This article does not discuss "cult" in the sense of "religious practice"; for that usage see cult (religion). This article discusses only religious or sociological cultist groups. See also: cult film, cult television, cult radio.
In religion and sociology, a cult is a group with a religious or philosophical identity, often existing on the margins of society. Its marginal status may come about either due to its novel belief system or due to idiosyncratic practices that cause the surrounding culture to regard it as far outside the mainstream.
In English-speaking countries since about the 1960s, especially in North America, the term cult has taken on a pejorative and sometimes offensive connotation. This is largely originated with highly-publicized cults which were widely believed to exploit their members psychologically and financially, or which were accused of group-based persuasion techniques (sometimes called "brainwashing", "love bombing" or "mind control").
As typified by many of the widely-publicized North American cults from the 1960s and later, the quintessential modern 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. Beginning in the 1980s, a movement among conservative and fundamentalist Christians has sought to expand the meaning of cult to include groups practising unique forms of Christianity, whose marginality within society remains highly controversial. Because of the increasingly pejorative connotation of the word cult, most members of these groups find the word offensive when applied to them. Seeanti-cult movement. 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 as a consequence seems less controversial because society has become used to it.
The literal and traditional meaning of the word cult, from the Latincultus, meaning "care" or "adoration", is "a system of religious belief or ritual; or: the body of adherents to same." In French or Spanish, culte or culto simply means "worship"; an association cultuelle is an association whose goal is to organize worship (and which is eligible for tax exemption). The word for "cult" is secte (French) or secta (Spanish). See false friend. In German or Russian the expression totalitarian religious group has a slightly different meaning than the English word cult in addition to the German word Sekte. In formal use, and 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". Hence Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism are cultswithinChristianity. In English, it remains perfectly neutral to refer to the "cult of Artemis at Ephesus" and the "cult figures" that accompanied it, or to "the importance of the Ave Maria in the cult of the Virgin."
There is no agreed-upon definition of what a cult is; however, several alternative formulations exist, including the following:
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. [7]
The problem with defining the word cult is that (1) purported cult members generally resist being called a cult, and (2) the word cult is often used to marginalize religious groups with which one does not agree or sympathize. Some serious researchers of religion and sociology prefer to use terms such as new religious movement in their research on cults. 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. Where a cult practises physical or mental abuse, psychologists and other mental health professionals use the terms cult,abusive cult, or destructive cult. The popular press also commonly uses these terms. However, not all cults function abusively or destructively, and among those that psychologists believe are abusive, few members would agree that they suffer abuse. Other researchers like David V. Barrett hold the view that classifying a religious movement as a cult has no added value, instead, he argues, that one should investigate the beliefs and practices of the religious movement.
Some groups, particularly those labelled by others as cults, view the designation as insensitive, and feel persecuted by what they call the "anti-cult movement", the existence of which is disputed.
Such groups often defend their position by comparing themselves to more established, mainstream religious groups such as Catholicism and Judaism. The argument offered in this case can usually be simplified as, "Christianity and Judaism can also be defined as cults under some definitions of the term, therefore the term cult is superfluous and useless."
Another problem with writing about cults comes about because they generally hold belief systemss 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 not neutral about these questions. Some writers who deal with the subject choose to explicitly state their ethical values and belief systems to deal with this difficulty.
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 memes), and only incidentally to behavior.
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.
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. Examples of this are Sathya Sai Baba who has been proven to sometimes use sleight of hand to materialize objects. He claims that the materializations of these objects constitute miracles. People's Temple leader Jim Jones furnishes another example: he performed fake healings and fake surgery using chicken blood. These fake miracles have a big indirect effect. The follower starts to see the miracles of the cult leader everywhere, which will reinforce the follower's belief system.
France has investigated some movements considered to be cults and passed a law (often known as the About-Picard law) making it easier to prosecute organizations for repeated criminal activities of their management, as well as criminalizing the abuse of psychologically weakened persons. It must be pointed out that the French government is not concerned in any way with religious doctrine per se, but with the concrete consequences of cult affiliation, especially with respect to children, in the light of past abuse committed in some criminal cults (sexual slavery and mass suicide being the worst).
Germany has imposed restrictions on the activities of Scientology and gives general warnings about cults.
An extreme form of measures against cults is the case of Falun Gong in China. Many anti-cult activistss feel that, even if Falun Gong is a cult, the Chinese government took disproportionate measures against it.
Some countries give cults almost total freedom and undertake action only when the laws are broken, for example: Japan, the Netherlands and the USA. In the Netherlands cults can even found their own schools with money from the government.
The Sathya Sai Baba Organisation in India appears as a notable exception: it has broken laws without suffering government persecution.
Guru Ratings The Guru Rating site-a list of spiritual leaders, self appointed and otherwise, with examination of their beliefs and conduct. Biased, as it's run by an Osho follower
