Cults In Today's Society

Cults Today
The word cult is often thrown around in today’s society as a derogatory term towards religions that are not well known or have aspects that are contrary to mainstream religions. According to mainstream media, cults have been responsible for massive pact suicides, and their followers are incestual and polygamous. The mass media shows the leader as a manipulative person who controls his/her believers as they blindly follow, not knowing the trouble that will certainly find them. “… ‘cult’ has become little more than a convenient, if largely inaccurate and always pejorative, shorthand for a religious group that must be presented as odd or dangerous for the purpose of an emerging news story.”(3) Douglas Cowan and David Bromley show
A prime reason why a person would join a cult is that they are not doing this knowing that what they are becoming apart of is in fact a cult. Cults often are established off of a Christian based structure with similar values, and practices. A person may attend a cult thinking it is another sect of Christianity. Members of a cult learn ways to recruit new members, a typical form of recruiting is called “love-bombing”, where members seek out non-members and shower them with many forms of attention and affection. Basically, being extremely nice to others with the intent on conversion. Anticult members are quick to let the public know that recruiting for cults can happen anywhere, on campus, on buses and trains, or on the street, letting us know that we can be recruited literally everywhere. In actuality it looks as though most “recruitment” for cults is done through family members or close friends. When seeing that it is family and friends who do the majority of converting it is easy to see how people would join. It is not as though the trusted group are trying to harm others by recruiting, they are trying to help and see that others are also going to “find the truth” in a sense. It is similar to the common practice of missions trips that many Christian religions take part in where they travel to underdeveloped parts of the world, converting people to Christianity and also helping the community in some way. The difference being, hopefully no abuse of power or deceitfulness by the religion. It isn’t always understood why one does join a cult but it is probable to say each individual has their own personal reasons why, and somehow in a way that religion is giving them whatever it is they may be looking for. Friends? Belonging? Maybe they don’t agree with morals of other religions