Cult Essays

Ledbetter Speech 106 26 June 2017 Cults: Separation from One Self Specific Goal: To inform others about types of cults and the abusiveness that often times follows. Thesis Statement: Cults consist of different types of people, can be abusive and they are controlled in a dissociative totalitarianism manner, and also separate cult members from their families which may trigger negative behavior and loss of oneself to joining members. I. Introduction A. Attention Getter: Cults are not always religious groups;

Cult Influence and Tactics of Persuasion Roughly 2.5 million Americans are involved in cults, which are defined as groups of people who organize around a strong authority figure. Unlike religious groups, cults often have a primary goal which can range from gaining members to having strong political control. It is important to recognize what makes up a cult, techniques used to draw people into cults, and symptoms of a person who may be involved in a cult. By knowing these things, a person would be

The emergence of cults, otherwise known as New Religious Movements, can be attributed to many sociological factors. Although most people see cults as highly hostile and evil in nature, the majority of groups that are defined as cults display no violence. Modern day cults are groups of people that are separated from the society around it. In this essence, they can be classified as retreatists. They are also in conflict with this society, yet they do not seek to rebel or change the mainstream. Instead

Introduction – The cult I’m doing about for the research paper for this class Understanding Cults PSYC19599G is the people’s temple. The people’s temple was founded on the date of April 4, 1955 in Indianapolis, Indiana in Untied States of America. The founder of the people’s temple is James Jim Warren Jones aka Jim Jones. Jim Jones Place of Birth and date are in Crete a short distance away: nearby Lynn Indiana in Untied States on May 13, 1931. In my own opinion the people’s temple is a group of people

The word “cult” is a very subjective term because there’s a small, but important distinction between a religion and cult. J. Gordon Melton, professor at Baylor University, makes the statement, “All cults are religions, but all religions aren’t cults” (What’s the Difference, Melton). The perplexing part to the uninformed is that cults may appear in a religion, for example The People’s Temple was a cult within Christianity. Ted Peters, theology professors in Berkley, California states, “Like Classic

People seesaw cults as a better form of practicing religion. Inevitably, these cults became socially known as groups with unlawful practices. The widespread of falsified theology within cults has led to many controversial topics on whether or not cults should be considered freedom of religion. Given the personal benefits of cult religion, should cults be considered freedom of religion? Cults should not be considered freedom of religion due to the secrecy, false perceptions, and violence that has

them and tells them he’s [David] is in a cult. There are also scenes when they [cult members] interact with people outside the commune to sell flowers to raise money for their leader (whom remains unknown and mysterious throughout the film) and when David is out of the commune and is eating at a diner. “Ticket to Heaven” shows the cult members lying to people on the street or scamming them to get money, which is linked to how other media outlets portray cults, such as in “They’re Freaks!”, “three of

exaggeration and parody to comment on the dangers of blind faith, ultimately highlighting the need for critical thinking and skepticism in modern society. Cults are most well known for their negative connotation, being a group that excessively controls its members, all sharing a set of acts and practices which require unwavering devotion. Cults have been prevalent in media and pop culture, usually exaggerating the idea to the extreme, and as a result, more people are aware of them and the harm they

1950s as a Christian sect in Indianapolis during a time where racism was still running high, the People’s Temple was adamant on not discriminating against people of color, therefore attracting many African Americans right off the bat. By 1971, the cult had expanded to San Francisco and it was then that allegations of financial fraud and physical abused against its members surfaced. On what happened after, the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST) writes in its article, The Jonestown

dancers were part of a religious cult; I agree with the people that think it was caused by ergot poisoning. One of the theories

allegations of abuse towards the members who didn’t do as they were told, and that sometimes, they were even killed. Men with machine guns would stand guard, 24 hours a day, originally to protect the group from outsiders or armies with aims to take down the cult. Later on, that changed, and the men stood guard to make sure no one got in, or out. This being told to the public by those who escaped raised some suspicions in California Congressman Leo J. Ryan. The suspicions of Jonestown and what had occurred

“Cult” a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object. Cult leaders and members are driven to do ludicrous things, this is what Charles Manson did. The Charles Manson Trial was a case where Charles Manson, leader of the Manson Family murdered 7 people based on the book ‘helter Skelter’, surprisingly these actions weren't what brought him into court but it was for the belief that they had vandalized a portion of the Death Valley National Park. Mr. Kunstler

one of his missions, he killed a family, for their involvement in a satanic cult that killed, and eat people to do their rituals. Among of their victims there was Jake’s family. He was the only survivor so my father adopted him and raised him to be a member of the dark brotherhood. At first, Jake was ten at that time. They wanted to put him in an asylum but my father protested and took full responsibility of the lad.

I woke up to the sound of a gunshot outside of my window. It was not unusual to hear that in the town of Clinton where everything was basically just war. Everyone was always arguing and there was no peace at all. I hoped one day everything would go back to normal. As I got out of bed I hit my head on the bottom of the top bunk(which was made of metal by the way) ¨Ouch!¨ I yelled . ¨How do I still not see that coming! I mean really, I've been here for three years and I am still not used to it.¨

“The Jonestown Massacre, Remembered,” by Jennifer Latson explains about a man named Jim Jones, a cult leader and a socialist in California persuaded over 900 people to drink a poisonous substance to commit suicide. This was one of the events that wasn’t taught about in history classes due to the amount of people that were willing to kill themselves in order to obey Jim Jones. My main point’s that I plan to use on this topic is the author successful in making her point, the information is accurate

Jim Jones told his followers as they drank the poison that ended their lives”(Streissguth 1). James Warren Jones was an American religious leader who was born on May 13, 1931 and died on November 18, 1978. Jones soon became known as the leader of a cult called “ The People’s Temple”. Jim Jones initiated and was responsible for a mass murder and mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. Mass murder and mass suicide committed by Jim Jones and the government as a part of the massacre are two theories surrounding

on persuasion and cult leaders. Cult leaders are usually very good at using persuasion to gain followers. In some cases, cult leaders will go to major extremes just to have people follow them. Jim Jones was a very powerful man with the use of persuasion. Jim Jones started the People’s Temple in the 1950s in Indiana. The People’s Temple was based on socialist ideals and Christian redemption. Jim Jones made the cult seem very attractive and appealing. Many people joined the cult to escape from inequality

After a five day journey through the barren desert, Killi had arrived at the temple to Rashe Ghul, dark god of the magician 's cult. Preventing their profane ritual, and halting their operations was of the utmost priority, for they sought to bring their dark god into the world of men, and if they succeeded, all of civilization would be snuffed out, like a lit candle caught under the waves of the ocean. Killi, wisened from his years of adventuring, hid behind one of the sand dunes that littered the

In March of 1997, thirty-nine members of the Heaven’s Gate cult willingly committed a calm and ritualistic suicide in a hilltop mansion over a three day period that involved three groups of people. Applewhite and his followers believed that the Hale-Bopp comet was hiding an alien spacecraft and that they needed to board it in order to avoid the coming doomsday of the Earth. When this comet reached its closest distance to Earth, they drank a lethal mix of phenobarbital and vodka and laid down to die

Religion has been and always will be one of the core foundations in American society. This is especially true in the book, “The Kingdom of Matthias”. In this novel, Paul E. Johnson and Sean Wilentz use memoirs and stories from many authors including (but not limited to) William Stone and Margaret Matthews. Matthias did not leave any written accounts behind so these articles are the only sources available to be analyzed. The story begins not with Matthias, but with a man named Elijah Pierson. This