FREE ESSAY ON CULTS

CULTS

Abstract
Cult activity has been on the rise over the past few decades. With it there has been an
increase in the fear surrounding it. From this fear, society has learned much about
cults, how they get members and what to look out for as far as cult recruiters go.
Society as a whole has also learned what can be done to deal with cults. 
Cult activity and the fear that surrounds it
Throughout the last couple of decades more and more stories of illegal cult activity or
murders by satanic cults appear on the news each night. This surge of reported cult
activity has caused a spark in public interest. There has been a large increase in the
fear that surrounds cults over the past couple of years. A cult is "a therapeutic or
unconventional religious movement (McBride, 1985, 22)," and the more cults that fall
beneath the public eye, the more serious the fear of cults becomes. Much of this fear has
been sparked by major cult related incidents such as mass suicide by the People's Temple
or the murder of Sharon Tate. These incidents, and incidents like them, grab the nation's
attention and create widespread panic. But as the nation reads about these stories in the
paper, the same questions seem to surface. Questions like "How does this happen?" or
"What can we do to stop this from happening again?" are often asked.
The panic and fear of cult activity in our country seems to continue to grow with the
more unbelievable stories that hit the news. The first big news event that was cult
related occurred in 1969. Five dead bodies were found by the maid at 10050 Cielo Drive.
Beautiful actress Sharon Tate who was pregnant at the time, and her friends Steven Earl
Parent, Abigail Folger, Voytek Frykowski, and Jay Sebring were found butchered thoughout
the residence (Bugliosi, 1974, 18). 
The murders themselves grasped the nation's attention, but it was when the murderers and
their motives surfaced that the fear began. It was in February of 1970 that the motive of
these murders was discovered (Bugliosi, 1974, 283). Through police investigation, it was
discovered that the murders were cult related. Charles Manson and members of his cult,
known as "The Family," were to blame. Manson and family lived on a ranch in California.
Manson was an avid fan of The Beatles and believed that this rock band spoke to him
though their lyrics. He particularly liked The Beatles' White Album which included the
song "Helter Skelter." Manson interpreted this song's lyrics as a prophecy of a race war
that would take place between the blacks and the whites. In this war, he believed the
black man would rise up and slaughter all of the whites. So Manson's plan was to take his
family out into the desert and hide in a bottomless pit until the war was over. After the
war, he believed the blacks would realize all they ever knew was taught to them by the
white man, and if they wanted to survive, they would need a white person to tell them
what to do. That is when Manson and his Family would surface from the bottomless pit, and
be the rulers of the world as the master race (Bugliosi, 1974, 284-290). 
The only problem with Manson's prophecy was that Helter Skelter never came. So he sent
Family members out to kill Sharon Tate and friends and instructed them to make it appear
as if the blacks did it. He tried to accomplish this by writing words in the victims'
blood all over the walls like "Arise," "Helter Skelter," and "Death to the Pigs." All
this was done in hopes of starting the race war (Bugliosi, 1974, 424). The trial for this
terrible crime was so publicized that it played a very significant role in creating cult
fear. 
The next largely publicized cult related incident occurred in 1979 with the mass suicide
in Jonestown (Green, 1993, 34). Jim Jones started his cult in California. His cult was
referred to as the People's Temple, and his followers called him Reverend Jim Jones.
Jones operated his cult under the cover of a home for depraved children. He managed to
round up 300 children, some taken illegally, and around 600 men and women who wanted to
help these children. Jones then left California, and headed to Guyana (Miller, 1990, 42).
It was there that he convinced his 900 followers, made up of men, women, and children, to
drink orange squash laced with cyanide. Jones called it "revolutionary suicide (Green,
1993, 34)." This event was such a big deal in the public eye because of the number of
people involved in the suicide. 900 people were convinced to voluntarily kill themselves
and when this hit the newspapers, fear of cult activity grew. 
In April of 1993, the FBI became aware of man named David Koresh and the cult he led
which was known as the Branch Davidians cult (Green, 1993, 38). He lived in a house on a
Texas ranch with his followers who were known as "disciples." Koresh believed he was
Christ reborn, and he would not allow any of his followers to come in contact with anyone
outside of the cult. The FBI got involved when they discovered that the cult was
stockpiling weapons. When the FBI discovered the Branch Davidians cult was heavily armed,
they surrounded the Texas ranch with FBI marksmen and a fleet of tanks. Koresh refused to
allow any of his disciples to leave, and the stand off lasted several days. This stand
off ended, however, when a fire broke out in the ranch and twenty-four people burned to
death (Green, 1993, 36). This occurrence helped spread the fear of cult activity because
a number of the people that burned to death were children who really had no choice in
joining the cult. If their parents joined so did they. 
Big news events like the Manson Family murders, and the mass suicide at Jonestown, only
happen every so often. However, events that seem to continuously be in the news are those
related to Satanism. Most of these events are small and isolated, but the massive numbers
of them are stirring worry. 
A highly publicized example of this occurred in Jasper County, in southwest Missouri.
Three high school seniors Ron Clements, James Hardy, and Theron Roland II, were convicted
of murdering Stephen Newberry. The three struck Newberry over the head with a baseball
bat more than 50 times during a satanic ritual and then dumped the body in a cistern,
which already had the remains of mutilated cats and squirrels. The three boys used their
obsession with Satanism and devil worship as their defense during the trial (Futterman,
1989). Cases like these from all over the country hit headlines and widen the fear
surrounding Satanism and Satanic Cults. Larry Jones, founder of the Cult Crime Impact
Network, claims that Satanists slaughter 50,000 children each year (O'Reilly, 1993). With
the quoting of statistics like these, it's no wonder that the alarm over satanic activity
is on the up-rise. 
With all of the panic and fear surrounding cults, much research has recently been done to
see who is at risk of becoming a cult member and how the cult leaders recruit them. For
the most part the young are at risk. It has been thought that most cult members must have
started off with deeply rooted psychological problems, but this is not the case.
Predominantly, the kids are normal in every way, but are at some "in-between" part of
their lives, such as entering college (McBride, 1985, 115). Usually the recruiter is of
the opposite sex and approaches the potential cult member with a smile and an invitation
to dinner with some friends. It is there that the complex method known as brainwashing
begins (McBride, 1985,116).
Brainwashing, also known as mind bending or thought reform, is professionally known as
psychological coercion. There are many different methods of brainwashing, each usually
very subtle. Fritz Knabe, an ex-cult member, said "It's very hard for people to
understand brainwashing. People think that their mind is a temple and that nobody can
force them to think anything. The point is, you can't tell it's happening if it's
successful (Green, 1993, 36)." 
The main goal of brainwashing is as follows: (1) to drastically alter a person's sense of
reality, (2) to get the potential cult member to accept a new reality, (3) to alter the
understanding of the potential cult member's past, (4) to get the potential cult member
to accept a new belief system, and (5) to get that person to be a loyal member of the
cult (Miller, 1990, 96). 
The book Coping with Cults outlines a very general method of the brainwashing process.
The method is as follows: "Isolate the person and manipulate his or her environment.
Control the channels of information and communication. Wear the person down though
inadequate diet and fatigue. Replace uncertainty, fear, and confusion with the promise of
joy but only as part of the group. And finally, assign repetitive tasks such as singing,
chanting, or copying pages from a book (Miller, 1990, 98)."
A prime example of the recruiting and brainwashing process is Charles Manson's method. He
used the girls in the Family as a recruiting method. He would allow men to have sex with
any of his girls as much as they like. After they did it once, the men were his, they
would do anything Manson said (Bugliosi, 1974, 120). The family stayed on a ranch that
had no clocks and was isolated from the rest of the world. There was also much drug use
by Manson and the Family. The average family member ate LSD at least 300 times while they
were at the ranch, while Manson preached about Helter Skelter or orchestrated massive
orgies (Bugliosi, 1974, 431). Occasionally he would feed the family LSD and reenact the
crucifixion of Christ with himself as Jesus (Bugliosi, 1974, 120).
How extreme the cult recruiters will go to get new members seems to be matched with how
extreme people will go to get their loved one out of cults. The first method to get
someone out of a cult came about in the 1970's and is known as deprogramming. It was
started by the "Father of Deprogramming," Ted Patrick. Ted Patrick was an ex-trucker with
no training in psychology or cults who decided something needed to be done. He offered
his services of getting a loved one out of a cult for the cost of nearly $80,000. In his
book, Let Our Children Go, he spoke of "fighting fire with fire" meaning going to
extremes in order to get the loved one out of a cult (Miller, 1990, 109). His idea sounds
good in concept, but deprogramming is illegal. Deprogramming involves holding people
against their will after being kidnapped and then convincing them over many days not to
go back to the cult (Miller, 1990, 111). He also openly took part in hundreds of
kidnappings and went to jail repeated times for breaking the law. It is a sort of reverse
brainwashing, only not nearly as subtle. Ted Patrick was quoted as stating, "I believe
firmly that the Lord helps those who help themselves -- a few little things like karate,
mace, and handcuffs can come in handy from time to time (Green, 1993, 38)."
A much safer and legal way of getting the same result is known as exit counseling. It is
a much better way of cult recovery because it doesn't involve kidnapping or restraint,
which is just as bad as what the cult leaders do. Exit counseling is really a quite
simple process. It involves the cult member that the family or friends wish to get out of
the cult having a meeting with ex-cult members and a psychologist. In the meetings, the
cult member hears similar experiences from ex-cult members and they learn more about
topics such as mind control (Miller, 1990, 110). After the cult member realizes what they
have gotten themselves into, they need help getting out and rejoining society. Exit
counselor Ayman Aksar, speaking on the topic of exit counseling said, "People can feel
very insecure and afraid, and need help (Green, 1993, 38)." Continuing to meet with the
exit counselor helps deal with these feelings.
Cult activity has been in the headlines for decades. With each story comes the
heightening of the fear surrounding cults and cult activity. Cult activity can take the
form of something as obvious and publicized as the Manson Family murders or can come in
random and unrelated Satanic acts. With the fear from the public came many questions that
were demanded to be answered. It was from this fear that society now knows who is at
risk, what to look out for, and how to get someone out a cult safely and legally. 
Bibliography
References
Bugliosi, Vincent. (1974). Helter Skelter. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Futterman, Ellen. (1989, February 5). Hints of Darkness: Satanism Reports Stir Worry. The
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, pp 1A+.
Green, Caroline. (1993, Febuary). The Far-out World of Cults. Focus Magazine, pp. 34-38.
McBride, James, Sheperd, Williams C., & Robbins, Thomas (Eds.). (1985). Cults, Culture,
and the Law: Perspectives on New Religious Movements. The American Academy of Religion.
Miller, Maryann. (1990). Coping With Cults. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.
O'Reilly, David. (1993, July 18). The Devil, You Say. The Philadelphia Inquirer, pp G1+.