Part of spiritual longing is the wish to find answers to burning questions: Who or what is God, why am I here, what is the purpose of existence, if "God" is good why is there so much suffering in the world, and what happens when I die?
For a perspective cult member, their friends seem content with a primarily worldly lifestyle and appear untroubled by philosophical questions. Whereas, for a prospective cult member, there is a deep and insistent longing for answers and established religions seem to fail in providing answers.
One person's cult can be another person's religion, and history has proven that yesterday's small sect, can mushroom into today's popular religion. Cults can be made up of only a few people, to ranging in the millions. Given enough time we can find what was once considered a cult can be transformed into a mainstream religion, accepted by society. A good example of this is Mormonism with 10 million members today, as they have changed their image and present themselves as another Christian Church, a truer one. Not all religions act like cults, some Christian cults can be worse than another religion due to the fact they take more freedom away and exercise control over its members.
One such Christian cult is that of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS). Joseph Smith founded The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 1830.
It attracted 1,000 members during its first 12 months. Joseph Smith received his first vision in 1820, at the age of 14 in New York. God and Jesus Christ appeared before Joseph as separate entities and told him that all of the Christian sects and denominations were in error and that he shouldn’t join any of them. However, he should anticipate a major personal assignment in the future. In 1823, age of 17, he received three visitations from Moroni at the time of the Autumn Equinox. He claimed that the angel revealed to him the location of golden tablets on which was written the history of two early American tribes. Smith claims it was from this information that he started his group (Mormonism).
Some Mormon groups in Utah and British Columbia engage in polygyny, which can be appealing to some people who are already established within a religion but the general consensus amongst most Christians is that Bible teaches that polygamy is a sin Polygyny is against the law in theory but legal in practice in British Columbia. Joseph, first secretly promoted the concept of polygyny during the 1830s - involving one man married to multiple wives, also known as the Law of Abraham, the Patriarchal Order of Marriage, Celestial Plural Marriage, or the Law of the Priesthood. It was not until eight years after Joseph Smith's death, 1852, that the church publicly acknowledged the practice of polygyny.
Another Christian cult is called “Jehovah's Witnesses”. Jehovah's Witnesses derive their name from... Jehovah, an English translation of the name for God in the Hebrew and Witnesses which is taken from the passage Isaiah 43:10 –
"Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord..."
They are a high intensity faith group, which expects a major commitment from its membership and can appear to trap its members (The table and chart below show the average percentages of Witnesses in 2000 around the world)
The table shows that the biggest population of Witnesses are concentrated in and around Mexico with roughly 557,126 . The main religion of Mexico is Christianity and of that only 5% is not (89%) or (6%). There are almost 1 million witnesses in the U.S., about 111,000 in Canada which is chiefly Roman Catholic and Protestant / As of mid-2004, about 6.4 million publishers and pioneers in over 75,000 congregations in more than 200 countries have been established, and had expanded widely throughout Europe and Russia.
According to Jehovah's Witness' theology, God is a single person, not a (three people), who does not know all things and is not everywhere. He first created Michael the Archangel through whom He created all "other things," including the universe, the earth, Adam and Eve, etc. After Adam sinned, the paradise, which God had created for them, was ruined. So, God instituted a system of redemption that was revealed in the Bible and would ultimately lead to the crucifixion of Jesus. This suggests a malicious group that have taken it upon itself to interpret the bible and cause a climate of fear amongst its members
Too often, the established religions require their members to have belief in convincing statements, which are too often unconvincing. Potential group/cult members are frequently too intelligent to accept these statements such as those in the bible without questioning them. Established religions tell their members what they should do but they do not explain how. The question of why, is answered by a statement that requires belief in the first place eg; God said ... In the bible it says...
In a New Religious Group (NRG/cults), there exists a greater possibility of personal guidance then is available with mainstream religions. Intelligent questioning is encouraged. NRGs can be a way of questioning and exploration; a journey inward to the essence of oneself to find a place of understanding and to encounter the source of love. The concept of God can be questioned and many levels of meaning explored.
Some established religions on the other hand, impose behaviour and expect belief without understanding; they place boundaries on a person's thinking, demand the observance of ritual, and gain obedience by generating fear. Potential followers are invited to a life of constriction and limitation rather than exploration and discovery.
Young people are often targets for cults. During adolescence many young people experience a feeling of separation from society and their family and friends. This feeling of isolation and loneliness makes young people more susceptible to the seemingly family like and friendly atmosphere of some cults. Adolescence also brings many big changes and challenges. Challenges like: leaving school, starting work or university and travelling – many of these involve moving away from family and friends. These changes can bring about a heightened state of vulnerability. In this state of mind young people are more open to persuasion .
Parents of children who have joined religious cults may take comfort in Anti Cult movements or Acm’s theories because they stop them from any feelings of personal guilt. They can in theory blame the religious cult and its leaders for engaging in criminal acts and capturing their children’s minds. Anti cult movements beliefs mesh well with the mind-control themes seen in films such as “The Manchurian Candidate” (1962; remake 2004) and similar horror movies. The public has uncritically accepted these works of imaginative fiction as representing reality. Brainwashing techniques included physical intimidation and is labeled 'first generation' brainwashing. Now these techniques are being used it is claimed that ruthless cult leaders prey on young people in Western countries. Cult mind control is too different from everyday varieties, but it has greater intensity, persistence and duration. One difference is in its greater effort to block members leaving the group, by having high exit costs such as induced phobias of harm, failure, and personal isolation.
Another thing that cults offer is a sense of family, becoming a member of a cult is like becoming a member of a family, a large family that lives, worships and supports each other. In many places religious communities crop up causing public outcry. A recent outcry was brought to light by the Telegraph Newspaper, about a community called “Eldorado” (Texas) where a secretive Mormon Sect/cult are living on a 1,671-acre ranch with a population of 1,905 members. The “town” has a coffee shop, 1school, 2 taxidermists and 7 churches. The leader is a man called Warren Jeffs who has upwards of 80wives and is a former head teacher. The members of the “town” believe Jeffs is a prophet in daily contact with God and only Jeff’s followers will be saved on the day of Judgement. From birth, members are taught that the entire outside world is dammed and must never be trusted so they should avoid all contact with outsiders, newspapers, magazines, TV’s, books and radios and there is no leaving the ranch/town unless on essential business, which is always conducted by men. The hype about this ranch has given the Mormon religion a bad image all over the world for it has brought to light issues of ignorance and fear. Children are deliberately undereducated, girls are forced to marry much older men and teenage boys are thrown out so that there are more women for the older men and women are treated like slaves who’s only real job is to have children.
There have been several other high profile cases and in his book “Under the banner of heaven”, Jon Krakaure writes about recurring problems exhibited by the Mormon sects, most often surrounding the issue of forced marriages and rape of young girls. One such case was of that of a badly beaten 16year old girl called Mary Ann Kingston (1998) from a huge clan in salt lake who fled from a compulsory marriage to her 32-yearold uncle. Another case in 2002 was of that of Tom Green who was jailed for life after raping a 13year old girl. One more case is that of 14year old Elizabeth Smart who was abducted by Mormon fundamentalists. The list of cases goes on and on and only heightens the image of a fundamentalist’s society in the public eye, which isn’t the case of all Mormon sects or cults.
I believe people join a group to have their needs met... A common feeling on meeting a sympathetic group is that "this is exactly right", "this is what I have been looking for". This is because subconsciously, the individual senses that a lot, if not most of their needs can be met within the group. This can be a very emotional moment-Interest in being anywhere else or doing anything ceases. The more un’met needs a person has, the more powerful the attraction is.
Another reason I believe is idealism, people are attracted to cults by the enthusiasm and personal sacrifice of cult members, or by their wholesome lifestyle in contrast to the lifestyle of major culture and the traditional churches; the strict regimen and discipline of some cults is also attractive.
Often it’s hard to leave because the follower is held hostage by his or her own needs. They have learnt that outside the group their needs are not met so there’s little attraction of leaving. If a person is to be encouraged to leave, they will have to first identify their needs and know that these needs can be met, not in a way that others think they should, but in a way that feels right for them. People stay even when they begin to have an idea that all is not well, because the group has become the only place, which meets their needs and longings and therefore the longer a person stays a part of a religious cult, the harder it becomes for them to leave. This is often because within a cult a member will see the other members as their only family (very often a member’s whole life is within the confines of a cult.)
I found the definition of Christian cults too weak and hence I found it weakened the argument against cults when I was looking into them. So from my research I have summed up what a cult actually is…a cult is a group that promotes itself and its founder/leaders more than it promotes God. They may talk about God and claim to promote faith in God, but any time they are forced to decide between their organisation and a God who is bigger than their organisation, they will side with the organisation. This in my opinion is the real problem with the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons.
Also I found the practice of polygamy/ Polygyny to be a double sided argument simply because I think it's interesting that Mormons originally accepted the idea and practice of polygamy but now the "official" Mormon organisation has since claimed that a new revelation has come to light that restricts the practice and teaching of polygamy which means polygamy was and is sacrificed. I find the fact that Mormons seem to simply pick and choose which bits of the bible to believe in troubling and this makes me question the teachings of the Mormon organisation, and of any organisation/cult that claims to be a church but doesn't follow the word of God when it becomes too difficult for them.
Oxford school Dictionary – p116
The new Believers – sects, cults and alternative religions – David V. Barrett – P161
Cults (Faith, healing and Coercion) – Marc Galanter – P6-7
The Holy Bible: Jehovah Edition
www.nationmaster.com/country/mx/Religion
www.watchtower.org/statistics/worldwide_report.htm
Jehovah's Witnesses, The Organization Behind the Name (1990), video tape depicting life inside of Bethel
Understanding New Religious movements – 2nd edition – John A. Saliba – P214 - 216
Cult," Microsoft® Encarta® (pc Dictionary)
http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/m/manchurian_candidate.html
19th march 05 – Telegraph magazine – Under siege in Eldorado – P25-33
Under the banner of Heaven – John Krakaure– P18
Under the banner of Heaven – John Krakaure – P20 - 24
Under the banner of Heaven – John Krakaure – P43- 54