4 minute read
When I was a child, I was raised in a very fundamentalist religious environment. Among the many ideas that was repeatedly taught was the danger of religious cults — they would suck you in if you even talked with their members. To put that into context, Jim Jones had just served up the poisoned Kool-Aid, airports and street corners were frequented by the missionaries of Krishna, the Moonies were becoming well-known, and the Rajneeshis had taken over an entire town in Oregon. The dangers were, apparently, plain to see.
The academic definition of a cult is a system of beliefs and rituals with a religious flavor. Mainstream culture has references to cult movies like Rocky Horror Picture Show or The Princess Bride, and Living Colour rock “Cult of Personality.” Loyalty to a favorite sports team might be cultic for some, with jerseys, hats, and bumper stickers to identify the faithful. Some of the same could be said for political movements with identifiable team colors, wearable logos, etc. The most common modern use of the word, though, is religious cults, which are extreme variations on established religious systems, often perceived as weird and/or dangerous.
In 1991, Dr. Jay Lifton wrote a frequently-cited paper entitled “Cult Formation” and published it in the peer-reviewed Harvard Mental Health Letters. Lifton gives an excellent summary of the characteristics of religious cults. To quote from the paper’s abstract, cults “… tend to be associated with a charismatic leader, thought reform, and exploitation of members. Among the methods of thought reform commonly used by cults are milieu control, mystical manipulation, the demand for purity, a cult of confession, sacred science, loading the language, doctrine over person, and dispensing of existence.”
We see many examples of these behaviors all around us in human cultures. Leaders are chosen for their charisma, that defining quality that seems to give a person a sort of magnetic attraction from others. These are the people that light up a room, or that project an aura of being in charge. People will look to them for answers instinctively because they project confidence. Because of this, sometimes people may be exploited by these charismatic leaders. It is easy, especially in groups with a similar perception, to let one’s guard down and take for granted that a leader always has the best interests of everyone in mind, though that is not always the case.
Though strength in a leader can be enticing, their methods of leadership are more important. Lifton put a lot of effort into describing thought reform because human cultures are built upon common interpretations of events and ideals, and those cultures can be twisted if perceptions are corrupted. “Brainwashing,” as many label religious cult mind manipulation, is a combination of efforts.
Lifton’s “milieu control” refers to framing events in a way that fits a storyline, like controlling the news cycle. If people only get to learn about what’s going on through sanctioned (and not necessarily objective) news sources, there is a risk that their sense of reality may be built upon lies or incomplete information. This permits distortions that favor some groups or individuals over others and is reinforced by using specific language that labels people in flattering or detrimental ways. These twists may involve mystical elements like implying spiritual significance or suggesting a conspiracy could be at work, and are often designed to be entertaining. People will defend their spiritual beliefs with their lives, so they are very significant.
Fundamentalism in many walks of life has contributed to a perceived need for ideological purity. Humanity always has to balance innate curiosity about novelty with the comfort of similarity, but those who drift toward fundamentalist habits are alarmed by differences. Thought reform uses this discomfort to nurture fear of the other as an existential threat. Confessions of doubt or uncertainty are portrayed as weakness, and they may be used to coerce people to stay true to the message.
A shared sense of reality is also supported by Lifton’s sacred science, which is merely crafting a structure around the group’s beliefs that give it a sense of logic and sensibility. Statistics are powerful tools for interpretation of mountains of data, and they are easy to manipulate. (There’s a great quote that says there are three types of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.) If an idea can be presented as objectively true because someone can assert it with confidence backed up by “scientific” research, it is more compelling. In the scientific world, this is why peer review is vitally important, as it minimizes distortions, but the general public isn’t as rigorously cautious. If it sounds like science, it must be true!
All of these qualities of religious cults, taken individually, are by-products of being human in human society. In the right combinations, though, darkness may lurk. We only have to look around with minimal effort to recognize them in tribal behaviors all around us which are growing stronger by the day. Political factions have their own news sources, superstar personalities, ideologies, etc. that demand purity and total devotion. Religious — and anti-religious — groups do the same, and in some cases have collaborated with political factions to greater effect. All of this behavior is in pursuit of power. It is often dressed up to look like a benevolent attempt to make the world a better place, but manipulation on this scale is always about giving control over the many to the few.
It’s time for some soul-searching, as the practical application of knowledge is how it can become wisdom. Does your loyalty to a sports team override your willingness to get along with supporters of an opposing team? Is your sense of patriotism causing you to value the nation over its citizens? Is your fealty to a political party causing you to hate or wish harm upon those of another party? Is your devotion to your religion or denomination (or non-denomination) causing you to treat those who don’t share your exact beliefs as evil? Does your affiliation with others cause you to see some as subhuman? Is basic human decency something you feel compelled to bypass because of a difference of opinion? If so, you may be part of a social structure that is behaving like a religious cult, no matter how mainstream it may appear to be. Wake up, recognize it for what it is, commit to change, and look for help.
