Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Cults
What exactly is a cult? What sets it apart from religions such as Buddhists and Catholics? In looking at my research, cults start with one main cause to make the world a better place, just like most religions. Cults on the other hand take their faith too far, and take advantage of the strong faith their members have to make them do wrong things. The people in the cults aren't bad people. They think they are in a group that will make the world a better place, but in reality the group just uses them and degrades them to make them feel like they arent' worthy and must prove their faith in various ways. All humans are blessed with having emotions, the ability to feel, and this makes them so vulnerable to cults. It really is sad that good people can be so easily brainwashed just because they have trust in the good of other people who lead them to do wrong. Cults and religions are so closely related, it's hard to even explain the difference, so it's easy to see why people can get caught into something like this.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Kayla, I see where your going with this definition, and I think it's important to keep in mind the end results as a way to judge cults (like you mentioned in class, all cults may not be bad, but when they end like Jonestown, well, that's pretty much as bad as it can possibly be). However, if end results are the central criteria, then Christianity, which has been responsible (via the Inquisition and other acts of persecution) for far more deaths than Jonestown, would have to be a cult too. And so would Islam, probably Judaism, Hinduism, etc. Maybe Buddhism would still be free of the "cult" label. What I'm trying to say here is that there needs to be another way of distinguishing cults from organized, established religions, and the key might be in these two words "organized" and "established." It basically comes down to when a cult has shown itself to be responsible and beneficial to the community at large that it becomes "established" and recognized as a religion. Mormonism was a cult that became a religion as it got bigger and more organized and got rid of some of its more radical practices, like polygamy. Scientology seems to be moving from cult to religion thanks to the visibility of some of its practitioners like John Travolta and Tom Cruise.
This might be a more useful way to define "cults," since they don't always end in mass death. So one way you might want to narrow your paper is by looking at cults that don't become religions, because they have crazy leaders, or their agendas are too radical, or for whatever other reason. and then you can still focus on Jonestown, but without having to deal with every other cult under the sun. In any case, good luck, and feel free to email me with questions. Have a nice spring break.
Post a Comment