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Since the 1960s, however, in English-speaking countries, especially in North America, most English speakers have adopted the term for general conversation in an explicitly pejorative sense, to denote groups, generally with religious themes, that purportedly exploit their members psychologically and financially using group-based persuasion techniques (sometimes called "mind control"). Unlike mainstream religious movements, cults are characterized by high levels of dependency and obedience to the cult's leadership, separation from family or the outside world, and infiltration of religion into nearly every aspect of daily life. Membership in a cult is usually temporary: 90% or more of cult members ultimately leave their group. [2,3]
The term cult has a technical meaning in the sociology of religions, referring to a religious group with novel beliefs and with a high degree of tension with the surrounding society. This meaning is purely neutral.
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2 Historical Examples 3 Prevalence of purported cults 4 Checklists of cult behavior 5 External Links 6 See also 7 References |
There is no agreed-upon definition of what a cult is; however, there are several alternative formulations, including the following:
Definitions of a cult
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. Where a cult practices physical or mental abuse, psychologists and other mental health professionals use the terms cult, abusive cult, or destructive cult. These are also common terms in the popular press. However, not all cults are abusive or destructive, and among those that psychologists believe are abusive, few members would agree that they are being abused.
Some groups, particularly those labeled by others as cults, view the designation as insensitive, and feel persecuted by what the call the "anti-cult movement", the existence of which is disputed.
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 is pejorative and applies primarily to rival beliefs (see memes), and only incidentally to behavior. Regardless of its formal, proper, or "sensitive" definition, the de facto meaning of cult in popular usage since the 1960s is those small, close-knit groups with beliefs and practices that are bizzare and disturbing to the average person.
Some examples of notorious purported cults whose adherents made bizarre history include the following:
By one measure, between 3,000 and 5,000 purported cults existed in the United States in 1995. [5] While some of the more well-known and influential of these groups are frequently labelled as cults, the majority of these groups vigorously protest the label and refuse to be classified as such, and often expend great efforts in public relations campaigns to rid themselves of the stigma of the term cult. For a list of groups frequently labelled as cults, see Purported cults.
While the religious, philosophical, and spiritual beliefs vary widely from one cult to the next, many believe that the actions of cults are characteristally similar. Many popular checklists of "cult behavior" have been created, and sources differ in the terminology they use and how they group the behaviors together. [1,3,5] Some common behaviors on these checklists are as follows:
Historical Examples
Prevalence of purported cults
Checklists of cult behavior
Additionally, many cults are described as having the following characteristics, though they are not as unique to cults as the behaviours listed above:
While popular, the value of this kind of "checklist" in determining whether or not a group is a cult is debated by many sociologists. Moreover, some checklists have been designed so that particular marginalized groups (such as Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses) will fall within them, though their status as a cult is debatable.External Links
Note: The Internet offers a great deal of material beyond the following list:
See also
References