Destructive cult
A destructive cult is a group with strange beliefs (especially religious ones) and which exploits or destroys its own members or others.
In English-speaking countries since about the 1960s, especially in North America, these groups were widely believed to exploit their members psychologically and financially and were accused of group-based persuasion techniques such as "brainwashing", "love bombing" or the controversial concept of "mind control").
The quintessential destructive cult is thought to be religion taken to the extreme, usually characterized by high levels of dependency and obedience to the cult's leadership, by separation from family and non-believers, and by the infiltration of religion into nearly every aspect of daily life.
Anti-cult activists have tended to blur the distinction between cults which they genuinely fear are destructive, and those which are just weird or time-consuming.
Two of the several existing definitions formulated by anti-cult activists use the term cult rather than destructive cult:
- 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 deep-seated anxious dependency on the group and its leaders [1]
- Cult: A group or movement exhibiting a great or excessive devotion or dedication to some person, idea, or thing and employing unethically manipulative techniques of persuasion and control . . . designed to advance the goals of the group's leaders to the actual or possible detriment of members, their families, or the community. [8]
Historical examples
Some examples of cults whose adherents made history include:
- In 1997, 39 followers of the Heaven's Gate cult died in a mass suicide. Some male members of the cult underwent castration in preparation for the suicide.
Checklists of cult behavior
While the religious, philosophical, and spiritual beliefs vary widely from one cult to the next, many believe that the actions of cults show characteristic similarities. Many popular checklists of "cult behavior" circulate, and sources differ in the terminology they use and how they group the behaviors together. Two examples of checklists appear hereunder. [1,4,6]
It should be mentioned that if the behaviours are interpreted rigidly, the original Christian body (as presented in the scriptures) might easily be labeled a cult (ie Milieu control, infallibility, demand for purity, authoritarianism, promised ones, fire & brimstone, shunning, and on and on) as indeed it was by some, and as any modern christian denomination which explicitly holds fast to the outline set forth in the Scriptures would likewise be. Clearly, most today would not (as many did then) say that Christians were a cult. Thus, care should be taken in leveling serious accusations at any group according to an arbitrary set of guidelines, at least before close and unbiased inspection of the motives and practices of the group is undertaken.
First example of checklist
- Milieu control – Cults seek to control members' sources of information and social interaction. They encourage members to sever communication and relationships with friends and family members.
- Infallibility, or "The Sacred Science" – Cults teach that the chosen philosophy or experiential panacea forms the only possible path to salvation. Cults discourage critical and rational thinking. Persons who question or challenge what the cult offers are denied access or exiled.
- Demand for purity – Cults have unreachably high standards for the behavior of their members.
- Confession – Even trivial violations of the group's demand for purity must be confessed immediately and thoroughly, often to a large group.
- Loading the language – Cults redefine common words and use glib thought-terminating catchphrases as an answer to questions. The constant use of acronyms and abbreviations by some cults has a similar thought-terminating effect.
Additionally, many cults are described as having the following characteristics, though they are not as unique to cults as the behaviours listed above:
- Authoritarianism -- Control of the organization stems from an absolute leader or a small circle of elite commanders. Often the cult's leadership is glorified with a vast personality cult. The leader may be recognized as divine, or even as God.
- Secret doctrines - certain "secret" (esoteric) teachings that must not ever be revealed to the outside world
- Promised Ones - members of the cult are encouraged to believe they were chosen, or made their choice to join the cult, because they are special or superior
- Fire-and-Brimstone - leaving the cult, or failing at one's endeavor to complete the requirements to achieve its panacea, will result in consequences greater than if one had never joined the cult in the first place.
- Shunning -- members who leave may not contact members who remain.
- Mystical Manipulation - Cults ascribe events to supernatural influences even where such influences do not exist.
Second example of checklist
The following characteristics need not all apply to every case, but the more of them that do apply, the more likely this is a cult:
- The group has a firm hierarchical structure and is led by one person or a small group of people who rule absolutely.
- The leader or leading body is not accountable to anyone (on earth).
- The leaders claim to have a special mission.
- The group has a clear view of their enemy.
- The leaders direct admiration, reverence and maybe even worship to themselves.
- The group exerts a total control over its members. Thinking and behavior in everyday matters is prescribed.
- The group applies a double standard (behaves differently towards their own group and towards outsiders).
- The group portrays itself as something new and exclusive or as the only true version of a larger religion.
- The teachings of the group are (at least in part) not open to the public but only to members or even only to some inner or advanced circle.
- New members are introduced to the teachings only gradually.
- There is a discrepancy between the way the group presents itself to the public and the way it is seen by neutral outsiders.
Total control
This has four basic aspects:
- Control of behavior and activities: The way of life is rigidly laid down in detail (dress, food, contacts, music, motion pictures, computer and video games, Web sites, rites to be observed) and members are kept so busy that little spare time remains.
- Thought control: Cults teach their members techniques to stop thinking processes involving questions or doubts immediately. Criticism is labelled unethical or sinful.
- Control of emotions and feelings: Members are kept under control by means of feelings of guilt and fear which supposedly can only be relieved by means of the group.
- Information control: Access to independent information, education and culture is reduced or forbidden. Contact with former members is forbidden.
These techniques make a mature, critical reflection of one's attitudes and the one-sided information given by the group largely impossible.
The above-mentioned historical examples are extreme and rare.
Leaving a cult
For various reasons, it can be very difficult to leave a cult. One of the reasons is that a cult belief system and cult involvement can give meaning to life, both philosophically and in daily life. Members may love or feel devotion for the leader. Even if the member knows that something is wrong, leaving the cult and the transition to a life after the cult may be painful and long. The ex-member may either cling to some extent to the old belief system or be completely without any beliefs and value system at all. Besides the member usually loses a lot of friends. In some cases the ex member may lose all his friends and family. Some members live in a commune or ashram, have no money and job outside the cult. For them it may be nearly impossible to leave
See also
