Chipbit(1)(A) Essay, Research Paper
CultsThere are many types of cults in the world, cults are everywherebut you just do not see them. Every person in the world has been incontact with them in one way or another in many cases you cannotsee them. The closest cult we know of is on Rice Lake called theMoonies led by Reverend Myung, where I have currently visited. Cultscan be involved in churches and even are earliest religions are calledcults. Cults are not the strongest groups’ sects are the strongestgroup. When you join a sect you cannot get out of them but a cult youcan leave without having any problem or commitment. Sects will notlet you out because many times it’s illegal and they are afraid that youwill say something to the public. Cults sometimes are illegal to.Religious cults are in every town and village there is no definitionof a cult that is accepted by sociologists and psychologist or religionmany types of activities will take cult like structures, an example wouldbe any popular trend like physical exercise this is called the physicalfitness cult. Famous athletes are a big figure when it comes to cults,many times Movie stars, professional athletes will endorse a productand a trend will start, making it turn into a cult. Also people whogenerate beliefs of something like flying saucer, aliens or anyunknown figures can be cult. In religion when people call a churchthey are referring to a sacred organization having a highly structuredor formalized dogma and hierarchy, but also allowing a bit of flexibilityabout membership requirements allowing you to go to a church andleave church when you want to. Although sects are against churchattempts to accommodate to secular society. Sects believe that theyare protecting a true faith or belief. Sects tend to stay away from worldevents , and also they believe in a strong strict behavioral code anddemand a commitment out of their people. The differences betweencults and sects are sometimes the same. Many scholars do not makedistinctions between the two. Cults are different because they do notexpect as much commitment. Many times’ cults do not expect couplesto become apart. Cults do not last as long as sects. Many times’ cultssurvive through a decade, and also cults allow you to come and go asyou want. Leaders of cults build around a charismatic leader who hasa lifestyle dedicated to a specific spirituality group that they know otherpeople will follow. The word Mormonism began as a small cult thengrew bigger until it became a sect and eventually into a church. Allthe new religions followed the same thing by beginning small andgetting bigger than becoming a church.Contemporary CultsCults go back as far as we know of life, cults began to get biggerand be known throughout the world in the late 1960 s and early 70 sas people were better educated and better understood how they wereformed and how they were run and people began to join. During thistime Youths and middle class people began to join cults because ofthe in thing to do and they felt more secure about themselves. Cultsreally started to fascinate people when Jimmy Jones cult began inNovember of 1978 when all attention was focused on the masssuicide in Jonestown, a similar event happened in 1993 when federalagents engaged in a shoot out with cult leader David Koresh. Modern cults have many different practices and many different ways ofleadership. Some cults have a flexible functional leadership, like thegroups in the charismatic movement coming from the mainlandChristian religion, other cults have people who run and orchestrate cultevents, like Reverend Myung Moon leader of the unification church. The reason people are attracted to modern cults because it putsemphasis on community and on direct experience with the divine. Incults’ participants often find a level of
that they do not find in a nuclear family. This makes and generates asense of belonging to something profound and a feel of beingsomebody. People who often join cults such as this, join because theythink they are getting something the world did not give them. Severalfactors have been looked at to figure why people like are modernyouths join cults. Factors that were looked at were drug’s warassignation of many unpopular presidents. Cults have beenquestioned about brainwashing people, and found it to be true. Cargo CultsCargo cults are usually neutralist and are in it for money. Theword cargo refers to foreign goods possessed by Europeans. Cultmembers believe that goods belong to themselves and that , with thehelp of ancestral spirits, the goods can be returned to them throughmagic religious means. BrainwashingBrainwashing is the process of deliberately subjecting people tophysical and psychological hardship in order to alter their thoughts andattitudes, and actions. It also is a process of totally cleaning a mind ofone set idea and replacing them by another thought or belief. This iscalled to indoctrinate cleaning a thought and putting a completely newthought in mind. Indoctrinating can take place without brainwashing. There are 2 aspects of brainwashing they are confessions of pastcrimes or errors of the past and re-education to new beliefs. Prisonerssometimes are made to confess by lack of sleep and food and otherforms of intense physical discomfort, also isolation from victims’families and from familiar surroundings. Cult leaders showobedience, and humility and make other members give socialpressure to the new member to make them join. And the last thingthey do is make mutual criticism and self criticism sessions, whichmake them have a generalized guilt feeling that all people haveacceptance of new ideas is again fostered by group pressure and theanticipated reward of freedom. People who have a better understanding of psychology andneuophysiology have made larger groups create extremely effectivebrainwashing programs. Their techniques however have been usedfor centuries as inquisition making people give excited confessionsfrom alleged heretics. Religions sometimes use these methods likescourging, rhythmic dancing and drumming and sometimes inducing atrance like state in which the individual is open to conversion. In the20th centuries, most noticeably by the people’s temple of Guyana,whose membership committed mass suicide. Mystery CultsMystery Cults are usually in the ancient times whose membersbelieved that by means of the performance of particular secret ritualsthey would gain knowledge that people in the normal world would nothave and that would make a mystical union with the divine. Mysterycults make their members feel they are god and give them a feel ofimmortality that they cannot be destroyed. Many times in mysterycults, cult leaders feel they died and were brought back to be god orJesus. ConclusionIn today s society, cults are one of the many unfortunate aspectsendure in life. Leaders of Cults should be dealt with in a more seriousmatter. Cult leaders are con-artists and are people that like to controlothers. Cults should be controlled to protect innocent citizens frombeing taken advantage of.BibliographyCDROM: Religious Cults. Grolier Electronic Publishing Inc..1993CDROM: Contemporary Cults. Grolier Electronic PublishingInc.. 1993. CDROM: Cargo Cults. Grolier Electronic Publishing Inc..1993. CDROM: Contemporary Cults. Grolier Electronic Publishing Inc.. 1993. CDROM: Religious Cults. Grolier Electronic Publishing Inc.. 1993. CDROM :Contemporary Cults. Grolier Electronic Publishing Inc..1993 CDROM :Contemporary Cults . Grolier Electronic Publishing Inc..1993 CDROM Cargo Cults . Grolier Electronic Publishing Inc ..1993VII