dangers of cults
Freedom is a precious gift; the freedom to believe or not to believe in God or a higher power and to worship as one desires is part of that precious gift. As stated in the Bill of Rights, "Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."(LeBar 12). Because of our high regard for freedom and human rights, no one has paid much attention to the dangerous influential power of new emerging cults. Like everything else, there are harmless cults and there are destructive cults. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are consider respectable religions today, however they were all once considered to be cults in the past. All cults and organized establishments have the potential to do harm to our society. But do they need to do harm to become a respectable religion in the future? Forming a religion takes time, and unfortunately many cults today wants that respectability right away. In the process, they usually claim of a! miracle or something drastic along those lines to attract and recruit members. However, we as a society really do not care to think about cults until it is brought to our attention by the media. As a result, when we think of the wo
Cults harm our children and tear apart families. In many ways, children are the most powerless victims of the harsh lifestyles of cult groups. In 1986, William A Lewis, a 63 year-old leader of the Black Hebrew House of Judah in Michigan was convicted of the beating death of 12 year-old John Yarbough in an act of discipline. In another case, 53 children were removed by law enforcement officials from a group called Ecclesia Athletic Association, following the death of 8 year-old Dayna Lorae Broussard. The children raised in this group could not read or write yet they knew the Book of Romans by heart (Singer 87). Cults are known to use mind control or other cultic techniques of deception to persuade certain individuals. Is it freedom of choice or brainwashing? Cult leaders reject the notion of brainwashing because not only does it represent an attack upon religious conversion, it also undermines the evidence that people join new religions because of their own free will. However many newspapers have told bizarre stories about life in a new religion. Such stories often depict cult members as being mindless zombies. Does brainwashing really occur in cults? This can be answered by explaining the mass death tragedy in Jonestown, Guyana, South America. Jim Jones was the leader of a cult entitled The People's Temple. Jones created a brilliant illusion of respectability for himself, with public relations, flattery and favors. He undermined the authority of both the Bible and the Church. Temple members were kept in a state of exhaustion, psychological isolation and poverty. Those wh! Is the United States Marine Corps a cult? Some of these characteristics will clearly describe the differences between a cult and a legitimate organization. A Marine recruit clearly knows what the organization is that he or she is becoming a member. They will know beforehand what will be expected of them. The Marine recruit retains freedom of religion, politics, friends, and other personal choices. The Marine serves his or her term and may depart as they wish after the term. Training and education they receive will prepare the Marines for life after their services. Some argue that Marines are trained to kill without conscious. This is a valid point, but people must realize that they are trained to kill only if their life is in danger or for protection of their country. Destructive cults use violence for reasoning that are justifiable only for their cause. This may seem unfair, to judge which is acceptable between the two examples, however our society tends to except t! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ rd "cult," many negative connotations come to mind. We think of bizarre behaviors, zombie-like followers, and strange bel
Some common words found in the essay are:
Marine Corps, Christianity Islam, Ben Yahweh, God Deception, Book Romans, CIA Hexham, Rights Congress, Alcoholics Anonymous, Valley Arizona, People's Temple, destructive cults, charismatic leader, cults violent, law enforcement, influential power, wealth influential power, free exercise, wealth influential, cult leaders, cults harm, people's temple, cults violent destructive,
Approximate Word count = 1875
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
