WHAT IS A CULT

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WHAT IS A CULT?

"...If you believe in it, it is a religion or perhaps the religion; and if you do not care one way or another about it, it is a sect; but if you fear and hate it, it is a cult." Leo Pfeffer.

I was in The Divine Light Mission cult between 1981-5) following the teachings of Guru Maharaji) so the question of whether Secular Humanism is itself a cult is often put to me. That I am still here might be reason enough to some to conclude that Humanism isn’t a cult, but I hope here to explore the nature of a cult in more detail just to be sure.

The word ‘cult’ derives from the Latin, Cultus, meaning to worship and cultivate, particularly in relation to divine beings. At one time was used for old, defunct, pagan religions by Christian scholars, but as the Church saw more and more breakaway sects emerging, (a sect being just such a dissenting, changing splinter group within a parent belief system) it began to look on the sects as cult groups. The word cult had a certain pejorative abusive tone in the way it was used. Lord Shaftsbury wrote in 1699, "Let not every circumstantial difference or variety of cult be called a religion.”

Cult, then as now, tended to denote a passing fashionable trend that would probably never catch on. It is usually when a cult survives beyond the death of its founders that it becomes a sect, or an established religious movement. It is unlikely that the world, for example will ever now be free of Jehovas Witnesses. They are too well established.

The word has often been used in relation to ritual and archaeological evidence of religious activity. For instance, Egyptian statues of Horus in the remains of homesteads may be seen as evidence of a once thriving cult to Horus. Also the word is used today to reflect social trends; films, shows and musicians have ‘cult’ followings. In 1889, John Bull magazine gleefully pointed out that the ‘Wordsworth cult’ was in decline. (Source- OED).

The ambiguous nature of the word ‘cult’ has led many sociologists to avoid its use altogether, and some call cults ‘new religious movements’ (NRM’s) instead, though many are far from new. Mormons, and Christian Scientists have been with us since the 1800’s. The Hare Krishna movement may be new in the West, but it dates from the 15th century in India.

What of Humanism? We are not new either, having been around since the ancient Greece, the Renaissance, or since T.H. Huxley’s time depending where you start us out from. Nor are we going away, so we are certainly not a fad.

Beliefs don’t make a cult either. Someone might think the world is flat, which might be wrong, but does that make the view that it is flat cultic? No. Humanists believe strongly in empirical scientific evidence, so Darwinism, and general acceptance of the Big Bang theory of the origin of the Universe are strong convictions for us. If anything our call for proof and evidence shows an aversion to the unquestioning leaps of faith that cult life calls for. The very use of the word Freethinker as a synonym for Humanist shows that Humanists are very questioning. Such a frame of mind is deadly in a cult. Ask too many questions and they throw you out. It almost happened to me when I got recruited to one, and I saw it happen from time to time.

Let’s take a different tactic and define cults not by their age or durability, or beliefs, but by their practices. Take the list of cult hallmarks at the bottom of this page. Try applying such hallmarks to Humanism and they fail to stick. Our leaders are barely known. Most are democratically elected representatives. Even in Manchester I am hardly charismatic. (I hope). Our meetings and promotions are not self-serving. I never met a converted Humanist yet. Most Humanists I meet are people who have already rejected religion in their lives and are happy to meet with other people with similar experiences and needs.

Recruitment and promotion should never be confused with conversion. We are not in the business of converting people to Humanism.

Cult recruitment involves misinformation and bombarding people with new ideas quickly, in order to get them before they have a chance to analyse what is going on. Moonies call it ‘Heavenly Deception.’ The idea is that it is all right to lie to people to bring them to an ultimate truth, for which they will be grateful to you later. Humanists would always reject such andends justify means’ approach. With us, what you see is what you get. Our views are very open and up front. Our methods of recruiting and promoting our presence are plain to see for all.

Christian evangelicals tend to regrettably see cults as cults for one reason alone; they depart from Biblical teachings. Many cult-monitoring groups, for all their sincerity, tend to save former cultists by encouraging them to become born again Christians. Most books on cults are available in Christian bookshops, and tend to end with a Now I have found God, and I am happy finale that could never satisfy me. The mainstream church is often too close to its cultic origins to my frame of mind. It’s like trying to decide when a big boat becomes a small ship. When does a cult become a respectable religion? Answer - It doesn’t.

Sadly, many people have the conviction that we ‘have to believe in some supernatural power’ in our lives. So when people realise that the religion they were raised to believe in, by their families, they don’t tend to automatically reject all religion, but look out instead for a new belief system, and a new God. That is where cults come in to their own. They have the new gods and creeds waiting, ready packaged, and easily peddled onto the unwary traveller. The safety net that is Humanism, and recognises that there is no need to believe any of it, gets ignored. Cults are a symptom of the decline and fall of the Christian religion’s hold on Western life, history and culture. Every one, who ever became a Moonie, or a Scientologist, has effectively hammered another nail into Christianity’s coffin. They have shown that the established beliefs can no longer meet their needs. The cults will fail too, because you can only fool people for so long with gimmicks and deception. The number of people leaving cults is growing faster even than the number of people leaving the mainstream religions. Soon, the final barrier will fall, and people will feel more comfortable about rejecting the deep-rooted belief that ‘there has to be something to believe in’, because there doesn’t. This world has wonders enough of its own without dreaming of the wonders of some arcane, supernatural never-never world to come; because, it isn’t coming.

Increasingly, Humanism itself is attracting people who have been in cults, and who now recognise for themselves that they have no wish to be involved in any kind of religion. That is good. We must be ready to give our full support to them, but we must never try to enforce our Humanism on them. Give them time to make up their own minds. Some may slip back into a belief system of some kind. Many will not, but it is important that the decisions they make about what to do with their lives from here forward, is theirs. Not ours.

HALLMARKS OF A CULT

These were drafted by the American Cult Awareness Network, which has since collapsed, but has now been reopened by the Church Of Scientology, who uses it to counter the very purpose they claim to serve. A cult need not show all twelve symptoms, but should show a significant number of them to qualify as a destructive cult.

1/ Cults are often characterised by a leader who claims divinity or a special mission delegated to him/her by a supreme power. 2/. The leader or founder (usually living) demands absolute, unquestioning obedience and is the sole judge of a member’s faith and commitment. 3/. Members are preoccupied with fund-raising, recruitment and attending seminars. 4/. Meaningful communication with family, home and former friends may be sharply curtailed, and the cult becomes the convert’s new family. 5/. Indoctrinated members put goals of the cult ahead of individual concerns, interests, educational plans, career and health. 6/. Many cults systematically employ sophisticated techniques designed to affect ego-destruction, thought reform and dependence on the cult. 7/. Established members are often guarded, vague, deceptive or secretive about beliefs, goals, demands and activities until the recruit is ‘hooked’. 8/. The cult may maintain members in a heightened state of suggestibility through lack of sleep, engineered diet, intense spiritual exercises, repetitive indoctrination, and controlled group experiences. 9/. Converts may display symptoms of extreme tension, stress, fear, guilt, lack of humour, regression in communication skills and critical judgement. 10/. Cults often encourage exclusivity and isolation. Some may use the excuse that all outside the cult is evil or satanic. 11/. The cult may be found to be exploiting its members’ finances. 12/. Some groups exploit members through unpaid employment and poor working conditions.

HATE CULT - The cult I used to be in accuses me of being a man of 'hate' and 'intolerance' for daring to speak out about the problems they caused for me. Here I ask myself if they have a point.

Recommended reading

Steven Hassan - Combating Cult Mind Control 1988 Park Street Press.

Flo Conway & Jim Siegleman, - Snapping - 1978 J.B. Lippincott.

Lifton, Robert J. - Thought Reform And The Psychology Of Totalism. 1961. W. W. Norton.

Confidential Contact- Ian Howarth Cult Information Centre BCM Cults London England. WC1N 1XX 0181-651-3322.

Arthur Chappell.