How Do I Know If Something Is A Cult?

How Do I Know If Something Is A Cult?

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Whenever individuals explore and analyze religion, a single common, but unfortunate word people use is,cult. When folks do not like religious or spiritual groups, its not uncommon to bring up the term cult, with no real knowledge the difference cults and legitimate organized religions. The reasons for this becomes clear, when you look at the definitions.

For instance, should you fail to follow Christian Biblical concepts strictly, the Christian Protestant Fundamentalists consider you a cult. Their original intention may likely have been to merely belittle the additional wrong Christian denominations, but by their narrow guidelines, all Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and so forth (nearly two thirds of the planets people) are, in their view, cults.

Alas, this problem is far more widespread than that. As you might imagine, with so many arguments on issues like how many sacraments there are, means the Protestant fundamentalists do not think any of the Eastern Orthodox faiths, nor the Roman Catholics to be biblical faithful either there are. By those standards, 93% of humanity are part of cults. Finally, these people also think most other Christian Protestants to have drifted from biblical fidelity By their definition, the only ones who are not in cults are them!

If viewed from the outside, individuals frequently imagine that any sane person who adheres to the strict doctrines that a lot of the religions, have clearly lost their ability to think rationally, so consequently must belong to a cult. The iron is that all of these cult followers regard their biblically strict, narrow-minded accusers as being the true cults. If you take everyones definition into consideration, all of us are in 1 sort of cult or another. The Southern Baptist considers Roman Catholicism to be a cult; the Vatican thinks Southern Baptists to be a cult; etc..

Whenever you paint all people with such a broad brush, its pointless; as Joey on Friends said, The point is Moo -- because who cares what a cow thinks?

So, is it possible to provide the word a more clear meaning? If it happens that the people making the definitions have an interest in the outcome, the definition becomes slanted. They've got an agenda. What we need is another person to offer us a neutral means to identify a cult someone with no personal interest in the decision. That person can be the anthropologist of religion.

a Religious Anthropologist can be the referee who makes the calls using a neutral set of rules a scientific set. Sometimes they've got a particular religion to which they adhere, and some times not. This will make some members of the organized religions rather uncomfortable. If the anthropologist is a member of a religion any religion the other people scream bias! bias!, which means that everything the anthropologist says has to be wrong because they've got this personal bias.|If it happens that that particular person is a member of a particular religion, all the others shout, Bias! Bias! -- and ignores everything stated.

However, if said neutral individual doesnt have a specific religion, the other people shout, Atheist! Atheist! making anything mentioned irrelevant on the basis of a built-in opposition to all religious beliefs. Drama and finger-pointing aside, how do these neutral parties define cults?

Essentially, the majority of anthropologists subscribe to five point system to determine whether or not a specific group religious or otherwise needs to be classified as a cult. The answers to the the following questions will make it clear whether or not the group is a cult.

The Questions are:

One. Is there a charismatic, strong leader in charge?

Two. Does it display a group mentality which denies individuality as well as personal, independent your mind?

3. Is there a denial of intimacy by excluding or alienating friends and relatives?

Four. Do they pressure members to give up income to the group, regardless of the way it affects the member?

5. Does the group keep its members isolated from their local community?

Even with this method, the problem is that it still isnt always clear-cut. If all five questions are answered yes, then it easily qualifies as a cult. If absolutely none of these questions are answered yes, then it's virtually certain the group is NOT a cult. If only it were that easy. The problem comes from the tweeners, groups who possess some of each answer. When it comes to religion, there are seldom any solid answers, so the best we can do is usually a type of sliding scale.

Its always easy to handle to comprehend with a real-life situation.

1 Case Study of a Cult -- The Peoples Temple. This is the title of the church founded by the Reverend James Warren Jim Jones more than nine hundred people that committed suicide in Jonestown, Guyana back in 1978.

Take into consideration the 5 questions|Ask yourself those aforementioned five questions:

(a) They submitted to a a strong, charismatic leader (Jones);

(b) They frequently showed an impressive amount of group think, and seldom expressed instances of genuinely independent thought;

(c) they ended encouraged strongly to exclude their friends and relatives from every aspect of their lives and their church activities.

(d) The members more than tithed, they basically gifted all that they had to the church, and were in turn cared for by the church (the group was entirely communist);

(e) When their separation from the nearby community began to break down, they relocated to a distant area inside the jungles of South America.

There's no doubt that this group is a cult.

The next Case Study is the Jehovahs Witnesses. These door-knockers were founded by Charles Taze Russell during the late 1800s.

Lets compare them to the same five questions:

(a) They dont have a specific leader, strong or otherwise.

(b) Because independent Bible analysis has always been the core of their religion, they do not have any type of group think policy.

(c) As their persistent door-knocking shows, they feel strongly about passing along all that they believe.

(d) While it is often true that Witnesses commit a great deal of their time and effort trying to convert others, there does not appear to be any financial pressure not any more so than any other church encourages tithing.

(e) It is their LACK of separation from their nearby community that often has them at odds with their neighbors.

Some may possibly determine them to be a bit pushy, but they're definitely NOT a cult.

Bottom Line: determining properly if a group is really a cult is unrelated to their biblical interpretations, and ought to instead be made on sociological criteria unrelated to the spiritual position of the group. Whether cults are dangerous or not depends on the cult. Just because it is a cult, doesnt mean its automatically dangerous, but any one or any thing that discourages independent thought, is in the end harmful.

About the Author:
This is an section of one lesson (of 30) from the Master of Religious Philosophy course offered through the Universal Life Church Seminary. We have many classes available and each one carries with it a degree at the end of the course.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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