Cults 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

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word "cult" as "a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious". Though the definition may seem clean-cut, there is much confusion over the boundary between cult followings and organized religion. These unanswered questions have been mulled over by experts who have now developed a criteria a denomination must meet to be consider a "cult". Cults differ from religion because they criticize other ideologies, have manipulating leaders, Religion is a sensitive

The Issue of Cults The 1969 Labianca-Tate murder, the 1978 Jonestown mass murder-suicide, the 1993 Branch of Davidians fire, and so many more incidents occurred because of dangerous apocalyptic cults. Thousands of men, women, and even children have died because of hazing, manipulation, and as strange as this may sound, mind control. Putting more laws to prevent cults from having unlimited amounts of freedom has been a controversy in the United States since the 1950s and is still carried on today

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

under the definition of being a false religion. According to VandenBos (2015), cult is defined as “a religious or quasi-religious group characterized by unusual or atypical beliefs, seclusion from the outside world, and an authoritarian structure (p. 272). Given this definition along with comparing 12-step programs to the Bible and Christianity one can further see how AA could be viewed as a false doctrine. Moreover, “Cults tend to be highly cohesive, well organized, secretive, and hostile to nonmembers”

been endangered by cults, good or bad dealing with witchcraft, murders, and cults revolving their religion. A cult is “a small group that is not part of a larger and more accepted religion and that has beliefs regarded by many people as extreme or dangerous - Merriam Webster.” Cults in the past were reported about anger, spiritual issues, attacking, murders etc. Going through our worlds past there are many significant cults that made a drastic change in today’s world. Certain cults from the past are

In 1966, Walter Martin wrote a book called the Kingdom of the Cults which detailed major cults and their belief systems, including ‘Christian’ cults like Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons. One of the more interesting takeaways from the book was that every cult that exists today finds a way to effectively and knowledgeably explain away and deny the deity of Jesus Christ. Their faith is based on hearsay, experiential ‘wisdom,’ wrong knowledge, bad scholarship, or no scholarship at all. Since humans are

Cults: An American Nuisance Brainwashing. Threatening society. Illegal activities. A major threat to society. What did I just describe, one might ask? These qualities describe a cult. A cult is a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc (Dictionary.com). Cults should cease to exist because they threaten the safety of civilians, bend the privileges that the First Amendment grants, and play a negative role on the member's psychological health. Cults should

A cult is a small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister according to Google’s dictionary. When we think of cults we think of mass murders or crazy leaders. Those cults are destructive cults, a destructive (or totalist) cult exploits its members' vulnerability in order to gain complete control over them, often using unethical psychological techniques to bring about thought reform (HowStuffWorks). One should understand that there is destructive

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

religious cults Specific Purpose Statement: At the end of my speech, the audience will be able to recognize the dangers of cults, and be persuaded to not join one. Central Idea/Thesis Statement: People need to be able to recognize the signs of joining a religious cult. Organizational Pattern: Monroe’s Motivated Sequence Introduction I. In the US alone there are approximately 3000 destructive cults, with roughly about 4 million members the pressure to join cults have grown. II. Many cults scope out

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