{"id":3702,"date":"2017-12-04T00:01:39","date_gmt":"2017-12-04T05:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ubfriends.net\/?p=3702"},"modified":"2017-12-03T20:42:30","modified_gmt":"2017-12-04T01:42:30","slug":"cult-101-sociological-characteristics-of-cults","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/cult-101-sociological-characteristics-of-cults\/","title":{"rendered":"Cult 101: Sociological Characteristics of Cults"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

First check out this article<\/a> so that this article will make more sense.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In this article we will see a checklist of the social traits of a cult.<\/p>\n

What are some signs and practices of a cult?<\/h1>\n
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<\/header>\n
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by\u00a0Matt Slick<\/a><\/p>\n

There have been many serious studies on the dynamics of cults and behavior of people within those cults. Following is a representative list of characteristics common in cult groups. Not all cults hold to every item.<\/p>\n

We have to be careful when assigning cult-like behavior to any group. Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so to, cult-like behavior is subjective. Generally, it takes a trained person who can identify unhealthy patterns and teachings as compared to healthy ones and can then identify a cult.\u00a0 Furthermore, cult-like behavior is more commonly identified through excessive control, manipulation, and esoteric teaching of a group where the group’s members are often isolated and indoctrinated into special teachings and practices.<\/p>\n

Social aspects of cult-like behavior<\/h2>\n

For a group to be a cult in the social sense, many of the following characteristics would have to be present. For a group to be a cult in the doctrinal sense, essentials (in this case of the Christian faith) would have to be violated. Some of the characteristics are listed below.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Submission<\/strong>:\n
      \n
    1. Complete, almost unquestioned trust in the leadership.<\/li>\n
    2. Leaders are often seen as prophets, apostles, or special individuals with unusual connections to God. This helps a person give themselves over psychologically to trusting someone else for their spiritual welfare.<\/li>\n
    3. Increased submission to the leadership is rewarded with additional responsibilities and\/or roles, and\/or praises, increasing the importance of the person within the group.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
    4. Exclusivity<\/strong>\n
        \n
      1. Their group is the only true religious system, or one of the few true remnants of God’s people.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
      2. Persecution<\/strong>\u00a0complex<\/strong>\n
          \n
        1. Us against them mentality. Therefore, when someone (inside or outside of the group) corrects the group in doctrine and\/or behavior, it is interpreted as persecution, which then is interpreted as validation.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
        2. Control<\/strong>\n
            \n
          1. Control of members’ actions and thinking through repeated indoctrination and\/or threats of loss of salvation, or a place to live, or receiving curses from God, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
          2. Isolation<\/strong>\n
              \n
            1. Minimizing contact of church members with those outside the group. This facilitates a further control over the thinking and practices of the members by the leadership.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
            2. Love Bombing<\/strong>\n
                \n
              1. Showing great attention and love to a person in the group by others in the group, to help transfer emotional dependence to the group.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
              2. Special Knowledge<\/strong>\n
                  \n
                1. Instructions and\/or knowledge are sometimes said to be received by a leader(s) from God. This leader then informs the members.<\/li>\n
                2. The Special Knowledge can be received through visions, dreams, or new interpretations of sacred scriptures such as the Bible.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
                3. Indoctrination<\/strong>\n
                    \n
                  1. The teachings of the group are repeatedly drilled into the members, but the indoctrination usually occurs around Special Knowledge.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
                  2. Salvation<\/strong>\n
                      \n
                    1. Salvation from the judgment of God is maintained through association and\/or submission with the group, its authority, and\/or its Special Knowledge.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
                    2. Group Think<\/strong>\n
                        \n
                      1. The group’s coherence is maintained by the observance to policies handed down from those in authority.<\/li>\n
                      2. There is an internal enforcement of policies by members who reward “proper” behavior, and those who perform properly are rewarded with further inclusion and acceptance by the group.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
                      3. Cognitive Dissonance<\/strong>\n
                          \n
                        1. Avoidance of critical thinking and\/or maintaining logically impossible beliefs and\/or beliefs that are inconsistent with other beliefs held by the group.<\/li>\n
                        2. Avoidance of and\/or denial of any facts that might contradict the group’s belief system.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
                        3. Shunning<\/strong>\n
                            \n
                          1. Those who do not keep in step with group policies are shunned and\/or expelled.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
                          2. Gender Roles<\/strong>\n
                              \n
                            1. Control of gender roles and definitions.<\/li>\n
                            2. Severe control of gender roles sometimes leads to sexual exploitation.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
                            3. Appearance Standards<\/strong>\n
                                \n
                              1. Often a common appearance is required and maintained. For instance, women might wear prairie dresses, and\/or their hair in buns, and\/or no makeup, and\/or the men might all wear white short-sleeved shirts, and\/or without beards, or all wear beards.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                                Source:\u00a0https:\/\/carm.org\/signs-practices-of-a-cult<\/a><\/p>\n

                                When your church\/chapter checks off all if not most of the things in the checklist then it is clearly a cult.<\/p>\n

                                <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                                First check out this article so that this article will make more sense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[124,147,141],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cults","category-evidence","category-info"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3702"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3702\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}