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The World Book Encyclopaedia explains, "traditionally, the term cult referred to any form of worship or ritual observance." By that criterion, all religious organizations, group, or ‘sect’ could be classified as cults. However, in general usage today, the word "cult" has a different meaning. The same encyclopaedia notes that "since the mid-1900's, publicity about cults has altered the meaning of the term.
There are 3 characteristics which may be present to a greater or lesser degree, help to distinguish cults from other groups: • Members are expected to be excessively enthusiastic in their commitment to the identity and leadership of the group. They must replace their own beliefs and values with those of the group. • Members are manipulated and exploited, and may give up their education, careers and families to work excessively long hours at group-directed tasks such as selling a quota of candy or books, fund-raising, recruiting. • Harm or the threat of harm may come to members, their families, and/or society due to inadequate medical care, poor nutrition, psychological and physical abuse, sleep deprivation, criminal activities, and so forth
Who leads cults? • In general many of the leaders have had unusual lives (possibly with a traumatic experience or uncommon vision). Normally they do not fit into society even though they may be intelligent, extremely charming, and very ambitious people. Also, they are charismatic (have an extraordinary ability to persuade people to believe in them/their cause (Zeinert, 1997, p. 18).
Characteristics of the cult leader. • Cults are authoritarian in their power structure. • Cults tend to be totalitarian in their control of the behaviour of their members. • Cults tend to have double sets of ethics (one for the leader and another for the members; one for those inside the group, another for dealing with outsiders). • Cult leaders are self-appointed and claim to have a special mission in life. • Cult leaders tend to be charismatic, determined and domineering (Tobias and Lalich, 1994, p. 13).
The cult leader by definition must have an authoritarian personality in order to fulfil the power dynamic. Traditional elements of authoritarian personalities include: • tendency to a hierarchy • drive for power and wealth • hostility, hatred, prejudice • superficial judgements of other people • a one-sided scale of power favouring the leader • interpreting kindness as weakness • tendency to use people and see others as inferior • incapable of being ultimately satisfied • paranoia • charisma • master
Who joins a cult? • The majority are idealistic, simple, male, white, middle-class and young, many being eighteen to twenty-five years old. • Most have been members of the Christian or Jewish communities, and they have attended services regularly. Approximately 60% of cult members have attended college, although only 20% have received a degree (Zeinert, 1997, p. 15). • Few cult members have been involved in relationships that were more than exploitive or tentative. None felt committed to a value system at the time of joining a cult. Joiners look to belief in a cult as a way to avoid their personal dilemma. Feeling so little self-esteem, they can’t shoulder the responsibility of perhaps making a wrong moral choice and thereby feeling even more worthless. They are looking for ideology that will bolster whatever is admirable in them and purge whatever is bad (Levine, 1984, p. 23).
What are the different kinds of cults? • Cults come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Categories of cults that are recruiting successfully today include: • Eastern meditation: Characterized by belief in becoming one with God. • Religious: Marked by belief in the afterlife, salvation sometimes combined with an apocalyptic view. The leader reinterprets the Scriptures and often claims to be a prophet if not the Messiah. • Political, racist, terrorist: Fueled by a belief in changing society, revolution, overthrowing the “enemy” or getting rid of evil forces. The leader professes to be all-knowing and all-powerful (Tobias and Lalich, 1994, p. 15).
Cults are a group exhibiting devotion or dedication to a person, idea or thing, and employing unethical manipulative or coercive techniques of persuasion or control. For example: • isolation from former friends and family, • use of special methods to heighten subservience (submissive/obedient), • powerful group pressures, • information management, • suspension of individuality or critical judgement, • promotion of total dependency on the group and fear of leaving it), • designed to advance the goals of the group’s leaders, to the actual or possible detriment of members, their families or the community (Tobias and Lalich, 1994, p. 12).
