Kara & Michael’s Blog

I’ve been reading up on Scientology this morning, and thinking a lot about the connections between that, the FLDS stuff that has been in the news, Waco, and Jonestown. I’ve condensed a few warning signs that a follower of any movement should probably get out of the fold ASAP. Interestingly enough, many of these are also applicable (on a much more intimate scale) to abusive relationships.

• An emphasis on weakening the bonds of family. Encouraging children to disengage from parents, married couples to disengage from each other, etc.
• An emphasis on the infallibility of the current, enigmatic leader. This leader will separate himself from followers as a God (not merely as a being in close(r) communication with God) and demand your undying faith.
• Any disagreement is taken as defecting. Followers who ask questions or seek knowledge are deemed unfaithful and threatening to the movement.
• Requiring followers to come clean – publicly confess their “sins”. This includes an emphasis on “thought-crimes,” for example, members who wish to leave.
• Emphasis on public punishment for transgressions. Often there are work details for the punished and large transgressions may result in solitary confinement. These transgressions are often of the “thought-crime” nature.
• An unfavorable characterization of the world outside the movement – always including a disrespect for the government and media within the country, and characterizing the movement as being “victimized” by these systems.
• The physical inability to leave the movement – whether one is forced to be on work-detail, has no access to transportation, or has no traveling papers (passport, license, etc).

I don’t make any claims of being particularly educated on cults, but from my many hours of reading, I’ve reached these conclusions. I don’t really believe our current definition of cult really strikes at the heart of the issue. We have a tendency, in this ethical system, to think of a cult as anything that requires we submit our individual selves to a cause. I disagree with this train of thought. Any encompassing philosophy worth its salt will encourage followers to think beyond themselves and ultimately, reconsider their own desires in the light of a world we all share. The line where that crosses into cult-territory is when that philosophy actively encourages deceit and the destruction of any forces that oppose it.