"New Religious Movement" ideology [Archive]

David Wilcock

09-06-2001, 01:39 PM

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><tt>for a good overview of the components of a "cult", or what is more politely and correctly called a "new religious movement," consider the following excerpt from http://www.religioustolerance.org/acm.htm. theacronym "acm" means "anti-cult movement:"</tt>
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><tt><a name="belief">what acm groups believe:</a>

various groups within the acm have differing concepts about what defines a cult. they often list a group of factors that a cult exhibits. "characteristics of a destructive cult" (http://www.refocus.org/charcult.html) at refocus (http://www.refocus.org/) lists five. they do not say how many of the 5 must be present in order for a faith group to be called a cult: 

an authoritarian power structure, with authority concentrated at the top charismatic or messianic leader(s) (they define messianic as meaning that the leaders identify themselves as god or state that they are the only persons capable of interpreting the bible properly) the use of deceitful methods in recruitment of new members and/or raising of money isolation from society; filtering of information the use of mind control methods on the membership.

mind control can involve many techniques. robert lifton describes eight of them in his book "thought reform & the psychology of totalism:" 
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<td valign="top" width="100%">milieu control: control of the group environment and communication</td></tr>
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<td valign="top" width="100%">manipulation: leaders are perceived as being chosen by god, history or some supernatural force. salvation can only be attained through the cult</td></tr>
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<td valign="top" width="100%">purity demands: an us vs. them mentality is developed, in which cult members are the only pure and good.</td></tr>
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<td valign="top" width="100%">confession: group confession and self-criticism is used in order to produce personal change</td></tr>
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<td valign="top" width="100%">sacred science: the cult's doctrines and ideology are considered sacred and must not be doubted or questioned.</td></tr>
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<td valign="top" width="100%">loading the language: conventional words and phrases are given special, in-group meanings.</td></tr>
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<td valign="top" width="100%">doctrine over person: members are conditioned to feel guilt if they ever question group doctrine. one must subject one's experience to the "truth," as taught by the group.</td></tr>
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<td valign="top" width="100%">dispensing of existence: the group contains the elite; outsiders are evil, unsaved, and may not even have the right to exist. leaving the group will have devastating consequences.</td></tr></tbody></img></img></img></img></img></img></img></img></tt>
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><tt></tt><tt>peace be with you -</tt>
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><tt>- david</tt>
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