Types of Cults

February 24, 2011 in Psychology

Welcome our guest blogger, Peter Saint-Clair, to our blog today!  His post is a paradigm shifting view on the types of cults.  Challenge your current perspective through his insights.

Peter Saint-Clair is a writer interested in cults and how they work, specializing in Jim Jones and Peoples Temple. He is also involved with the Jonestown Institute, digitizing audio tapes recovered by the FBI from Jonestown in 1978. His blog can be found here.

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Cults are easy to spot. They wear weird clothes and live in communes together. They worship the Devil. They are all brainwashed idiots.

If you believe any of the above, you couldn’t be more wrong.

Cults come in various shapes and forms and initially, you may not even realize you are dealing with a cult. There are four basic types of cults-Religious, Commercial, Self Help/Counselling and Political. One thing that should be of note is that some cults can overlap the different types.

Look familiar?

Religious Cults

These cults come in the form of a popular religion. It could be Christianity, Hindu, Islam, etc., etc. The leaders of these groups may try to disguise or rationalize their teachings with the doctrines of their chosen ‘cover religion’, so that what they say may not seem that far off at first. While some religious cults physically abuse their followers, most others play on emotions and use sex as a way to control. The leaders of these groups tend to be charismatic and know exactly what to say to get what they want out of people.

Some examples include:

Commercial Cults

Some cults use commercial gain as their base. They promise untold riches using their special program or system. Their leader is cast as an example that the program/system really works. It all starts with a small investment, which grows with the completion of step after step after step. They use motivational tapes, videos, books and seminars to relieve you of your money without actually making good on their end of the bargain. What they don’t tell you is that the leader became successful and rich by taking your money for bogus products that do little, if anything, of what is promised.

Some examples include:

  • Amway
  • Some door-to-door magazine subscription companies
  • Harland Stonecipher and his company Pre-Paid Legal
  • Trek Alliance (No, not Star Trek)
  • Any of the various Pyramid Schemes

Self Help/Counselling Cults

These cults often target business people and corporations and, in the case of Scientology, celebrities. Self Help and Counselling cults are very similar to Commercial Cults, as money is often the goal. They claim that by doing courses and seminars, you can be more successful and productive. Some of these groups will lock participants away in hotel rooms where they are subjected to quasi-religious indoctrination. Once that’s completed, participants are told they need an advanced course or seminar, which of course, costs more. As with most cults, they specialize in creating powerful emotional experiences which are then used to validate involvement.

Some examples include:

  • Scientology
  • Jasmuheen and Breatharianism
  • Whitewind Swan Fisher and Friends Landing
  • Charles Dederich and Synanon
  • Alfonso Acampora and Waldon House

Political Cults

When one thinks of a political group, the term “cult” is not often a word that comes to mind. Groups that advocate far “left” and far “right” political agendas are sometimes classified as Political Cults. The term “cult of personality” also comes into play here, where like the Religious Cults, the political movement is headed by a highly charismatic leader that holds enormous power over his/her “followers”. This type of group is also focused on making money, through excessive fundraisers via illegal practices. In a “cult of personality” situation, the group’s leader is not held accountable to anyone (i.e. a dictator). As with some Religious Cults like Jim Jones and Peoples Temple, the end always justifies the means and they will try to instill an us-vs-them attitude in their “followers”. Black/White supremacists groups as well terrorist and rebel groups could also be included.

Some examples include:

Conclusion

Like I said above, cults come in a variety of forms and no one is immune to their allure. The best way to avoid these types of groups is to pay attention to them. They’ll offer ‘all the answers’, or the ‘only truth’. Some groups will say things that sound to good to be true, and more often than not, it is. If you or someone you know is involved with a group like this, do what you can to get them out. As we’ve seen with Peoples Temple and Heaven’s Gate, sometimes being a member in one of these group can be fatal.

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