When I was a teen, I had watched a few TV programs and read a couple of articles involving crazes. They were wicked in my view but even more heart-wrenching was learning how some youngsters were drawn in by these crazes. Then the parents would desperately do anything to get them free and have them deprogrammed.
Back in the 70’s when I ended up in Toronto, recollection of cults made me keen to see first-hand the Hare Krishna devotees who hung around main street intersections in downtown Toronto. With shaven hair, they were always robed and chanting the ‘Hare Krishna’ mantras while full of brashness and ideals. In a way I admired their doggedness. I was tempted to strike up a conversation with one but was too fearful, so backed off. After a few years they had toned down their zeal and crazy days of counterculture and moved on to the suburbs.
What is a cult? And how does someone know if the faith they are following is harmful? Cult has three definitions. First of all, it can simply be a group that loves something. When people refer to an “Elvis cult”, they mean really devoted fans. The second definition is that of a religion whose beliefs differ from the majority around them. The third, and most commonly used definition, refers to a religious group that is Exclusive (the only ones with the truth), Secretive (vows of confidentiality), and Authoritarian (total loyalty and unquestioned obedience). There are experts who study and watch for dangerous or harmful religious groups with socially deviant beliefs and practices. They now use the term new religious movements for these groups.
Even the word ‘cult’, if used inadvertently, can hurt people, because it carries so much negative meaning. I had a neighbour one time whose daughter was accused of being in a cult just because she preferred hanging out with church friends rather than going out drinking with her other friends. She felt ostracized and I guess she was.
Recently in British Columbia, Nanaimo’s infamous cult leader had come to light. Decourcy Island is a 43-hectare property where Brother XII lived is on the market for $2.2 million. Brother XII (a cult leader) tried to found an utopian society in 1927 but accusations of embezzlement of the group’s funds and sexual affairs led to the group’s breakup. There are many questions still unanswered. The group was bankrolled by wealthy donors from across Europe and North America. At its peak, the Foundation boasted of 8,000 members, but only a few of them lived on Decourcy. CBC Radio reported that “Brother XII and his mistress steamed off in their private tugboat to escape justice.”
The well known The Church of Scientology is a cult created by L. Ron Hubbard in 1952. Scientology has remained highly controversial among journalists, governments and religious groups. It believes in the “immortality of each individual’s spirit,” therefore making death not a significant worry. The spirit acquires another body necessary for growth and survival. Tom Cruise and John Travolta are only two of their notable followers. Many have said that Scientology is unscrupulous and exploits its members.
I recall back in the early ’80’s hearing details about the Children of God cult from a brother-in-law through marriage. Few cults are as creepy as this one was. The primary belief practiced by followers of this organization is that sex with children is not only okay, but a divine right. Needless to say, there was an extensive history of sexual abuse within this cult. Young women were turned towards prostitution and used to lure new members into the fold. There was an entire system in place for recruitment. Ed’s sister was married to a group leader near Orangeville. They had three children whom Ed was particularly concerned for. He tried for over a year to intervene with the help of a lawyer but eventually communication was severed and the family relocated never to be heard from again. A rather famous actor, River Phoenix, was raised in a similar “family”. He was a brother of Joaquin Phoenix but he eventually escaped and fortunately went on to better things.
One sect of religious fanatics was a cult started by the charismatic Jim Jones, leader of the People’s Temple, who attracted the downtrodden and poor. Forced to eventually flee the United States he moved his followers to Guyana. The mass murder-suicide in 1978 of 918 of its members in Jonestown was at the instruction of Jones to have them commit an act of ‘revolutionary suicide’ by drinking poisoned punch thus coining the term, “drinking the Kool Aid.” Nearly 300 children were the first to die. Jones afterwards died of a gunshot wound to his head.
Then there was the Manson Family, a cult started by Charles Manson. After spending some years in prison and after his release he moved near San Francisco. He set himself up as a guru, moved in with a student and eventually had 18 additional women living with him. By 1968 he had established a ranch for the home of his family. He began telling them that social upheaval was coming. In 1969 he told the Family that “Helter Skelter” was here. That evening under his direction the family committed the famous murder of Sharon Tate and others over a two-day period.
“Doomsday cult” is an expression used to describe groups who believe in both prophesy and destruction, and to those that attempt to bring it about. A 1997 psychological study found that “people turned to a cataclysmic world view after they had repeatedly failed to find meaning in mainstream movements.
Sociologist Orlando Patterson described the Ku Klux Klan which arose after the Civil War as “A heretical Christian cult, and their persecution of African Americans and others as a form of human sacrifice.” Secret Ayrian cults in Germany and Austria had a strong influence on the rise of Nazism.
It has been estimated that there are around 50,000 members of polygamist cults in North America. Are the husbands as fortunate as it might first appear!
There is always a risk for doing something extraordinary to satisfy the needs of an individual but never toy with a Cult involvement. It could be an open and shut affair.
