Posted on 02/27/2011 8:35:02 AM PST by Colofornian
America has probably supplied the world with more new religions than any other nation...the country's atmosphere of religious experimentation has produced dozens of movements, from Mormonism to a wide range of nature-based practices grouped under the name Wicca.
...how do we tell when a religious movement ceases to be novel or unusual and becomes a cult?
...Hollywood writer-director Paul Haggis...left the Church of Scientology and has accused it of abusive practices, including demands that members disconnect from their families...
In the early 19th century, the "Burned-over District" of central New York stateso named for the religious passions of those who settled there following the Revolutionary Wargave rise to a wave of new movements, including Mormonism, Seventh-Day Adventism and Spiritualism (or talking to the dead). It was an era, as historian Sydney E. Ahlstrom wrote, when "Farmers became theologians, offbeat village youths became bishops, odd girls became prophets."
SNIP
Many academics and observers of cult phenomena, such as psychologist Philip G. Zimbardo of Stanford, agree on four criteria to define a cult. The first is behavior control...monitoring of where you go and what you do. The second is information control, such as discouraging members from reading criticism of the group. The third is thought control, placing sharp limits on doctrinal questioning. The fourth is emotional controlusing humiliation or guilt...I would add two more categories: financial control and extreme leadership.
Financial control translates into levying ruinous dues or fees...
Yet every coercive religious group harbors one telltale trait: untoward secrecy. As opposed to a cult, a religious culture ought to be as simple to enter or exit...the group's finances should be reasonably transparent. Its doctrine need not be conventionalbut it should be knowable to outsiders. Absent those qualities, an unorthodox religion can descend into something darker.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
you forgot the number 128387rd cult — yours, the Church of BibTut.
lol did YOU read it?
too much. /smh
...and it’s quite obvious as well.
Your efforts to deflect are entertaining, your attempted arrogance charming.
Now YOU read it...
Unless this little game is all you have...
Then I will treat it as another matter...
OMW! Love the graphic!
But I am sorry to say that this thread is just a waste of time.
Nuf said. Thx
Heh. Good way to start a Monday.
Most Dangerous Religious “OTHER Gospel” Cults are:
1) Roman Catholicism
You owe me a new keyboard. I just spit coffee everywhere and am still choking down the giggles. Seriously. That is just too funny. I can’t believe there are people that believe that Catholics are in a cult. Maybe I’m just so used to the Vatican official that follows us around to make sure we’re following all the rules. Oh my goodness. I know you didn’t mean to but I thank you for making me laugh this morning. I needed that!!
What’s the prize for being Number One Most Dangerous? Can we have t-shirts? Official Pope Benedict Epic Facepalm window stickers?
I want a window sticker! I want a window sticker!! :o)
That’ll leave a mark...
Love it...
And I am not even Catholic ;-)
Make sure one is visible from the front sidewalk, so innocent Biblically Truthy people don’t accidentally knock on the door and get sucked in, never to be seen again ...
(As if we could afford to feed more people, right?)
Congratulations! That’s an amazing spire ... just like a lightning whelk.
Thanks! That building belongs to an RLDS splinter group. There are about 20 different splinter groups in the area. I don’t have exact numbers and I have no idea what they call themselves. Couple of nice buildings though! Lots of high school graduations are held at the RLDS auditorium. I don’t know if that’s what they call it anymore. I can’t keep up!
Who in this thread is acting like a muslim????? Muslims kill people infidels, who here has called for that...hyperbole much?
Now, you seem to be judging other’s souls by using the term “so called Christians”. By what standard are you using to question whether people on this thread are Christians? Is it that they speak the truth against spirtual lies - if so Jesus himself did that agains the Pharisees. Would you judge Jesus poorly for doing that?
bibletruth's #40 can give you something more useful to sink your keyboard into.
I bear no ill will against Mormons I have known. We should all live as faithful lives. OTOH, the Mountain Meadows massacre was perpetrated by some Mormons against other Mormons, was it not??? And Udall family ancestors were prominent among the perps? Also, wasn’t Joseph Smith lynched by non-Mormons?
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