-Technical to Popular-Negative" Review of Religious Research 34.4 (June 1993), pp. 348-356.
• Rosedale, Herbert et al.: On Using the Term "Cult" [13]
• Van Hoey, Sara: Cults in Court The Los Angeles Lawyer, February 1991 [14]
• Zimbardo, Philip: What messages are behind today's cults?, American Psychological Association Monitor, May 1997 [15]
• Aronoff, Jodi; Lynn, Steven Jay; Malinosky, Peter. Are cultic environments psychologically harmful?, Clinical Psychology Review, 2000, Vol. 20 #1 pp. 91-111
• Rothstein, Mikael, Hagiography and Text in the Aetherius Society: Aspects of the Social Construction of a Religious Leader, an article which appeared in the book New Religions in a Postmodern World edited by Mikael Rothstein and Reender Kranenborg, RENNER Studies in New religions, Aarhus University press, ISBN 87-7288-748-6
• Phoenix, Lena: "Thoughts on the Word Cult" [16]

References

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