[Vision2020] Cult?
Jackie Woolf
jfkwoolf2000@yahoo.com
Thu, 11 Dec 2003 10:51:26 -0800 (PST)
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Obviously, some people are totally not willing to find out just what a cult really is.
As defined by Orthadox Church of America and the American Church Organization and AFF, the leading professional organization concerned about cults and psychological manipulation, the definition of what a cult is:
Harper's Bible Dictionary gives the following definition: "Cults [are] systems of worship centering in devotion or homage to a person or an object."
Another definition is: "A cult is a religious perversion. It is a belief and practice in the world of religion which calls for devotion to a religious view or leader centered in false doctrine. It is an organized heresy."
The prevailing doctrine of past and present cults is the gnostic or secret knowledge to attain salvation or perfection that they alone possess.
The term "cult" is a pejorative label used to describe certain religious groups outside of the mainstream of Western religion. Exactly which groups should be considered cults is a matter of disagreement among researchers in the cult phenomena, and considerable confusion exists. However, three definitions dominate the writings of social scientists, Christian counter-cult ministries, and secular anticultists.
Social scientists tend to be the least pejorative in their use of the term. They divide religious groups into three categories: churches, sects, and cults. "Churches" are the large denominations characterized by their inclusive approach to life and their indentification with the prevailing culture. In the United States, the churchly denominations would include such groups as the Roman Catholic Church, the United Methodist Church, the American Baptist Church, the United Church of Christ and the Protestant Episcopal Church. Groups that have broken away from the churchly denominations are termed "sects." They tend to follow the denominations in most patterns but are more strict in doctrine and behavioral demands placed upon members and emphasize their separation and distinctiveness from the larger culture (frequently spoken of as a "rejection of worldliness"). Typical sects have disavowed war (Quakers and Mennonites), championed controversial religious experiences (pentecostals!
), and
demanded conformity to detailed codes of dress, personal piety, and moral conduct (the holiness churches). Sects such as the fundamentalist Christian groups have argued for a stringent orthodoxy in the face of the doctrinal latitude allowed in most larger church bodies. More extreme sect bodies have developed patterns and practices which have largely isolated them from even their closest religious neighbors--snake-handling, drinking poison, alternative sexual relationships, unusual forms of dress.
While most sects follow familiar cultural patterns to a large extent "cults" follow an altogether different religious structure, one foreign and alien to the prevalent religious communities. Cults represent a force of religious innovation within a culture. In most cases that innovation comes about by the transplantation of a religion from a different culture by the immigration of some of its members and leaders. Thus during the twentieth century, Hinduism and Buddhism have been transplanted to America. In sociological terms, Hindu and Buddhist groups are, in America, cults. Cults may also come about through religious innovation from within the culture. The Church of Scientology ad the Synanon Church are new religious structures which emerged in American society without any direct foreign antecedents.
A second definition of cult arose among Christian polemicists. In the early twentieth century several conservative Evangelical Protestant writers, concerned about the growth of different religions in America, attacked these religions for their deviation from Christian orthodox faith. Among the first of the prominent Christian writers on the subject of cults, Jan Karel Van Baalen described cults as non-Christian religions but included those groups which had their roots in Christianity while denying what he considered its essential teaching. According to VanBaalen, all religions could be divided into two groups, those which ascribe to humans the ability to acomplish their own salvation and those which ascribe that ability to God. The latter group is called Christianity. All other religion fits into the first group. In The Chaos of Cults, which went through numerous editions from its first appearance in 1938, Van Baalen analyzed various non-Christian religions in the light of C!
hristian
teachings.
With little change, contemporary Christian counter-cult spokespersons have followed Van Baalen's lead. Cults follow another gospel (Gal.I:I6). They are heretical. They set up their own beliefs in opposition to orthodox faith. As Josh McDowell and Don Stewart, two popular Evangelical writers assert, "A cult is a perversion, a distortion of Biblical Christianity, and, as such, rejects the historical teachings of the Christian Church."
The Christian approach to cults would include every group which has departed from orthodox Christianity (such as the Church of Christ, Scientist, the Latter Day Saints, and the Jehovah's Witnesses) as well as those groups which have never made any claim to be Christian. Individual writers disagree over the cultic nature of such groups as the Roman Catholic Church (included and then dropped by Van Baalen), or the Unitarian-Universalist Church. Little consideration has been given to non-Trinitarian Pentecostal groups.
The third definition, the one which became the dominant force in the public debates on cults in the 1970s, developed within the secular anti-cult movement. The definition has shifted and changed over the last decade. It did not develop out of any objective research on alternatie religions, rather it emerged in the intense polemics of parents who had been disturbed by changes observed in their sons and dauthters who had joined particular religious groups. These "cults"--predominantly the Children of God, the Church of Armageddon, the Unification Church, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, and the Church of Scientology--had, they charged, radically altered the persoality traits of their children.
A central component of AFF’s mission is to study psychological manipulation and abuse, especially as it manifests in cultic and other groups. Different people, however, attach different and usually imprecise meanings to the term “cult”. Those who have sought information from AFF have – properly or improperly –used “cult” to refer to a wide variety of phenomena, including, but not limited to:
Groups – religious, political, psychological, commercial – in which the leader(s) appear(s) to exert undue influence over followers, usually to the leader’s(s’) benefit.Fanatical religious and political groups, regardless of whether or not leaders exert a high level of psychological control.Terrorist organizations, such as Bin Laden’s group, which induce some members to commit horrific acts of violence.Religious groups deemed heretical or socially deviant by the person attaching the “cult” label.Any unorthodox religious group – benign or destructive.Covert hypnotic inductions.Communes that may be physically isolated and socially unorthodox.Groups (religious, New Age, psychotherapeutic, “healing,”) that advocate beliefs in a transcendent order or actions that may occur through mechanisms inconsistent with the laws of physics.Any group embraced by a family member whose parents, spouses, or other relatives conclude – correctly or incorrectly – that the group is destructive to t!
he
involved family member.Organizations that employ high-pressure sales and/or recruitment tactics.Authoritarian social groups in which members exhibit a high level of conformity and compliance to the expectations and demands of leaders.Extremist organizations that advocate violence, racial separation, bigotry, or overthrow of the government.Familial or dyadic relationships in which one member exerts an unusually high and apparently harmful influence over the other member(s), e.g., certain forms of dysfunctional families or battered women’s syndrome.
The majority of those persons who attach the “cult” label to these phenomena share a disapproval of the group or organization they label. That is why some people have dismissed the term “cult” as a meaningless epithet hurled at a group one doesn’t like. Although this position may appeal to one’s cynical side, it ignores the reality that many common concepts are fuzzy. Lists of diverse phenomena could also be drawn up for terms such as “child abuse,” “neurotic,” “right wing,” “left wing,” “learning disabled,” “sexy,” “ugly,” “beautiful,” etc. We don’t banish these fuzzy terms from our vocabularies because, contrary to the cynic’s claim, most people most of the time use these fuzzy terms with enough precision to be meaningful and understood by others.
Long discussions by these groups can be found on their intenet web sites.
I realize some people do not appreciate the effort it takes to look something up before they say something, but really...this is a simple task to accomplish in this case.
Jim Jones was the leader of a cult. David Koresh was the leader of cult. (Personally, I knew David when he was still calling himself Vernon. Believe me, I know the difference between a cult and a genuine church that worships God.) The two named are absolute examples of what a cult leader and group is all about.
Pastor Wilson, the Church of Christ is the absolute example of what a cult is NOT. There is NO brainwashing, there is NO physical/pyschological abuse. There is NO condemnation of the soul if someone choses to leave. There is NO part of Christ Church which worships anyone else but God and HIS word. The Church of Christ AND Pastor Wilson do answer to people outside of our town and community. A cult answers only to itself.
Please, use some care when putting labels on people you can not or will not be able to defend.
Thank you.
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<DIV>
<DIV>Obviously, some people are totally not willing to find out just what a cult really is.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>As defined by Orthadox Church of America and the American Church Organization and AFF, the leading professional organization concerned about cults and psychological manipulation, the definition of what a cult is:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Harper's Bible Dictionary gives the following definition: "Cults [are] systems of worship centering in devotion or homage to a person or an object."<BR></DIV>
<DIV>Another definition is: "A cult is a religious perversion. It is a belief and practice in the world of religion which calls for devotion to a religious view or leader centered in false doctrine. It is an organized heresy."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The prevailing doctrine of past and present cults is the gnostic or secret knowledge to attain salvation or perfection that they alone possess.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The term "cult" is a pejorative label used to describe certain religious groups outside of the mainstream of Western religion. Exactly which groups should be considered cults is a matter of disagreement among researchers in the cult phenomena, and considerable confusion exists. However, three definitions dominate the writings of social scientists, Christian counter-cult ministries, and secular anticultists. </DIV>
<DIV>
<P>Social scientists tend to be the least pejorative in their use of the term. They divide religious groups into three categories: churches, sects, and cults. "Churches" are the large denominations characterized by their inclusive approach to life and their indentification with the prevailing culture. In the United States, the churchly denominations would include such groups as the Roman Catholic Church, the United Methodist Church, the American Baptist Church, the United Church of Christ and the Protestant Episcopal Church. Groups that have broken away from the churchly denominations are termed "sects." They tend to follow the denominations in most patterns but are more strict in doctrine and behavioral demands placed upon members and emphasize their separation and distinctiveness from the larger culture (frequently spoken of as a "rejection of worldliness"). Typical sects have disavowed war (Quakers and Mennonites), championed controversial religious experiences (pentecost!
als), and
demanded conformity to detailed codes of dress, personal piety, and moral conduct (the holiness churches). Sects such as the fundamentalist Christian groups have argued for a stringent orthodoxy in the face of the doctrinal latitude allowed in most larger church bodies. More extreme sect bodies have developed patterns and practices which have largely isolated them from even their closest religious neighbors--snake-handling, drinking poison, alternative sexual relationships, unusual forms of dress.
<P>While most sects follow familiar cultural patterns to a large extent "cults" follow an altogether different religious structure, one foreign and alien to the prevalent religious communities. Cults represent a force of religious innovation within a culture. In most cases that innovation comes about by the transplantation of a religion from a different culture by the immigration of some of its members and leaders. Thus during the twentieth century, Hinduism and Buddhism have been transplanted to America. In sociological terms, Hindu and Buddhist groups are, in America, cults. Cults may also come about through religious innovation from within the culture. The Church of Scientology ad the Synanon Church are new religious structures which emerged in American society without any direct foreign antecedents. </P>
<P>A second definition of cult arose among Christian polemicists. In the early twentieth century several conservative Evangelical Protestant writers, concerned about the growth of different religions in America, attacked these religions for their deviation from Christian orthodox faith. Among the first of the prominent Christian writers on the subject of cults, Jan Karel Van Baalen described cults as non-Christian religions but included those groups which had their roots in Christianity while denying what he considered its essential teaching. According to VanBaalen, all religions could be divided into two groups, those which ascribe to humans the ability to acomplish their own salvation and those which ascribe that ability to God. The latter group is called Christianity. All other religion fits into the first group. In The Chaos of Cults, which went through numerous editions from its first appearance in 1938, Van Baalen analyzed various non-Christian religions in the light of
Christian teachings.
<P>With little change, contemporary Christian counter-cult spokespersons have followed Van Baalen's lead. Cults follow another gospel (Gal.I:I6). They are heretical. They set up their own beliefs in opposition to orthodox faith. As Josh McDowell and Don Stewart, two popular Evangelical writers assert, "A cult is a perversion, a distortion of Biblical Christianity, and, as such, rejects the historical teachings of the Christian Church." </P>
<P>The Christian approach to cults would include every group which has departed from orthodox Christianity (such as the Church of Christ, Scientist, the Latter Day Saints, and the Jehovah's Witnesses) as well as those groups which have never made any claim to be Christian. Individual writers disagree over the cultic nature of such groups as the Roman Catholic Church (included and then dropped by Van Baalen), or the Unitarian-Universalist Church. Little consideration has been given to non-Trinitarian Pentecostal groups.
<P>The third definition, the one which became the dominant force in the public debates on cults in the 1970s, developed within the secular anti-cult movement. The definition has shifted and changed over the last decade. It did not develop out of any objective research on alternatie religions, rather it emerged in the intense polemics of parents who had been disturbed by changes observed in their sons and dauthters who had joined particular religious groups. These "cults"--predominantly the Children of God, the Church of Armageddon, the Unification Church, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, and the Church of Scientology--had, they charged, radically altered the persoality traits of their children.</P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana size=2>A central component of AFF’s mission is to study psychological manipulation and abuse, especially as it manifests in cultic and other groups.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Different people, however, attach different and usually imprecise meanings to the term “cult”. Those who have sought information from AFF have – properly or improperly –used “cult” to refer to a wide variety of phenomena, including, but not limited to:</FONT></P>
<P><!--mstheme--><!--msthemelist-->
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><!--msthemelist-->
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=baseline width=42><IMG height=12 hspace=15 src="http://www.csj.org/_themes/newthe4a/strbul2c.gif" width=12></TD>
<TD vAlign=top width="100%"><!--mstheme--><FONT face="verdana, Arial, Helvetica"><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Groups – religious, political, psychological, commercial – in which the leader(s) appear(s) to exert undue influence over followers, usually to the leader’s(s’) benefit.</FONT><!--mstheme--></FONT><!--msthemelist--></TD></TR><!--msthemelist-->
<TR>
<TD vAlign=baseline width=42><IMG height=12 hspace=15 src="http://www.csj.org/_themes/newthe4a/strbul2c.gif" width=12></TD>
<TD vAlign=top width="100%"><!--mstheme--><FONT face="verdana, Arial, Helvetica"><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Fanatical religious and political groups, regardless of whether or not leaders exert a high level of psychological control.</FONT><!--mstheme--></FONT><!--msthemelist--></TD></TR><!--msthemelist-->
<TR>
<TD vAlign=baseline width=42><IMG height=12 hspace=15 src="http://www.csj.org/_themes/newthe4a/strbul2c.gif" width=12></TD>
<TD vAlign=top width="100%"><!--mstheme--><FONT face="verdana, Arial, Helvetica"><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Terrorist organizations, such as Bin Laden’s group, which induce some members to commit horrific acts of violence.</FONT><!--mstheme--></FONT><!--msthemelist--></TD></TR><!--msthemelist-->
<TR>
<TD vAlign=baseline width=42><IMG height=12 hspace=15 src="http://www.csj.org/_themes/newthe4a/strbul2c.gif" width=12></TD>
<TD vAlign=top width="100%"><!--mstheme--><FONT face="verdana, Arial, Helvetica"><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Religious groups deemed heretical or socially deviant by the person attaching the “cult” label.</FONT><!--mstheme--></FONT><!--msthemelist--></TD></TR><!--msthemelist-->
<TR>
<TD vAlign=baseline width=42><IMG height=12 hspace=15 src="http://www.csj.org/_themes/newthe4a/strbul2c.gif" width=12></TD>
<TD vAlign=top width="100%"><!--mstheme--><FONT face="verdana, Arial, Helvetica"><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Any unorthodox religious group – benign or destructive.</FONT><!--mstheme--></FONT><!--msthemelist--></TD></TR><!--msthemelist-->
<TR>
<TD vAlign=baseline width=42><IMG height=12 hspace=15 src="http://www.csj.org/_themes/newthe4a/strbul2c.gif" width=12></TD>
<TD vAlign=top width="100%"><!--mstheme--><FONT face="verdana, Arial, Helvetica"><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Covert hypnotic inductions.</FONT><!--mstheme--></FONT><!--msthemelist--></TD></TR><!--msthemelist-->
<TR>
<TD vAlign=baseline width=42><IMG height=12 hspace=15 src="http://www.csj.org/_themes/newthe4a/strbul2c.gif" width=12></TD>
<TD vAlign=top width="100%"><!--mstheme--><FONT face="verdana, Arial, Helvetica"><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Communes that may be physically isolated and socially unorthodox.</FONT><!--mstheme--></FONT><!--msthemelist--></TD></TR><!--msthemelist-->
<TR>
<TD vAlign=baseline width=42><IMG height=12 hspace=15 src="http://www.csj.org/_themes/newthe4a/strbul2c.gif" width=12></TD>
<TD vAlign=top width="100%"><!--mstheme--><FONT face="verdana, Arial, Helvetica"><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Groups (religious, New Age, psychotherapeutic, “healing,”) that advocate beliefs in a transcendent order or actions that may occur through mechanisms inconsistent with the laws of physics.</FONT><!--mstheme--></FONT><!--msthemelist--></TD></TR><!--msthemelist-->
<TR>
<TD vAlign=baseline width=42><IMG height=12 hspace=15 src="http://www.csj.org/_themes/newthe4a/strbul2c.gif" width=12></TD>
<TD vAlign=top width="100%"><!--mstheme--><FONT face="verdana, Arial, Helvetica"><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Any group embraced by a family member whose parents, spouses, or other relatives conclude – correctly or incorrectly – that the group is destructive to the involved family member.</FONT><!--mstheme--></FONT><!--msthemelist--></TD></TR><!--msthemelist-->
<TR>
<TD vAlign=baseline width=42><IMG height=12 hspace=15 src="http://www.csj.org/_themes/newthe4a/strbul2c.gif" width=12></TD>
<TD vAlign=top width="100%"><!--mstheme--><FONT face="verdana, Arial, Helvetica"><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Organizations that employ high-pressure sales and/or recruitment tactics.</FONT><!--mstheme--></FONT><!--msthemelist--></TD></TR><!--msthemelist-->
<TR>
<TD vAlign=baseline width=42><IMG height=12 hspace=15 src="http://www.csj.org/_themes/newthe4a/strbul2c.gif" width=12></TD>
<TD vAlign=top width="100%"><!--mstheme--><FONT face="verdana, Arial, Helvetica"><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Authoritarian social groups in which members exhibit a high level of conformity and compliance to the expectations and demands of leaders.</FONT><!--mstheme--></FONT><!--msthemelist--></TD></TR><!--msthemelist-->
<TR>
<TD vAlign=baseline width=42><IMG height=12 hspace=15 src="http://www.csj.org/_themes/newthe4a/strbul2c.gif" width=12></TD>
<TD vAlign=top width="100%"><!--mstheme--><FONT face="verdana, Arial, Helvetica"><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Extremist organizations that advocate violence, racial separation, bigotry, or overthrow of the government.</FONT><!--mstheme--></FONT><!--msthemelist--></TD></TR><!--msthemelist-->
<TR>
<TD vAlign=baseline width=42><IMG height=12 hspace=15 src="http://www.csj.org/_themes/newthe4a/strbul2c.gif" width=12></TD>
<TD vAlign=top width="100%"><!--mstheme--><FONT face="verdana, Arial, Helvetica"><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Familial or dyadic relationships in which one member exerts an unusually high and apparently harmful influence over the other member(s), e.g., certain forms of dysfunctional families or battered women’s syndrome.</FONT><!--mstheme--></FONT><!--msthemelist--></TD></TR><!--msthemelist--></TBODY></TABLE><!--mstheme--><FONT face="verdana, Arial, Helvetica"></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana size=2>The majority of those persons who attach the “cult” label to these phenomena share a disapproval of the group or organization they label. That is why some people have dismissed the term “cult” as a meaningless epithet hurled at a group one doesn’t like. Although this position may appeal to one’s cynical side, it ignores the reality that many common concepts are fuzzy. Lists of diverse phenomena could also be drawn up for terms such as “child abuse,” “neurotic,” “right wing,” “left wing,” “learning disabled,” “sexy,” “ugly,” “beautiful,” etc. We don’t banish these fuzzy terms from our vocabularies because, contrary to the cynic’s claim, most people most of the time use these fuzzy terms with enough precision to be meaningful and understood by others. </FONT></P>
<P></FONT>Long discussions by these groups can be found on their intenet web sites. </P>
<P>I realize some people do not appreciate the effort it takes to look something up before they say something, but really...this is a simple task to accomplish in this case.</P>
<P>Jim Jones was the leader of a cult. David Koresh was the leader of cult. (Personally, I knew David when he was still calling himself Vernon. Believe me, I know the difference between a cult and a genuine church that worships God.) The two named are absolute examples of what a cult leader and group is all about. </P>
<P>Pastor Wilson, the Church of Christ is the absolute example of what a cult is NOT. There is NO brainwashing, there is NO physical/pyschological abuse. There is NO condemnation of the soul if someone choses to leave. There is NO part of Christ Church which worships anyone else but God and HIS word. The Church of Christ AND Pastor Wilson do answer to people outside of our town and community. A cult answers only to itself.</P>
<P>Please, use some care when putting labels on people you can not or will not be able to defend.</P>
<P>Thank you.</P>
<P> </P></DIV></DIV><p><hr SIZE=1>
Do you Yahoo!?<br>
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