Religious Cults - A Threat to Society? Essay -- essays papers

Religious Cults - A Threat to Society?On November 18, 1978, in a cleargond-out patch of the Guyanese jungle, Reverend Jim Jones ordered the 911 members of his flock to kill themselves by drinking a cyanide potion, and they did. It seems furorists were brainwashed by this megalomaniac Jones, who had named their jungle village after himself and held them as virtual slaves, if not living zombies. Jones himself was found dead. Hed shot himself in the head, or someone else had shot him. Is it plausible that more(prenominal) than nine hundred mint took their own lives willingly, simply because he told them to? This paper will examine aspects of authentic phantasmal groups around the world that have shocked us with homogeneous types of behavior. Most of these groups have been categorized into what we refer to as cults. While closely of these bran-new religious groups be extremely passive in their methodology, it is my butt to look at those that have gone outside the boundaries of our norms and done such(prenominal) things as mass suicide and acts of terrorism. I will try to infer how the leaders of these groups are able to persuade members to give up all(a) of their possessions and in some cases their lives. What causes muckle to remove themselves from their jobs, and families? A cult is all group of people who surround themselves around a strong effectiveness figure. Cults, like many other groups, attempt to expand their influence for the purposes of index or money. However, to achieve these ends, detrimental cults employ a potent intermixture of influence and deception over members and new recruits. Using methods such as brainwashing, thought reform, and mind control. A successful conversion into a destructive cult removes a persons former identity element and replaces it with a new one. This is where the new member accepts all of the beliefs of his new group and a new identity is created. However once a member of the group, any deviation fr om the cult leaders teachings is strictly forbidden. Individuality is suppressed, and subject to fear and suspicion of everyone around in the group.What could cause people to join such groups when it is common knowledge that these groups are known to go against the norms of our society? Many of those who study these groups say that people tend to be more susceptible to manipulation in quantify of major change and crisis. During the 1960s there was an explos... ... is often which is defined as direct contact with the divine, generating a sense of belonging to something profound and of world a somebody. The modern cult may be viewed as a group that gives its members an identity and a sense of meaning in a world that has somehow failed to provide them these things.With over 3000 destructive cults in the U.S. claiming over 4 million members, it seems that there may only be more trouble to come with these new religious organizations popping up close out of nowhere. Their leaders se em to pray on the vulnerable and lonely. possibly causing them to behave in a manner that would not be in their normal behavior. I am not suggesting that all of these religious groups are threat to our society. In fact I believe that these self-help groups are an asset to the people that they help. However trouble arises when the leaders of these groups lose control, demanding actualize and total obedience. It is quite evident that one persons cult may be another persons religion, and history has proven that yesterdays fringe group may be tomorrows mainstream religion. All of our popular religious groups once started as out as a cult at one sentence or another.