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In Religion and Sociology , a Cult is a cohesive group of people (often a relatively small and recently founded religious movement) devoted to beliefs or practices that the surrounding culture or society considers to be far outside the mainstream. Its separate status may come about either due to its novel belief system, because of its idiosyncratic practices or because it opposes the interests of the mainstream culture. Other non-religious groups may also display cult-like characteristics. In common usage, "cult" has a negative connotation, and is generally applied to a group by its opponents, for a variety of possible reasons. DEFINITIONS OF "CULT" In the English-speaking countries since about the 1960s , especially in North America , the term ''cult'' has taken on a pejorative and sometimes offensive connotation. This largely originated with highly publicized cults that purportedly exploited their members psychologically and financially, or that allegedly utilized group-based Persuasion and Conversion techniques. These techniques may include " Brainwashing ", " Mind Control " ("thought reform") and " Love Bombing ", whose scientific validity, modern and historical use, and effectiveness (for Religious Conversion ) are discussed within the linked articles. Some groups use the word to label other groups that they consider to be at variance with their own doctrine, or that they consider to be competition. Some groups called "cults" by some critics may consider themselves not to be "cults", but may also consider some other groups to be "cults". Understandably, most, if not all, groups that are called "cults" deny this label. It has been argued that no one yet has been able to define “cult” in a way that enables the term to identify only groups that have been claimed as problematic. The literal and traditional meanings of the word ''cult'' is derived from the at Ephesus " and the "cult figures" that accompanied it, or to "the importance of the ''Ave Maria'' in the cult of the Virgin ." This usage is more fully explored in the entry Cult (religion) . 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 ", as in " Roman Catholicism , Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism are ''sects'' (or ''denominations'') ''within'' Christianity ". In French or Spanish , ''culte'' or ''culto'' simply means "worship" or "religious attendance"; thus 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 German the usual word used for the English ''cult'' is ''Sekte'', which also has other definitions. A similar case is the Russian word ''sekta''. Non-Religious Cults Although the majority of groups to which the word "cult" is applied are religious in nature, a significant number are non-religious. These may include political, psychotherapeutic or marketing oriented cults that are organized in a manner very similar to their religious counterparts. The term has also been applied to certain channelling, human-potential and self-improvement organizations, some of which do not define themselves as religious movements although they clearly draw on ideas derived from various religions. The political cults, mostly far-leftist or far-rightist in their ideologies, have received considerable attention from journalists and scholars but are only a minute percentage of the total number of so-called cults in the United States. Indeed, clear documentation of cult-like practices exists for only about a dozen ideological cadre or racial combat organizations, although vague charges have been leveled at a somewhat larger number. See Dennis Tourish and Tim Wohlforth, "On the Edge: Political Cults Right and Left," Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2000. {Link without Title} Although most Political Cult s involve a " Cult Of Personality ", the latter concept is a broader one. It has its origins in the excessive adulation said to have surrounded Soviet leader Joseph Stalin . It has also been applied to several other despotic heads of state. It is often applied by analogy to refer to adulation of non-political leaders, and sometimes in the context of certain businessmen, management styles, and company work environments. The use of this term in its broadest sense serves as a reminder that cultic phenomena (as opposed to full-blown "cults") are not just found inside small ashrams and splinter churches but also are spread throughout mainstream institutions in democratic societies as well as permeating in a far more toxic form the governments and ruling parties of some nondemocratic societies. Definition of "cult" in dictionaries The Merriam-Webster online dictionary lists five different meanings of the word "cult". # formal religious veneration # a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also : its body of adherents; # a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also : its body of adherents; # a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator; # great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book). The Random House Unabridged Dictionary definitions are: # a particular system of religious worship, esp. with reference to its rites and ceremonies; # an instance of great veneration of a person, ideal, or thing, esp. as manifested by a body of admirers; # the object of such devotion; # a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc; # group having a sacred ideology and a set of rites centering around their sacred symbols; # a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader; # the members of such a religion or sect; # any system for treating human sickness that originated by a person usually claiming to have sole insight into the nature of disease, and that employs methods regarded as unorthodox or unscientific. Definition by the Christian countercult movement See Also: heresy Walter Martin , the pioneer of the Christian Countercult Movement gave in his 1955 book the following definition of a cult: :"By cultism we mean the adherence to doctrines which are pointedly contradictory to orthodox Christianity and which yet claim the distinction of either tracing their origin to orthodox sources or of being in essential harmony with those sources. Cultism, in short, is any major deviation from orthodox Christianity relative to the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith." Robert Bowman defines cult as "A religious group originating as a heretical sect and maintaining fervent commitment to heresy. Adj.: "cultic" (may be used with reference to tendencies as well as full cult status)." Definition by secular cult opposition Secular cult opponents define a "cult" as a religious or non-religious group that tends to manipulate, exploit, and control its members. Here two definitions by Michael Langone and Louis Jolyon West , scholars who are widely recognized among the secular cult opposition: 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 "A cult is 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 (e.g. isolation from former friends and family, debilitation, use of special methods to heighten suggestibility and subservience, powerful group pressures, information management, suspension of individuality or critical judgement, promotion of total dependency on the group and fear of of leaving it, etc) designed to advance the goals of the group's leaders to the actual or possible detriment of members, their families, or the community." Definition in Sociology Of Religion In the sociology of religion, cult is one of the four terms making up the Church-sect Typology . Under this definition, a cult refers to a religious group with a high degree of tension with the surrounding society combined with novel religious beliefs. This is distinguished from sects, which have a high degree of tension with society but whose beliefs are traditional to that society, and ecclesias and denominations, which are groups with a low degree of tension and traditional beliefs. This definition of "cult" is rather different from the popular definition, or the definitions used in other academic disciplines (e.g. the definition of cults as harmful groups adopted by many psychologists). It excludes any consideration of harm, manipulation, deceit or exploitation from what constitutes a cult - by this definition, a cult may be harmless, and a group that is not a cult may be very harmful. Since this definition of "cult" is defined in part in terms of tension with the surrounding society, the same group may both be a cult and not a cult at different places and times. For example, Christianity was a cult by this definition in 1st and 2nd century Rome, but in fifth century Rome it is no longer a cult but rather an ecclesia (the state religion). Or similarly, very conservative Islam would constitute a cult in the West, but the ecclessia in some conservative Muslim countries (e.g. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan under the Taliban.) Likewise, because novelty of beliefs as well as tension is an element in the definition: in India, the Hare Krishnas are not a cult, but rather a sect (since their beliefs are largely traditional to Hindu culture), but they are by this definition a cult in the Western world (since their beliefs are largely novel to Christian culture). Points of view regarding definitions According to professor Timothy Miller from the University Of Kansas , in his 2003 ''Religious Movements in the United States'', during the controversies over the new religious movements in the 1960s, the term "cult" to mean something sinister, generally used to describe a movement that was at least potentially destructive to its members or to society, or that took advantage of its members and engaged in unethical practices. But he argues that no one yet has been able to define "cult" in a way that enables the term to identify only problematic groups. Miller asserts that the attributes of so-called cults (see Cult Checklist ), usually defined by Anticultists , are perfectly capable of belonging to groups that few would consider cultic, such as Catholic religious orders or many Evangelical Protestant churches. Since the term makes no distinction between an objectionable group and a legitimate one, it is meaningless and pointlessly disparaging. Due to the usually pejorative connotation of the word "cult", new religious movements (NRMs) and other purported cults often find the word highly offensive. Some purported cults have been known to insist that other similar groups are cults but that they themselves are not. On the other hand, some Skeptics have questioned the distinction between a cult and a mainstream religion. They say that the only difference between a cult and a Religion is that the latter is older and has more followers and, therefore, seems less controversial because society has become used to it. See also '' Anti-cult Movement '' and '' Opposition To Cults And New Religious Movements ''. Unification Church member Lloyd Eby calls the third definition of Merriam-Webster problematic, because: "...then we must ask: regarded as spurious or unorthodox Societal and governmental pressures on cults American novelist and critic Tom Wolfe gave the definition of cult as a religion which has no political power, inferring that there is no functional difference between religions and cults except their acceptance within the general community and the way they are perceived by others. Many majoritarian religions generally have their doctrinal tenets legitimized by society in one way or another (and by the state in some countries although not in most modern democracies), while groups with non-mainstream beliefs may experience social and media disapproval either permanently (if their beliefs and practices are just too unorthodox) or until either the group, or society, or both, evolve in a converging way resulting in a higher level of social acceptance. The question of social acceptance should not be confused, however, with that of governmental acceptance. Most governmental clashes with cult-like groups in the United States in recent years have been the result of real or perceived violations of the law by the groups in question. There have been no well documented recent cases of the U.S. government persecuting a supposedly cult-like group simply because of its religious or political beliefs (as opposed to its alleged illegal ''acts''), although several groups have claimed such persecution. (Of course, it is possible that negative perceptions of a group by prosecutors could make them more quick to prosecute than they might otherwise be; for instance, in the income tax case against Reverend Moon.) In addition, the United States has never had an established church and groups widely regarded as cults or as having non-mainstream beliefs have often found it easy to gain political clout; for instance, the Unification Church (by way of its influential newspaper, the Washington Times); Scientology (by way of its Hollywood connections, which some observers have suggested gave it clout with the Clinton administration); and the Hassidic sects in New York (by high level political turnout and bloc voting). Any idea that the United States has a knee-jerk hostility to non-mainstream religious beliefs is belied by the popularity of the Dalai Lama, who, although he has never been accused of being a cult leader, certainly espouses beliefs that are as far from the American norm as those of many so-called cults. (Needs references) In the 19th century the Mormons were singled out by the U.S. government, which even sent the U.S. Army against them in 1857. This military action has been referred to as the Utah War although no battles occurred. The US Army's charge was to depose Brigham Young as Governor of the Utah Territory and install a more acceptable, non-Mormon individual, Alfred Cumming . The motivation for this unilateral action was a rumor that the Mormons were planning to rebel against the United States government. When it became clear that the rumor was false and that President Buchanan had ordered military action without verifying his sources, the incident became known as "Buchanan's Blunder." CULT, NRM AND THE SOCIOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION The problem with defining the word ''cult'' is that (1) the word ''cult'' is often used to marginalize religious groups with which one does not agree or sympathize, and (2) accused cult members generally resist being called a cult. Some serious researchers of Religion and Sociology prefer to use terms such as '' New Religious Movement '' (NRM) in their research on religious groups that may be referred to as cults by other religious groups. Such usage may lead to confusion because some religious movements are "new" but not necessarily cults, and some purported cults are not religious or overtly religious. Furthermore, some religious groups commonly regarded as cults are in fact no longer "new"; for instance, the Jehovah's Witnesses have been around for over 100 years in the USA; Scientology is over 50 years old; and the Hare Krishna came out of Gaudiya Vaishnavism , a religious tradition that is approximately 500 years old. HI Where a sect (and generally one with offbeat teachings) practices physical or mental abuse, some Psychologist s and other mental health professionals may use the term ''cult''. However, others prefer the more descriptive terminolgy such as ''abusive cult'' or '' Destructive Cult ''. Since cult critics using these terms rarely mention any alleged cults ''except'' abusive ones, the two terms are in effect redundant phrases. The popular press also commonly uses these terms. However, not all sectarian groups labelled as cults or as "cult-like" function abusively or destructively to any degree greater than many mainstream social institutions, and among those cults that psychologists believe ''are'' abusive to an exceptional degree, few members (as opposed to some ex-members) would agree that they have suffered abuse. Other researchers like David V. Barrett hold the view that classifying a religious movement as a cult is generally used as a subjective and negative label and has no added value; instead, he argues that one should investigate the beliefs and practices of the religious movement. Some psychologists who specialised in group psychology have studied what cognitive and emotional traits make people join a cult and stay loyal to it. For example, see an analysis in the Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology {Link without Title} . Some groups, particularly those labeled by others as cults, view the "cult" designation as insensitive and may feel persecuted by their opponents, who may be in fact be affiliated with organizations that are self-defined as anti-cult (or strongly critical of cults). A discussion (from a moderately pro-cult viewpoint) and list of ACM (anti-cult movement) groups can be found at http://www.religioustolerance.org/acm.htm. Even when no affiliation with such a group exists, the opponents of a particular cult will usually be influenced to varying degrees by the Anti-cult Movement 's ideas--which are summarized in this article in the sections "Definition by secular cult opposition" and "Definition by Christian anti-cult movement." Groups accused of being "cults" or "cult-like" often defend their position by comparing themselves to more established, mainstream religious groups such as Catholicism and Judaism . The argument offered can usually be simplified as, "except for size and age, Christianity and Judaism meet all the criteria for a cult, and therefore the term ''cult'' simply means ''small, young religion''." According to the Dutch religious scholar Wouter Hanegraaff , another problem with writing about cults comes about because they generally hold Belief System s that give answers to questions about the meaning of Life and Morality . This makes it difficult not to write in biased terms about a certain cult, because writers are rarely neutral about these questions. In an attempt to deal with this difficulty, some writers who deal with the subject choose to explicitly state their ethical values and belief systems. For many scholars and professional commentators, the usage of the word "cult" applies to maleficent or abusive behavior, and not to a belief system. For members of competing religions, use of the word remains pejorative and applies primarily to rival beliefs (see Meme s), and only incidentally to behavior. It should be noted that there is no clear, causal connection between extremist belief and the formation of a so-called destructive cult. Most far-right hate groups are not cults, although they have pathological ideas and are frequently violent. Some groups regarded as cults have relatively benign belief systems. In the sociology of religion, the term cult is a part of the subdivision of religious groups into sects, cults, denominations, and ecclesias. The sociologists Rodney Stark and William S. Bainbridge define in their book "Theory Of Religion" and subsequent works cults as "deviant religious organization with novel beliefs and practices", that is as New Religious Movement s that unlike Sect s have not separated from another religious organization. Cults, in this sense, may or may not be dangerous, abusive, etc. By this broad definition, most of the groups which have been popularly labeled cults fit the definition. Who studies cults Among the experts studying cults and new religious movements are sociologists, religious scholars, psychologists, and psychiatrists. To an unusual extent for an academic/quasi-scientific field, however, nonacademics play a vital role in the study of and/or debates concerning cults. These include investigative journalists and nonacademic book authors (who often examine court records and study the finances of cults in a way that academics are not accustomed to doing), writers who once were (or currently are) members of purported cults, and people who work with ex-cult members in a practical way (for instance, as therapists) but are not university affiliated. Nonacademics are frequently published in the Journal of Cultic Studies, present papers at conferences of the International Cultic Studies Association, and have their work cited in articles and books by university scholars. It should be noted that one of the most distinguished thinkers in cultic studies, sociologist Janja Lalich, began her work and conceptualized many of her ideas while an ex-cult activist writing for the JCS years before obtaining academic standing. The work of several non-academic cult experts is cited in this article, including journalists have produced books and articles that argue the case against excessive reactions to new religious movements with intellectual rigor and a sense of history. Within this larger community of discourse, the debates about cultism and specific cults are often polarized with widely divergent opinions, not only among current followers of and disaffected former members of purported cults, but also among scholars, social scientists, therapists, activists and spokespersons for mainstream religious movements. What followers is a summary of that portion of the intellectual debate conducted from inside the universities: Methodological issues and challenges Scholars that challenge the validity of Critical Former Members' testimonies as the basis for studying a religious group include David G. Bromley , Anson Shupe , Brian R. Wilson , and Lonnie Kliever . Bromley and Shupe, who studied the social influences on such testimonies, asserts that the apostate in his current role is likely to present a caricature of his former group and that the stories of critical ex-members who defect from groups that are subversive (defined as groups with few allies and many opponents) tend to have the form of "captivity narratives" (i.e. the narratives depict the stay in the group as involuntary). Wilson introduces the Atrocity Story that is rehearsed by the apostate to explain how, by manipulation, coercion, or deceit, he was recruited to a group that he now condemns. Introvigne found in his study of the New Acropolis in France, that public negative testimonies and attitudes were only voiced by a minority of the ex-members, who he describes as becoming "professional enemies" of the group they leave. Kliever, when asked by the Church Of Scientology to give his opinion on the reliability of apostate accounts of their former religious beliefs and practices, writes that these dedicated opponents present a distorted view of the new religions and cannot be regarded as reliable informants by responsible journalists, scholars, or jurists. He claims that the reason for the lack of reliability of apostates is due to the traumatic nature of disaffiliation that he compares to a divorce and also due the influence of the anti-cult movement even on those apostates who were not deprogrammed or received exit counseling. Scholars who tend to side more with critical former members include David C. Lane , Louis Jolyon West , Margaret Singer , Stephen A. Kent , Benjamin Beith-Hallahmi and Benjamin Zablocki . The latter performed an empirical study that showed that the reliability of former members is equal to that of stayers in one particular group. Philip Lucas found the same empirical results. According to Lewis F. Carter, the . Daniel Carson Johnson writes that even the triangulation method rarely succeeds in making assertions with certitude. James Richardson contends that there are a large number of cults and 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. According to Richardson, this tendency is responsible for the widely divergent opinions about cults among scholars and social scientists. Eileen Barker (2001) wrote that critical former members of cults complain that academic observers only notice what the leadership wants them to see. ''See also Apostasy In New Religious Movemets , and Apostates And Apologists ''. CHRISTIANITY AND CULTS Since at least the 1940s , the approach of orthodox, conservative or Fundamentalist Christians was to apply the meaning of ''cult'' such that it included those religious groups who used (possibly exclusively) non-standard translations of the Bible, put additional Revelation on a similar or higher level than the Bible, or had beliefs and/or practices deviant from those of traditional Christianity. Some examples of sources (with published dates where known) that documented this approach are:
CULTS AND TERRORISM The terrorist waves due to Islamic extremist organizations starting with the 1995 Islamist Terror Bombings In France and Al-Qaeda 's acts of terrorism, have resulted in the comparison of Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups to the ancient Hassan-i-Sabah cult. The Sarin Gas Attack On The Tokyo Subway in 1995, by members of Aum Shinrikyo has also raised awareness on the danger of groups that adopt extreme views commonly associated with Destructive Cult s. THEORIES ABOUT THE REASONS FOR JOINING A CULT Michael Langone gives three different models regarding joining a cult : "The definitional ambiguity surrounding the term cult has fueled much controversy regarding why people join cults and other unorthodox groups. Three apparently conflicting models attempt to account for conversion to unorthodox groups. The deliberative model, favored by most sociologists and religious scholars, says that people join because of what they think about the group. The psychodynamic model, favored by many mental health professionals with little direct experience with cultists, says that people join because of what the group does for them - namely, fulfill unconscious psychological needs. The thought reform model, favored by many mental health professionals who have worked with large numbers of cultists, says that people join because of what the group does to them - that is, because of a systematic program of psychological manipulation that exploits, rather than fulfills, needs." explanations are often thought to hold relevance and work in tandem. According to Gallanter, typical reasons why people join cults include a search for community and a spiritual quest. Jeffrey Hadden summarizes a lecture entitled "Why Do People Join NRMs?" (a lecture in a series related to the sociology of new religious movements) as follows: # Belonging to groups is a natural human activity; # People belong to religious groups for essentially the same reasons they belong to other groups; # Conversion is generally understood as an emotionally charged experience that leads to a dramatic reorganization of the convert's life; # Conversion varies enormously in terms of the intensity of the experience and the degree to which it actually alters the life of the convert; # Conversion is one, but not the only reason people join religious groups; # Social scientists have offered a number of theories to explain why people join religious groups; # Most of these explanations could apply equally well to explain why people join lots of other kinds of groups; # No one theory can explain all joinings or conversions; # What all of these theories have in common (deprivation theory excluded) is the view that joining or converting is a natural process. Stark and Bainbridge have questioned the utility of the concept of ''conversion''. They suggest, instead, that the concept of ''affiliation'' is a more useful concept for understanding how people join religious groups. CULT LEADERSHIP According to Dr. Eileen Barker , new religions are in most cases started by Charismatic leaders whom she considers unpredictable. According to Mikael Rothstein, there is in many cases no access to plain facts both about historical religious leaders and contemporary ones, though there is an abundance of legends, Myth s, and theological elaborations. According to Rothstein, most members of any new religious movement have little chance of a personal meeting with the ''Master'' (leader) except as a member of big audience when the Master is present on stage. See also ''Role Of Charismatic Figures In The Development Of Religions'' DEVELOPMENT OF CULTS Cults based on charismatic leadership often follow the Routinization Of Charisma , as described by the German sociologist Max Weber . The death of the founder may lead to a succession crisis. In their book ''Theory of Religion''', Rodney Stark and William Sims Bainbridge propose that the formation of cults can be explained through a combination of four models:
RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE OUTSIDE WORLD Barker wrote that peripheral members may help to lessen the tension that exists between some groups and the outside world. 27 In the case where members live in Intentional Communities , custody disputes (if one parent leaves and one stays) may be a source of confrontation between the cult and the outside world. CULTS: GENUINE CONCERNS AND EXAGGERATIONS The stigma surrounding the classification of a group as a cult stems from the purported ill effect the group's influence has on its members. The narratives of ill effect include threats presented by a cult to its members (whether real or perceived), and risks to the ''physical'' safety of its members and to their mental and ''spiritual'' growth. Much of the actions taken against cults and alleged cults have been in reaction to the harm experienced by some members due to their affiliation with the groups in question. Members of alleged cult groups have taken pains to emphasize that not all groups called cults are dangerous. Over a period of time, some minority religious organizations that were at one point in time considered cults have been accepted by mainstream society, such as the Amish and Christian Science in the USA. Christian Science has been the focus of controversy in recent years over its policy of discouraging members from seeking medical care for their children, but the media has generally treated this as a specific doctrinal issue--like the celibacy of the Catholic priesthood--rather than suggesting that Christian Science is a cult that controls all aspects of a member's life. , portraying its founder Jim Jones as the loving father of the "Rainbow Family".]] Certain cults, such as Heaven's Gate , Ordre Du Temple Solaire , Aum Shinrikyo , the Movement For The Restoration Of The Ten Commandments Of God in Uganda, the Church Of The Lamb Of God of Ervil LeBaron , and the Peoples Temple have demonstrated by their actions that they do pose a threat to the well-being of both their own members and to society in general; these organizations are often referred to as doomsday cults by the media, and their mass suicides and mass murders are well-documented. According to John R. Hall, a professor in sociology at the University Of California-Davis and Philip Schuyler, the Peoples Temple is still seen by some as ''the'' cultus classicus,, though it did not belong to the set of groups that triggered the cult controversy in United States in the 1970s . Its mass suicide on November 18 , 1978 led to increased concern about cults. Other groups include the Colonia Dignidad cult (a German group settled in Chile) that served as a torture center for the Chilean government during the Pinochet dictatorship. Certain other groups, while not universally condemned, remain suspect in the minds of the general public, such as Scientology and to a lesser extent the Unification Church and the Children Of God . A problem in studying such high-profile groups is to distinguish between a group's public image (which may have become fixed decades earlier) and the group's actual practices in the here and now. This is especially important when one is studying a group whose founder has died or that has splintered, or a group with foreign origins that is gradually integrating itself into another culture. It is worth noting that despite the emphasis on narratives of "doomsday cults" by the media and the anti-cult movement, the number of cults known to have fallen into that category is approximately ten, which is very few when compared with the total number of new religious movements (including cults that are psychologically destructive but not extremely violent or doomsday-oriented), which E. Barker estimates to be in the tens of thousands. Furthermore of the total number of cults in the United States alone, only a hundred or so have ever become notorious for alleged misdeeds either in the national media or in local media; it is essentially these groups that are to varying degrees the targets of the so-called anticult and countercult movements in any meaningful sense. As scholarly study of cults is to an extent media driven, with notorious groups inviting sympathetic scholars to study them and provide a more favorable picture than the media has, and "anti-cult" scholars looking for a publishable topic, it is mostly the notorious groups that are studied. The vast majority of cults are terra incognita with no one having anything more than rough estimates of the number of cults and number of cult adherents either in the U.S. or internationally, or indeed if the majority of the groups in such tallies are cults at all. According to Benjamin Zablocki, a professor of Sociology at Rutgers University , cults are at high risk of becoming abusive to members. He states that this is in part due to members' adulation of Charismatic leaders contributing to the leaders becoming corrupted by power. Zablocki defines a cult here as an ideological organization held together by charismatic relationships and that demands total commitment. There is no reliable, generally accepted way to determine which groups will harm their members. In an attempt to predict the probability of harm, popular but non-scientific Cult Checklist s have been created by anti-cultists for this purpose. According to Barrett, the most common accusation made against alleged "cults" is Sexual Abuse . See Some Allegations Made By Former Members . According to Kranenborg, some groups, like Christian Science and Jehovah's Witnesses , are risky when they advise their members not to use regular medical care. Barker, Barrett, and the anti-cult activist Steven Hassan all advise seeking information from various sources about a certain group before getting deeply involved, though these sources differ in the urgency they suggest. Stigmatization and discrimination Some feel that the terms "cult" and "cult leader" are used pejoratively by opponents of cults, asserting that they are to be avoided to prevent harm. A website affiliated with Adi Da Samraj {Link without Title} sees the activities of cult opponents as the exercise of prejudice and discrimination against them, and regards the use of the words "cult" and "cult leader" as similar to the manner in which "nigger" and "commie" were used in the past to denigrate blacks and Communists. In an essay by identifies two types of definitions: opponents define them in terms of negative characteristics, while scholars attempt to study these groups and be value free. The movements themselves may have different definitions of religion as well. Chryssides cites a need to develop more appropriate definitions to and allow for common ground in the debate. These definitions have political and ethical impact beyond just scholarly debate. In ''Defining Religion in American Law'', for example, 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." Also, several authors in the cult opposition are not happy with the word cult. Some definitions used imply that there is a continuum with a large gray area separating "cult" from "noncult". Others authors, e.g. Steven Hassan , differentiate by using terms like Destructive Cult or ''Cult (totalitarian type) vs. benign cult. Leaving a cult There are at least three ways people leave a cult: ,
Lalich in ''Bounded Choice'' (2004) describes a fourth way of leaving--rebellion against the cult leader or cult majority. Although in the atypical case she describes, the entire cult membership quit, more often rebellion is a combination of the walkaway and castaway patterns in that the rebellion may trigger the expulsion--essentially, the rebels provoke the cult leadership into being the agency of their break with an over-committed lifestyle. Tourish and Wohlforth (2000) and Dennis King (1989) provide several examples in the history of political cults. The rebellion response in such groups appears to follow a longstanding behavior pattern among Trotskyist and other political sects which began long before the emergence of the contemporary political cult. The majority of authors agree that there are some people who experience problems after leaving a cult. There are, though, disagreements regarding the frequency of such problems and regarding the cause. According to Barker (1989) , the biggest worry about possible harm concerns the relatively few dedicated followers of a New Religious Movement (NRM). Barker also mentions that some former members may not take new initatives for quite a long time after disaffiliation from the NRM. This generally does not concern the many superficial, short-lived, or peripheral supporters of a NRM. Membership in a cult usually does not last forever: 90% or more of cult members ultimately leave their group,. According to Carol Giambalvo, most people leaving a cult do 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. Feelings of guilt, shame, or anger are by her observation worst with castaways, but walkaways can also have serious problems with feeling inadequate or guilty. People who had interventions or a rehabilitation therapy do have similar problems but are usually better prepared to deal with them. Bromley and Hadden say that there is lack of empirical support for alleged consequences of having been a member of a cult or sect, and that there is substantial empirical evidence against it such as: the fact that the overwhelming proportion of people who get involved in NRMs do leave, most short of two years; the overwhelming proportion of people leave of their own volition; and that two-thirds (67%) felt "wiser for the experience". Flo and Conway in ''Snapping'' described a survey regarding after-cult effects and deprogramming and concluded that people deprogrammed had less problems than people not deprogrammed. "...Our last block of findings concerned the controversial issue of deprogramming. The numbers confirmed that deprogramming was indeed a vital first step on the road back from cult control. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of the people in our survey were deprogrammed, about half voluntarily and half involuntarily. As a group, they reported a third less, and in many cases only half as many, post-cult effects than those who weren’t deprogrammed. Average rehabilitation time was one-third longer--more than a year and a half--for those who weren’t deprogrammed compared to just over a year for those who were. Overall, deprogrammees reported a third fewer months of depression, forty percent less disorientation, half as many sleepless nights--clearly, something in the process worked! ..." The BBC writes that in a survey done by Jill Mytton on 200 former cult members most of them reported problems adjusting to society and about a third would benefit from some counseling. Burks (2002), in a study comparing Group Psychological Abuse Scale (GPA9 and Neurological Impairment Scale (NIS) scores in 132 former members of cults and cultic relationships, found a positive correlation between intensity of thought reform environment as measured by the GPA and cognitive impairment as measured by the NIS. Additional findings were a reduced earning potential in view of the education level that corroborates earlier studies of cult critics ( (Martin 1993; Singer & Ofshe, 1990; West & Martin, 1994) and significant levels of depression and dissociation agreeing with Conway & Siegelman, (1982), Lewis & Bromley, (1987) and Martin, et al. (1992). According to Barret, in many cases the problems do not happen while in a movement, but when leaving a movement which can be difficult for some members and may include a lot of by the religious movement; avoidance of uncertainties about life and its meaning; having had powerful religious experiences; love for the founder of the religion; emotional investment; fear of losing Salvation ; bonding with other members; anticipation of the realization that time, money, and efforts donated to the group were a waste; and the new freedom with its corresponding responsibilities, especially for people who lived in a community. Those reasons may prevent a member from leaving even if the member realizes that some things in the NRM are wrong. According to Kranenborg, in some religious groups, like the Jehovah's Witness es, members have all their social contacts within the group, which makes disaffection and disaffiliation very traumatic. According to F. Derks and J. van der Lans, there is no uniform Post-cult Trauma . While psychological and social problems upon resignation are not rare, their character and intensity are greatly dependent on the personal history and on the traits of the ex-member, and on the reasons for and way of resignation. See also Shunning Criticism by former members of purported cults The public generally hears criticism of an alleged cult from the mass media, which often quotes law enforcement sources, public interest researchers, lawyers involved in civil litigation involving the group in question, and anti-cult spokespersons as well as persons with spontaneous direct experience. Those with direct experience provide the foundation for most criticisms of the quality of life within the alleged cult and for much of the description of controversial types of member behavior. Such primary sources of criticism may include: parents, relatives, and close friends of cult members (who often have carefully observed personality changes in their loved one which they rightly or wrongly interpret as changes for the worse); victims of scams perpetrated on the general public by a minority of cults; people who go to recruitment-oriented meetings and then back away as a result of their perceptions of such events; persons raised in cults who left after coming of age; and former adult members. Usually, the most dramatic allegations, as well as the most systematic and detailed ones, will come from adult former members and to a lesser extent from persons who were raised in the cult, although a fair percentage of former members in these categories are ''not'' strongly critical of their former spiritual or ideological home. The former members who voice strong criticisms are termed " Apostate s" by some scholars. But this term is regarded as pejorative by other scholars--and also as misleading because the term's religious connotation doesn't apply readily to non-religious cults. One scholar who uses the term "apostate" frequently is Gordon Melton , who in turn has been labelled a Cult Apologist by scholars strongly critical of cults. The allegations of former members include: sexual abuse by the leader; failed promises and failed Prophecy ; causing suicides through neglect or abuse; failing to allow an ex-cult parent to have access to his or her child or children being raised within the cult; leaders who neither admit nor apologize for mistakes; false, irrational, or even contradictory teachings; Exclusivism ; Deception in recruitment (by using "front groups"); pressure to engage in illegal financial activity or manipulative sexual behavior; demands to turn over all (or an excessive amount) of one's assets and income to the cult; demands for total immersion in the religious mission, ideological cause or day to day organizational activities of the cult at the expense of career, education, family, and friends; and more. The role of former members in the controversy surrounding cults has been widely studied by social scientists. Former members in this context are those individuals who become public opponents against their former movement. The former members' motivations, the roles they play in the anti-cult movement, the validity of their testimony, and the kinds of narratives they construct, are controversial with some scholars who suspect that at least some of the narratives are strongly influenced by the exit-counseling (or formerly of the deprogramming) process, while other scholars conclude that testimonies of former members are at least as accurate as testimonies of current members. See also Apostasy In New Religious Movements . Allegations made by scholars and skeptics
Other allegations
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. In order to maintain a neutral point of view, a List Of Purported Cults presents a listing of groups labeled as cults by various non-related, reasonably unbiased sources. CULTS AND NRMS IN LITERATURE One of the earliest mentions of a cult-like organization was in a satire by Lucian Of Samosata , a second century AD writer. Lucian unmasks "Alexander the false prophet" who is playing tricks on people to obtain their money. The prophet plots Lucian's death but Lucian is forewarned and avoids the attack. Some scholars believe that Lucian's satires were cribbed from works written by other writers hundreds of years earlier. Among American writers, Mark Twain and Willa Cather both published what today would be called "exposes" of Christian Science . In spite of their eloquence, they failed to prevent Mary Baker Eddy 's church from eventually obtaining a large measure of respectability. Zane Grey , in his ''Riders of the Purple Sage'' (1912), a Western novel that would have a major influence on Hollywood, lambasts the Mormons and has his gunslinger hero rescue a wealthy young woman in the early 1870s from the clutches of elderly Polygamists via exceedingly bloody gunfights. In spite of the Melodrama , the novel contains an acute portrayal of the psychological conflicts of the young woman, raised a Mormon but gradually coming to the realization that she needs a supposedly freer life. (It should be noted that the Mormon misdeeds depicted in the story take place on the southern frontier of Utah and there is no suggestion that Mormon leaders in Salt Lake City are involved. Indeed, the harassment of the young woman reflects a popular literary theme in Victoria 's England rather than Brigham Young 's Utah--the orphaned young heiress besieged by unscrupulous suitors who profess the '' Anglican '' faith.) Grey's story betrays the influence of Conan Doyle 's ''A Study in Scarlet'' (1887), in which the Mormons and their leader Brigham Young are portrayed as unremittingly villainous. Two Mormons who had forced a young woman into a polygamous marriage in Utah are the targets of a revenge murder in England. However, Doyle has the murderer brought to justice by Sherlock Holmes , while Grey's gunslinger gets the girl (and the gold). Science fiction writer Robert Heinlein had an abiding interest in cults. A leading figure in his early " Future History " series (see '' If This Goes On-- '', a short novel published in ''Revolt in 2100'' (1953)) is Nehemiah Scudder, a religious "prophet" who becomes dictator of the United States. Heinlein pours into this book his distrust of Mormonism, Protestant fundamentalism and other religious movements that he regards as authoritarian. It apparently influenced Margaret Atwood 's '' The Handmaid's Tale '' (1985). In Heinlein's '' Stranger In A Strange Land '' (1961), the hero from Mars , Valentine Michael Smith , goes through a period of functioning as a cult leader, and his control techniques are described in great detail. Dashiell Hammett 's '' The Dain Curse '' (1929) revolves around a California circle of the type that today would be called a New Age cult. Since the advent of the anti-cult movement in the 1970s, numerous thrillers have been written in which the hero, often a Private Detective , rescues a young person from a cult and/or uncovers nefarious murders plotted by a cult. One example is Dan Brown 's '' The Da Vinci Code '', in which the hero and heroine are pursued by an Albino assassin from Opus Dei , a Catholic lay order that in the real world has been accused of exerting an unethical psychological control over its members. Persons widely regarded (rightly or wrongly) as cult leaders played an interesting if minor role in 20th century literature. Aleister Crowley , the New Age guru, was a poet and novelist who wrote an autobiography that became a widely praised bestseller after his death. Nicholas Roerich, the founder of Agni Yoga, was a travel writer and poet as well as being a major painter who captured the stark features of the mountains of Central Asia. L. Ron Hubbard was an important figure in the golden age of science fiction and also wrote '' Fear '' (1940), a ground-breaking psychological thriller that influenced later writers such as Stephen King . G.I. Gurdjieff , the guru who taught methods of "double consciousness" in Paris, authored '' Meetings With Remarkable Men '', a minor classic of Russian literature, and '' Beelzebub's Tales To His Grandson '', a curious work that some regard as a masterpiece. Ayn Rand , founder of objectivism, was the author of two major best sellers, '' The Fountainhead '' (1943) amd '' Atlas Shrugged '' (1957). Fred Newman , leader of the social therapy cult in New York City, is a prolific playwright whose best-known work is ''Sally and Tom (The American Way)'' (1995), a musical about the slave-master romance of Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson . Numerous other purported cult leaders or founders of New Age tendencies or new religious movements have written nonfiction works (often dosed with more than a little fiction) that have influenced the thinking of broad circles. Those with such influence have included Helena Blavatsky , the Russian adventuress who founded Theosophy , penned '' The Secret Doctrine '' and '' Isis Unveiled '', and had an immense cultural and intellectual influence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, indirectly helping to stimulate the Indian nationalist movement, the interfaith Ecumenical movement, Parapsychology , the genre of the occult thriller, and what today is called the New Age movement. Psychiatrist Wilhelm Reich , who in his later years founded a psychotherapy cult around the idea of Orgone Energy , is widely regarded as a major inspirer of the Sexual Revolution , a forerunner of the interdisciplinary field of Psychohistory , and an influential theorist and clinician of early Psychoanalysis . Rudolf Steiner (d. 1925), founder of Anthroposophy (a Theosophy splinter movement), was an important writer in a variety of fields (his collected works total 40 volumes) and an influence on such figures as Nobel Prize novelist Herman Hesse and Inkling Society philosopher Owen Barfield . Through his writings and lectures (also published), Steiner stimulated the development of the cooperative movement, alternative medicine, organic farming, the Waldorf schools, and the doctrine of " Eurythmy " in modern dance. Several alleged cult leaders have been prolific Tract writers and although their writings have not influenced contemporary culture to the degree of a Reich or Blavatsky they have stimulated many to join their churches or movements and have expressed ideas that have been adopted and adapted by writers and spiritual "entrepreneurs" outside of their own circles. Examples include J.Z. Knight , founder of Ramtha's School Of Enlightenment , whose popular Ramtha books have done much to spread the practice of spirit Channelling among New Agers ; and Elizabeth Clare Prophet of the Church Universal And Triumphant who, with her late husband Mark Prophet , wrote over 75 books on the " Ascended Masters " and similar topics. Other examples include the late Herbert W. Armstrong of the Worldwide Church Of God , whose books on Biblical prophecy and British Israelism were widely read for over a half century; and rightwing ideologue and conspiracy theorist Lyndon LaRouche --the author of over 500 books, articles and published speeches which have had a significant if often subterranean influence on various movements of the left and right as well as on the media in some countries. CULTS AND GOVERNMENTS ''For the main article, see 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 Cult s, have taken restrictive measures against some of their activities. Those measures were generally motivated by various crimes committed by a string of murderous incidents involving Doomsday Cult s circa 1995. 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 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 NMRs 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. SEE ALSO
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