Cult

:This article does not discuss "cult" in its original sense of "religious practice"; for that usage see Cult (religion). See Cult (disambiguation) for more meanings of the term "cult".

Cult, NRM and the sociology and psychology of religion

The problem with defining the word cult is that (1) purported cult members generally resist being called a cult, and (2) the word cult is often used to marginalize religious groups with which one does not agree or sympathize. Some serious researchers of religion and sociology prefer to use terms such as new religious movement (NRM) in their research on cults. Such usage may lead to confusion because some religious movements are "new" but not necessarily cults, and some purported cults are not religious or overtly religious. Furthermore, some religious groups commonly regarded as cults are in fact no longer "new"; for instance, the Jehovah's Witnesses have been around for over 100 years in the USA; Scientology is over 50 years old; and the Hare Krishna came out of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, a religious tradition that is about 500 years old.

Related Topics:
Religion - Sociology - New religious movement - Jehovah's Witnesses - Hare Krishna - Gaudiya Vaishnavism

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Where a cult practices physical or mental abuse, some psychologists and other mental health professionals use the terms cult, abusive cult, or destructive cult. The popular press also commonly uses these terms. However, not all cults function abusively or destructively, and among those that psychologists believe are abusive, few members would agree that they suffer abuse. Other researchers like David V. Barrett hold the view that classifying a religious movement as a cult is generally used as a subjective and negative label and has no added value; instead, he argues that one should investigate the beliefs and practices of the religious movement.{{fn|9}}

Related Topics:
Psychologist - Destructive cult

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Some psychologists who specialised in group psychology have studied what cognitive and emotional traits make people join a cult and to stay loyal to it. For example, see an analysis in the Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g2699/is_0004/ai_2699000433.

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Some groups, particularly those labeled by others as cults, view the "cult" designation as insensitive and feel persecuted by their opponents. They often believe their opponents to be part of the anti-cult movement.

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Such groups often defend their position by comparing themselves to more established, mainstream religious groups such as Catholicism and Judaism. The argument offered can usually be simplified as, "except for size and age, Christianity and Judaism meet all the criteria for a cult, and therefore the term cult simply means small, young religion."

Related Topics:
Catholicism - Judaism

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According to the Dutch religious scholar Wouter Hanegraaff, another problem with writing about cults comes about because they generally hold belief systems that give answers to questions about the meaning of life and morality. This makes it difficult not to write in biased terms about a certain cult, because writers are rarely neutral about these questions. In an attempt to deal with this difficulty, some writers who deal with the subject choose to explicitly state their ethical values and belief systems.

Related Topics:
Wouter Hanegraaff - Belief system - Life - Morality

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For many scholars and professional commentators, the usage of the word "cult" applies to maleficent or abusive behavior, and not to a belief system. For members of competing religions, use of the word remains pejorative and applies primarily to rival beliefs (see memes), and only incidentally to behavior. It should be noted that there is no clear causal connection between extremist belief and the formation of a so-called destructive cult. Most far-right hate groups are not cults, although they have pathological ideas and are frequently violent. Some groups regarded as cults have quite benign belief systems--the devil is in the details of how the members relate to the cult's founder and inner circle.

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In the sociology of religion, the term cult is a part of the subdivision of religious groups into sects, cults, denominations and ecclesias. The sociologists Rodney Stark and William S. Bainbridge define in their book "Theory of Religion" and subsequent works cults as "deviant religious organization with novel beliefs and practices", that is as new religious movements that unlike sects have not separated from another religious organization. Cults, in this sense, may or may not be dangerous, abusive, etc. By this definition, most of the groups which have been popularly labeled cults are indeed cults.

Related Topics:
Rodney Stark - William S. Bainbridge - "Theory of Religion" - New religious movement - Sect

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Methodological issues and challenges

The field of cults and new religious movements is studied by sociologists, religious scholars, psychologists and psychiatrists. The debates about purported cults are often polarized with widely divergent opinions, not only among current followers of and disaffected former members, but also among scholars and social scientists.

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Scholars that challenge the validity of critical former members' testimonies as the basis for studying a religious group include David G. Bromley, Anson Shupe, Brian R. Wilson, and Lonnie Kliever. Bromley and Shupe, who studied the social influences on these testimonies asserts that the apostate in his current role is likely to present a caricature of his former group and that the stories of critical ex-members who defect from groups that are subversive (defined as groups with few allies and many opponents) tend to have the form of "captivity narratives" (i.e. the narratives depict the stay in the group as involuntary). Wilson introduces the atrocity story that is rehearsed by the apostate to explain how, by manipulation, coercion or deceit, he was recruited to a group that he now condemns. Introvigne found in his study of the New Acropolis in France, that public negative testimonies and attitudes were only voiced by a minority of the ex-members, who he describes as becoming "professional enemies" of the group they leave. Kliever, when asked by the Church of Scientology to give his opinion on the reliability of apostate accounts of their former religious beliefs and practices, writes that these dedicated opponents present a distorted view of the new religions and cannot be regarded as reliable informants by responsible journalists, scholars, or jurists. He claims that the reason for the lack of reliability of apostates is due to the traumatic nature of disaffiliation that he compares to a divorce and also due the influence of the anti-cult movement even on those apostates who were not deprogrammed or received exit counseling. Scholars who tend to side more with critical former members include David C. Lane, Louis Jolyon West, Margaret Singer, Stephen A. Kent, Benjamin Beith-Hallahmi and Benjamin Zablocki. The latter performed an empirical study that showed that the reliability of former members is equal to that of stayers in one particular group. Philip Lucas found the same empirical results.

Related Topics:
Critical former members' - David G. Bromley - Anson Shupe - Brian R. Wilson - Lonnie Kliever - Atrocity story - New Acropolis - Church of Scientology - David C. Lane - Louis Jolyon West - Margaret Singer - Stephen A. Kent - Benjamin Beith-Hallahmi - Benjamin Zablocki - Philip Lucas

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According to Lewis F. Carter, the reliability and validity of the testimonies of believers are influenced by the tendency to justify affiliation with the group and the testimonies of former members and apostates are influenced by a variety of factors.{{fn|21}} Besides, the interpretative frame of members tends to change strongly upon conversion and disaffection and hence may strongly influence their narratives. Carter affirms that the degree of knowledge of different (ex-)members about their (former) group is highly diverse, especially in hierarchically organized groups. Using his experience at Rajneeshpuram (the intentional community of the followers of Rajneesh) as an example, he claims that the social influence exerted by the group may influence the accounts of ethnographers and of participant observers{{fn|21}}. He proposes a method he calls triangulation as the best method to study groups, by utilizing three accounts: these of believers, apostates and ethnographers. Carter asserts that this is difficult to put into practice 21. Daniel Carson Johnson{{fn|22}} wrote that even this method rarely succeeds in making assertions with certitude.{{fn|21}}

Related Topics:
Reliability - Validity - Rajneeshpuram - Intentional community - Rajneesh - Social influence - Ethnographers - Participant observers - 21 - Daniel Carson Johnson

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James Richardson writes that there is a large number of groups and a tendency among scholars to make unjustified generalizations about them based on a select sample of observations life in cults or the testimonies of (ex-)members. According to Richardson this tendency is responsible for the widely divergent opinions about cults among scholars and social scientists.{{fn|24}}

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Eileen Barker (2001) wrote that critical former members of cults complain that academic observers only notice what the leadership wants them to see.{{fn|23}}

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See also Apostasy in new religious movemets, and Apostates and Apologists.

Related Topics:
Apostasy in new religious movemets - Apostates and Apologists

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