Destructive cult
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The term "destructive cult" sometimes called doomsday cult refers to a small number of religious groups that have intentionally killed people - either themselves or others.
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This definition is extended by some anti-cult activists, like Steven Hassan, author of the book Combatting Cult Mind Control, to any new religious movement (NRM) that they believe has a "pyramid-shaped authoritarian regime with a person or group of people that have dictatorial control." and "uses deception in recruiting new members" [1]
The term "doomsday cult" literally only refers to a group that has as an important part of its belief system the expectation of the imminent advent of the Last Judgement, but this apocalyptic world-view is seen by some as increasing the chance of a violent, destructive outcome.[2]
There are a handful of well-documented cases on record, and there is little controversy about them:
- The "Ant Hill Kids commune" formed by Roch Theriault
- Aum Shinrikyo - Shoko Asahara
- the RLDS splinter cult formed by Jeffrey Lundgren
- Lord's Resistance Army - Joseph Kony (Called a cult by Czech Wiki and Taiwan News Online)
- Manson Family - Charles Manson
- Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God - Joseph Kibweteere
- Order of the Solar Temple
- Peoples Temple - Jim Jones
- Takfir wal-Hijra - Shukri Mustafa
- Heaven's Gate (cult) - Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles
- House of Yahweh - Yisrayl Hawkins
[edit] Terrorist and paramilitary organizations
There is an ongoing debate about whether certain religious terrorist or paramilitary groups fit in categories like this. Some have deemed the Tamil Tigers and Al Qaeda to be cults. Others reject this idea, and suggest that terrorism or paramilitarism remains a better explanation for such groups. See List of purported cults, Cults and terrorism and Al Qaeda.'
Takfir wal-Hijra and Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) are also disputed. In Takfir's case, during the period of Shukri Mustafa's leadership, according to French scholar Gilles Kepel, they lived as a series separatist religious communes. In these communes, Shukri claimed religious power to arrange marriages, encourage withdrawal from society, and theologically reject the world. The LRA has increasingly emphasized a religious component that revolves around Kony's alleged mystic abilities.
[edit] Charismatic figures
Heidi Fittkau-Garthe German psychologist, and a previously high-profile Brahma Kumaris, Heidi Fittkau-Garthe was charged in the Canary Islands with a plot of murder-suicide in which 31 cult followers, including five children, were to ingest poison. After the suicides, they were told they would be picked up by a spaceship and taken to an unspecified destination.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ From the FAQ of Steven Hassan's website available online (retrieve August 2006)
"2. What is the difference between a destructive cult and a benign cult?
A destructive cult is a pyramid-shaped authoritarian regime with a person or group of people that have dictatorial control. It uses deception in recruiting new members (e.g. people are NOT told up front what the group is, what the group actually believes and what will be expected of them if they become members). It also uses mind control techniques to keep people dependent and obedient. [..]
Benign cult groups are any group of people who have a set of beliefs and rituals that are non-mainstream. As long as people are freely able to choose to join with full disclosure of the group's doctrine and practices and can choose to disaffiliate without fear or harassment, then it doesn't fall under the behavioral/ psychological destructive cult category." - ^ Hall, John R. and Philip Schuyler (1998), Apostasy, Apocalypse, and religious violence: An Exploratory comparison of Peoples Temple, the Branch Davidians, and the Solar Temple, in the book The Politics of Religious Apostasy: The Role of Apostates in the Transformation of Religious Movements page 147 "Thus, apocalyptic religious movements may be especially prone to violence, but that tendency is only realized under specific additional conditions." edited by David G. Bromley Westport, CT, Praeger Publishers, (1998). ISBN 0-275-95508-7
