Peter Saint-Clair's Blog

What is a Cult, exactly?

January 17th, 2011 | by Peter Saint-Clair

Posted in: Cults | Tags: Author, Charles Manson, Cult, Howard P. Becker, Jim Jones, New religious movement, Peoples Temple, Peter Saint-Clair, Religion and Spirituality, Religious denomination, Writer |

Sorry for the late start today, but my wife was pretty adamant about changing rooms with our oldest daughter. She lives, or used to live, up stairs in a nicely converted attic and I had to tear up the stairs leading up there to get our bed to go up. But I know you folks didn’t come to read about that sort of stuff.

Today I’ll be discussing the word ‘cult’. A lot of people believe the word refers to a group of crazy, brainwashed weirdos who may or may not end up killing themselves and I want to sort of set the record strait with that belief.

The concept of the cult originated in the 1930s by sociologist Howard P. Becker to classify a type of new religious movements. Becker’s cults were small, unorganized religious groups that often emphasized personal spirituality. Later this idea was expanded on to include deviant religious groups. In this case the word deviant is used to explain that cults deviated from societal religious norms.

It wasn’t until the 70s and 80s that cults were something to be avoided. Anti-cult groups of the day, mainly on the heels of concerned relatives, spread stories of brainwashing and manipulation as the main weapons in the ‘cult leader’ arsenal. Groups like Peoples Temple and the Manson Family added fuel to the fire by introducing kidnapping, psychological abuse, sexual abuse and mass suicide to the world of deviant religious groups into the media and as such helped society extend all of those attributes to any non-traditional religion or religious group.

By the late 80s, scholars dropped the brain washing and mind control theories and also moved away from using the term cult all together because of the negativity it received and in fact, still receives. While there may be coercive psychological systems at work, most experts view conversion to these ‘deviant religions’ as totally rational. If you’ll remember, that especially when the church was moved to California, many people were drawn to Peoples Temple because of what they were doing for the community at large. Given that Jim Jones was at least seemingly committed to the greater good, you could overlook a lot of things that may have seemed out of place in other churches.

Today, academia calls these groups by exactly what they are-New Religious Movements, though they still, on occasion, refer to groups like Peoples Temple as destructive cults for obvious reasons.

What is your take on the word and what does it mean to you when you hear it? Do you know someone who is/was in a group that would probably be considered ‘deviant’?

Monday’s Blog Mash-up

Something new that I’ve started, where I hook you up with some links to other crazy good blogs:

Astrographer-If you’re into worldbuilding on a large scale. Some (read alot) math skills required.

Piper Bayard has written a good post comparing The Road to being unemployed which is something I’m sure a lot of people, including myself, are facing or have faced.

Over at Kristen Lamb’s blog, she explains the benefits of being a writer of Non-Fiction.

Manon Eileen talks about Alone in the Wild and sensory deprivation.

23 Responses to “What is a Cult, exactly?”

M.E. Anders January 17th, 2011 at 5:07 pm

Yes, I would consider myself prey to a cult as a child. Though it was masked beneath a mainstream religious title, any outsider would have agreed to its cult-like practices, brainwashing, and following. Because of two decades immersed in that teaching, I have spent the past few years recovering from the resulting psychological trauma. Flashbacks are quite common.

Peter Saint-Clair January 17th, 2011 at 6:06 pm

Truthfully, I was not prepared for anyone to answer that question, at least not about themselves. I’m sure it takes a great deal of strength and courage come out of something like that. Thanks for sharing and thanks for stopping by!

Manon Eileen January 18th, 2011 at 4:34 am

Cult does have very bad connotations, I think. I’m part of a bookclub fansite that (jokingly) calls itself a cult sometimes, but I know that when someone seriously calls them a cult, it’s highly frowned upon. It’s not a good thing to be called a cult.

Thanks very much for the shoutout, Peter

Brian Hartman January 18th, 2011 at 9:32 am

I think any small religious group can be accurately defined as a cult. At one point, Christianity was a cult, deviating from accepted Jewish practices and beliefs. I think the modern-day connotation of *harmful* religious beliefs is more useful, though.

I’ve never been a member of a deviant cult, but I’ve known quite a few Scientologists. I really do feel sorry for them.

Author Kristen Lamb January 18th, 2011 at 9:35 am

I studied Sects and Cults in college, and one qualifier that the FBI uses (or used) is that it a cult often revolves around a central charisthmatic figure and that the dogma is mutable. Guys like Koresh rely on “divine revelations” and “powers of prophesy” to make the rules up as they go along….like how God wants them to bugger little girls. Sects are generally an off-shoot of a main religion.

For instance, the Methodists originally came from mainstream Church of England. They felt the Anglicans had gotten too wild and had taken on too much ceremony (resembling the Catholics), and the wine had to go. It was actually Thomas Bramwell Welch (founder of the Weslyan Methodist Connexxion) who invented grape juice. But, because the faith still centered on the Holy Trinity and used the Bible, it was considered a sect (unlike Koresh who likened himself to being the Christ and using mainly divine revelation. For Koresh, Bible was more for show. He had his own, mutable dogma).

Great blog and thanks for the shout-out! It is so great to see all you guys supporting each other with trackbacks and comments. Show ‘em how it’s done, .

Peter January 18th, 2011 at 9:54 am

Well cult is just a word, own it if you like…lol Actual cults don’t like being called that anyways, so I think you’re OK…just don’t start living communally and giving your paycheck away.

Peter January 18th, 2011 at 9:59 am

Yes, that’s correct, Christianity would have been considered a cult, had the term existed back then, until it was accepted as a mainstream religion.

As far as Scientology is concerned, I’m quite stumped as to how that’s caught on, especially with celebrities.

Peter January 18th, 2011 at 10:12 am

Thanks for pointing out the difference between sects and cults. I should have worked that in to the post. Being an “offshoot” of a denomination, even an odd one, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a cult. Actually Koresh’s group started off as a sect of the Branch Davidians, which is a Protestant sect, though very quickly, his group turned to destructive cult status.

Brian Hartman January 18th, 2011 at 10:13 am

There are two things that strike me about Scientology, in particular:

1) It’s unabashedly completely made-up.

2) They condemn psychiatry, but it’s evident to me that you’d pretty much have to be batsh*t insane to be a Scientologist.

Author Kristen Lamb January 18th, 2011 at 10:18 am

Funny how Baptist and Pentecostal seem to produce more cults. Seems that way at least.

Peter Saint-Clair January 18th, 2011 at 10:20 am

Yup, L. Ron Hubbard, the founder, was a sci-fi author. He even once stated that he made it up to make money (though some places on the net say that he never said that, so who knows for sure). But then again, you could make that argument about any religion because all doctrine associated with it was written by man. Not that I want to start a religious debate or anything, but it’s true and something most religious people don’t think about.

Peter Saint-Clair January 18th, 2011 at 10:23 am

There’s a reason. Jim Jones chose Pentecostal for his initial emergence in the religious scene because the sect was more inclined to integrate and they had a strong belief in faith healing, which brought a lot of people and their money to Jones and Peoples Temple.

Brian Hartman January 18th, 2011 at 10:33 am

But the thing with most religions is, while a human being obviously has to write their scriptures down, they at least *claim* to be divinely inspired. (Whether that claim is ever plausible or not is a different question.) With Scientology, there’s no claim of divine inspiration that I know of. You’re right that there are claims that he didn’t say that, but he was quoted by numerous people saying that in different ways.

Sorry if I went off on a tangent. Scientology just really disturbs me, because of the harm they do dissuading people from seeking psychiatric help when they need it. (Although I guess the same can be said of all faith healers.)

M.E. Anders January 18th, 2011 at 6:16 pm

Sure – I am pretty open about my past experiences, as this allows me to help so many others.

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A.J. Zaethe January 22nd, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Christianity has a huge turn over for cults, especially since there about 36,000 branches of the religion, 25,000 still active. I wasn’t supprised to find out that there were more cults with Christianity than with most other religions sprouting off spinoffs.

Wicca is another to produce them, mostly because of the amount of dislike they receive in the States, they are inclined to form their Covens, which on occasion form into cults; mostly due to a type of Xenophobia.

This post was awesome. I am glad that there are at least some positives to the ideals of cults.

M.E. Anders January 22nd, 2011 at 12:13 pm

A.J. – you are definitely correct on your opinion of cults. I have a post on Peter’s site this Monday regarding my experience with Christianity and cult experience.

Carol Welch February 22nd, 2011 at 3:17 am

Hey Peter,

I ran into you via Twitter when I saw one of your Tweets regarding cults.

I was in a “cult” for 28 years. I exited a little over 5 years ago, when I was 46 years old. The org I followed was The Way International.

When I was a true believer with The Way and non-Way folks would ask me if The Way was a cult, my response would be, “What do you consider a cult?”

Then I could answer their question according to what they thought a cult was.

Two of the main responses I got from people are below.

1) At that time (the 70s through the 90s and into the 2000s) many folks I knew would answer, “A group that doesn’t believe Jesus is God is a cult.” And I’d respond, “Well, according to that definition, yes, The Way is a cult.” (The Way does not believe Jesus is God.)

2) Another typical answer was, “A group that worships a man and a group in which the people follow leaders without question,” I’d answer, “No. according to that definition The Way isn’t a cult.”

The Way taught that followers shouldn’t “blindly” (which, as a true believer, I would interpret as “w/out question”) follow and should worship no man, but rather worship the “one, “true God.”

So what does that (what The Way taught) mean?

Regarding “blindly following:” As a Way believer, all life was to be measured against/discerned by the “rightly divided Word.” The “rightly divided Word,” was the doctrine that was taught as the true doctrine of the Bible (according to The Way’s interpretation). BUT, The Way taught that The Way did not “interpret” the Bible, but rather that the Bible “interprets itself.” The Way stated that The Way teaches people how to read the Bible so that the Bible interprets itself. And there can be only one “right dividing of the Word,” that “all other interpretations are wrong dividings.”

This is true for other groups as well, be it religious or otherwise. Just change the name of the group and the source of the doctrine.

To the follower, the follower isn’t blindly following. The follower has discerned an action/thought/behaviour by measuring that action/thought/behavior with the doctrine which the follower has made his own. So the follower THINKS the follower is thinking for him/her self. Yet doctrine ALWAYS presides over the person. The person is taught to trust the doctrine above all else.

Point being, I may have said I didn’t follow blindly and believed I was thinking for myself…but the reality is that I allowed the doctrine to direct my thoughts and actions. As far as “worship,” well…that’s another subject. The short of it is that in reality, I worshiped the doctrine but thought I was worshiping “God.”

Well, I hadn’t planned to write all that. And it may be no news to anyone and clear as mud. Apologies if I was too windy there.

What I really want to post in this comment is a link to an excerpt from a book, Them and Us: Cult Thinking and the Terrorist Threat by Arthur Diekman. The first two paragraphs in the link are thought provoking. Below are quotes from the first two paragraphs.

“Some degree of cult behavior can be seen in all groups, so instead of asking ‘Is this group a cult?,’ a more useful inquiry is: ‘How much cult behavior is taking place here?’ [...]
To heighten our awareness, Them and Us identifies four basic cult behaviors that influence our thinking: 1) compliance with a group, 2) dependence on a leader, 3) avoiding dissent, and 4) devaluing the outsider. These forces operate in all aspects of society. The core process is devaluing the outsider, resulting in Them-versus-Us behavior.“

You may have already stated something along the lines of what is quoted from the two paragraphs. I have a few other links and things in mind if you are ever interested.

Cheers and keep up the great writing!
~carol welch

Peter February 22nd, 2011 at 11:03 am

You make some good points as far as how the follower views his/her status within the group and no, I didn’t mention much from the paragraphs quoted above, but I have a sort of “part 2″ to this post I’m planning that will address those points. Thanks for stopping by…it’s always good to see someone cutting ties with a cult or cult-like group.

Carol Welch February 22nd, 2011 at 11:39 am

Thanks Peter!

Ron Davis February 25th, 2011 at 1:43 pm

Kristen I really liked your addition that in cults the dogma is mutable. I think that and a central charismatic figure is a key factor. Once one person in the group can change the rules to whatever they want them to be, they really do have a form a mind control for people who have decided to follow them.

Peter February 25th, 2011 at 3:14 pm

That’s very true, Ron. Thanks for stopping by!

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Author

The name's Chris writing under the nom de plume Peter Saint-Clair, mostly because it sounds way better than my real name. I'm a mystery author who's working on the debut novel that I don't know the name of yet. I like to read and write about things like cults and crime so you can probably expect to see a lot of posts on that sort of thing here. You will also find links to other, non-authorly projects I'm either working on, have worked on or am done with. I try to blog 3 times a week, but sometimes that doesn't happen. I do try to make sure that I post at least once a week, so if you don't hear from me for a couple of days, don't worry, I'll be back.