Warning
Signs of a Destructive Cult
Do
you know someone in a destructive cult?
Warning
signs!
Anyone
could attack a group they disagree with by unfairly labeling
it a destructive cult. How would you know whether it really
were such a cult or not? Isn't there an objective method to
evaluate groups for cultic tendencies? Yes. The following early
warning signs can help you reasonably determine whether or not
a group is likely to be a destructive cult, and if you should
be concerned about a friend, coworker, or loved one being involved
with it.
The
main reason that the following destructive cult tactics are
so damaging to both the individual and society is because they
debilitate rationality and reduce empathy. Rationality and empathy
are indispensable in making good personal and social decisions
(see An Informed Decision). History
is littered with personal and social catastrophes where a lack
of rationality and lack of empathy were its core causes.
Ask
yourself if the following criteria apply to the group you are
concerned about.
1. A
destructive cult tends to be totalitarian in its control of
its members' behavior. Cults are likely to dictate in great
detail not only what members believe, but also what members
wear and eat, when and where members work, sleep, and bathe,
and how members think, speak, and conduct familial, marital,
or sexual relationships.
2. A
destructive cult tends to have an ethical double standard. Members
are urged to be obedient to the cult, to carefully follow cult
rules. They are also encouraged to be revealing and open in
the group, confessing all to the leaders. On the other hand,
outside the group they are encouraged to act unethically, manipulating
outsiders or nonmembers, and either deceiving them or simply
revealing very little about themselves or the group. In contrast
to destructive cults, honorable groups teach members to abide
by one set of ethics and act ethically and truthfully to all
people in all situations.
3. A
destructive cult has only two basic purposes: recruiting new
members and fund-raising. Altruistic movements, established
religions, and other honorable groups also recruit and raise
funds. However, these actions are incidental to an honorable
group's main purpose of improving the lives of its members and
of humankind in general. Destructive cults may claim to make
social contributions, but in actuality such claims are superficial
and only serve as gestures or fronts for recruiting and fund-raising.
A cult's real goal is to increase the prestige and often the
wealth of the leader.
4. A
destructive cult appears to be innovative and exclusive. The
leader claims to be breaking with tradition, offering something
novel, and instituting the ONLY viable system for change that
will solve life's problems or the world's ills. But these claims
are empty and only used to recruit members who are then surreptitiously
subjected to mind control to inhibit their ability to examine
the actual validity of the claims of the leader and the cult.
5. A
destructive cult is authoritarian in its power structure. The
leader is regarded as the supreme authority. He or she may delegate
certain power to a few subordinates for the purpose of seeing
that members adhere to the leader's wishes. There is no appeal
outside his or her system to a greater system of justice. For
example, if a schoolteacher feels unjustly treated by a principal,
an appeal can be made to the superintendent. In a destructive
cult, the leader claims to have the only and final ruling on
all matters.
6. A
destructive cult's leader is a self-appointed messianic person
claiming to have a special mission in life. For example, leaders
of flying saucer cults claim that beings from outer space have
commissioned them to lead people away from Earth, so that only
the leaders can save them from impending doom.
7. A
destructive cult's leader centers the veneration of members
upon himself or herself. Priests, rabbis, ministers, democratic
leaders, and other leaders of genuinely altruistic movements
focus the veneration of adherents on God or a set of ethical
principles. Cult leaders, in contrast, keep the focus of love,
devotion, and allegiance on themselves.
8. A
destructive cult's leader tends to be determined, domineering,
and charismatic. Such a leader effectively persuades followers
to abandon or alter their families, friends, and careers to
follow the cult. The leader then takes control over followers'
possessions, money, time, and lives.
If you
know someone who belongs to a group that demonstrates a significant
number of these warning signs and you would like more information
on how to deal with destructive cults or mind control, go to
Points for Parents.
