cults in america
...tance, The Church of Scientology and The Synanon Church are new religious ideals that formed here in The U.S without any foreign existence. People have always had broad definitions and wide opinions about Cults. In 1976 Marcia Rudin, a popular writer on the topic of religion and cults made things easier for some people to grasp. In her book The New Religious Consciousness, Rudin listed 14 broadly accepted characteristics of a cult: 1. Members swear total allegiance to an all -powerful leader who they believe to be the Messiah. 2. Rational though is discouraged or forbidden. 3. The cult’s recruitment techniques are often deceptive. 4. The cult weakens the follower psychologically by making him or her depend upon the group to solve his or her problems 5. The cults manipulate guilt to their advantage. 6. The cult leader makes all the career and life decision of the members 7. Cults exist only for their own material survival and make false promises to work to improve society. 8. Cult members often work fulltime for the group for little or no pay. 9. Cult members are isolated from the outside world and any reality testing it could provide. 10. Cults are antiwomen, antichild, and antifamily. 11. Cults are apocalyptic and believe themselves to be the remnant who will survive the soon-approaching end of the world. 12. Many cults, particularly in regard to their finances, are shrouded in secrecy. 13. There is frequently an aura of or potential for violence around cults. Of course, not all things listed are true of all cults and some of the 14 items are Rudin’s opinion. According to cultwatch.com a study done back in 1980 suggests that 500 to 600 destructive cults exist and operate in The United States. However no evidence was provided to back these claims. Of these cults, over 100 are primarily ethnic bodies confined to first and second generation immigrant communities. These ethnic religions do not recruit outside their small ethnic base and often continue to use the language of their home country, this is significant for because it easily distinguishes the cult from the rest of society. Life in a cult is an interesting topic which is hard to describe due to that while many cults are similar, no two are exactly alike. In chapter 2 of Alternatives to American Mainline Churches, by Joseph H. Fichter, Fichter talks of most groups having a standard program through which they process new members, initiations, as most people call them. The smaller and newer the group, the more informal the induction will be. What ever the cults main belief should be, all inductions involve teachings of the groups main beliefs and teachings. This offers the inductee a last chance to be certain he/she wishes to become a member of the cult. This period of induction, according to cult watch.com, may last from just a few weeks to as long as a few years. The process of converting to a new religion is no simple task on the mind. Psychiatrist Marc Galanter claims that “the nonconventional behavior reported as typical of members of new religions is a direct result of members adapting to the norms of group life and derives its meaning from the group context.” Cultwatch claims that some extreme cult leaders go as far as using hallucinogenic drugs to alter the mind of its members. When a follower is on these drugs it is easier for the leader to persuade them to believe in the cults teachings. It is also easier to get them to commit violent and illegal acts such...