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A cult is a system of religious worship. These groups can vary in size. One cult may have a leader with a few followers, yet another may have a complex chain of command. They may use secret signals that cannot be understood by outsiders. Most use signs that do not require speech, such as their own version of sign language. This is to keep outsiders from knowing what they are up to.
It actually works quite well, and is hard to decode. Cults reject the term, and prefer to call themselves new religious movements instead. They prevent individuality by having strict dress codes and daily schedules for each member. Living in a cult is like living in a dormitory. The group shares the few possessions the cult has, such as the car or television set. Very few members have personal possessions.
There are mainly two types of cults. One type is a group who shares unpopular or banned religious beliefs. They join together in secret for comfort or safety. They just want to be accepted by the world. Other groups are violent and fight against the community and laws.
An example of this type of group is the Mafia. The sense of community and purpose that cults offer fills a void in the lives of young people searching for direction and personal connection. (Barghusen, p. 28) This is the reason that young people are easy targets for recruiting new cult members. When cult members go out recruiting, or searching for new members, they focus typically on somebody who looks lonely and new to the area. Recruiters go out in teams of 2 or more. Once they have spotted their target, they approach and make small talk.
They will be excessively friendly, and invite you to a seminar or meeting. They hide the fact that it is a cult meeting by being very vague, and by not stating the goal. Once at the meeting, new recruits are always made to feel extremely welcome and comfortable. They are given long confusing lectures on an incomprehensible subject in order to make them think they like the group. They are also introduced to the meaning of the group, and if they show more interest they are invited to the next meeting. Even after all of this, only a small portion of people who come to their first meeting actually return to another.
Out of the people who do end up joining the cult, 90 percent of them stay only a few years. In cults, there are ranks, and any person who goes out of their authority will suffer severe punishment. The leader of cult may claim all sexual rights with the women, and be able to have multiple marriages. The members of cults have little, if any, part in the decision making. The cult leaders plan everything for them, such as when to eat, and what activities to do each day. The members are expected to carry out the leader s orders.
In the issue of Men vs. Women, the men are dominant over the women, and the women are assigned supporting roles. Members of cults will spend some time of each day studying the principles of the cult. The worship, pray, or do anything else that has to do with their religion. Each cult, however, varies with how they worship. The daily chores, such going grocery shopping, are shared among the group.
Cults are close to be supportive, but being close also controls behavior. It sets up an expectation, and members who do not follow it may lose the group s support. In many cults self sacrifice is encouraged by a sense of urgency about the group s mission and by the group s idea that materialism and luxury are sinful. (Barghusen, p. 40) Children in cults are taught about the cult s standards and beliefs at an early age. They are often sheltered from the outside world and made to believe it is impure. They are usually schooled inside the cult. In cults discipline is strict, and if misbehavior occurs, the punishments are harsh even for young children.
The children are cared for by all different members of the cult so that from an early age they begin to think of the whole cult as their family. Children who have been born, raised, and educated in a cult may have fears about the outside world and society outside the cult, since they have been taught that life outside the cult is impure. Members may leave cults for various reasons, such as cult life wasn t living up to what they thought, their attitudes may change (they may tire of restrictions), or they might miss their family. The first step to leaving a cult would mean the member would have to admit that joining was a mistake. Then they must realize that they will have to give up any relationships within the cult.
This can be a great personal loss, and makes leaving the cult emotionally difficult. This is especially true since their cult friends have been their only social contacts that they have had since they joined the cult. Leaving a cult may be difficult if the member s friends try to convince he / she to stay, or if the member has to leave behind family members that do not wish to leave. Once out of a cult, a former member will have many struggles ahead. They will have to find a job, and this can be nearly impossible if they joined the cult at a young age and did not complete their education. They really just have to start their life all over again, and hopefully family members will support and help them through it.
Not knowing how to live life on their own may cause former members of cults to return. A returned cult member often disappeared more deeply into the cult. (Barghusen, p. 75) If this occurs, and the member s family doesn t want them in the cult, the family may resort to deprogramming. Parents whose children joined cults believed that their children had been programmed to accept the group s beliefs by drugs, hypnosis, or brainwashing techniques. (Barghusen, p. 59) These parents looked to deprogramming as a way to remove their kids from the groups. Deprogramming is when people help cult members to see alternatives to cult life. There are 2 types of deprogramming. One is negotiated deprogramming, and the other is forceful deprogramming.
Families who are reluctant to use forceful deprogramming use negotiated deprogramming. In negotiated deprogramming, the member agrees to meet the family and counselors to hear information about the cult they may not know, and to hear why the cult s practices have negative outcomes. In order to use forceful deprogramming, the cult member must first be removed from the group. Parents try to get court orders to have custody of the member for a certain amount of time, but these are very hard to get and are only for a limited amount of time.
Some parents hire people to kidnap their kids in order to get them deprogrammed. The deprogrammer's use psychological techniques, similar to what the cult used, under pressure to counter-act what the cult did and to restore the original attitude. Deprogrammers also help to break ties with friendships that occurred within the cult. Some people would act like the deprogrammer convinced them until they were released and then they simply re-joined the cult. In conclusion, cults are very controlling and demanding. They are not a safe thing to get yourself into, so I suggest you stay away from them.
Once you are in one, it is a difficult struggle to get out of it, so it is best not join in the first place. If you are already in a cult, and want help getting out, I suggest you go to a trusted adult and ask for help. 316
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