Cults and Their Followers

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Cults and Their Followers

• A Presentation by Mitchell Dickinson

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What Is a Cult?

• The term cult has come to mean a teaching, group
  or movement which deviates from orthodoxy while
  claiming to represent the true faith (Andres 5).

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Examples

• Heavens Gate
• The Way
• The Peoples Temple
• Order of the Solar Temple
• Church of the Lamb of God
• Church of Jesus Christ, Latter day Saints
• Unification Church Moonies
• Scientology

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Who Do Cults Look For?

• YOU!
• Almost all research has shown that most members
  are middle class, young, white, single, and
  relatively well educated (Richard 25).
• In a nut shell, the All-American Boy or Girl next
  door.

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Why Do They Attract?

• Testing has shown that many cult members are very
  co-dependant upon others for their feelings of
  self-worth
• It has been theorized by many and accepted by
  most that the biological family unit is what has
  the most influence on the individuals choice to
  join a cult or not.

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What Family Problems?

• Deviation theory is the predominant way of
  thinking in terms of causes for cult recruitment.
• Deviation theoryholds that young persons join
  new religions to compensate for unfulfilled needs
  resulting from family dissatisfaction (Piper 2).
  
• This is seen in families where the parents are
  extremely authoritative, and keep their children
  from maturing to the point where they can make
  their own decisions.
• Also, over-achieving families with impossible
  standards leaving an individual feeling
  worthless, and more co-dependant on others.

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Another Explanation?

• Other evidence points to society, and the
  disdainful situation it is currently in, as the
  culprit. Many feel that the burgeoning of
  technology and bureaucracy has been dehumanizing
  and has lead to a loss of individualism (Richard
  26).
• Another idea is that the affluent generation are
  searching for spirituality due to lack of
  meaning. An ex-member of the of the Children of
  God describes it, this is such a searching
  generation, because everything has been so easy
  for us. Everything has been handed to us
  (Enroth 151).

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How Do They Attract?

• Cult recruiters prowl University Campuses for
  those students looking depressed and lost, scared
  and confused by the strange new world they find
  themselves in.
• Cult members have been known to take jobs in the
  registration office and prey on the students who
  come to drop classes.
• They invite the students to special reading
  groups and preach happiness in order to lure an
  unsuspecting student away.

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What Can Be Done?

• It is recommended on college campuses that
  flyers, warning students about recruiters and
  their methods, be posted in easily accessible
  areas.
• People who find themselves being lured into the
  dark world of the Occult should go to the Student
  Health Office immediately to schedule an
  appointment with a therapist as well as inform
  security about the cult member who is recruiting.
• It is suggested that students who feel depressed
  or lonely should join an intramural sport or
  club, in which they can share ideas and gain a
  sense of community

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Works Cited

• Enroth, Ronald. Youth, Brainwashing, and the
  Extremist Cults. Michigan Zondervan Publishing,
  1977.
• Piper, Elizabeth S. and Stuart A. Wright.
  Families and Cults Familial Factors Related to
  Youth Leaving or Remaining in Deviant Religious
  Groups. Journal of Marriage and Family. Vol. 48
  (1986). 28 May 2006 http//proxy.lib.pdx.edu2052/
  login.aspx?directtruedbaphan5279806
• Richard, Lewis C. et al. Leaders and Followers A
  Psychiatric Perspective on Religious Cults. The
  Committee on Psychiatry and Religion. No. 132.
  Washington DC American Psychiatric Press Inc,
  1992.

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Dont Drink The Kool-Aid!