CultNEWS101 Articles: 12/12/2024 (Event, Whitney Cummings, Transcendental Meditation, Definition of a Cult)

Event, Whitney Cummings, Transcendental Meditation, Definition of a Cult

The Queens Long Island Community Services directed by Paul Engel is offering a Post-Election Discussion: Blues and Reds addressing the question; How does the election affect you, your family, and your community?  

Gather with others to find support and learn to develop strength and strategies for coping while integrating change in your lives on Tuesday, December 17 at 7:30 PM EST on Zoom. This forum is for former cult members and others, while not being a place for political recruitment.  Please contact 516-547-4318 or paul.engel@flushingjcc.net with any questions and/or to get the link to join.

A Little Bit Culty: Whitney Cummings: Healing, Humor, and Hollywood's Culty Side

"Sarah and Nippy welcome friend and comedian Whitney Cummings to the podcast to explore the nuanced overlaps of culty dynamics and Hollywood culture. Whitney shares her unique perspective on vulnerability, healing, and her fascination with neuroscience, while also opening up about her personal quest for meaning. From the allure of community and control to a hilarious recount of being "rejected by Scientology," Whitney blends humor with insight as she navigates topics like forgiveness, boundary-setting, and her less-than-conventional healing experiences."

ICSA Today: A Personal Experience of Transcendental Meditation (TM) and the TM Movement

"My first exposure to Transcendental Meditation (TM) was when Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was on the Merv Griffin Show in the 1970s. I was a young teen back then and found this giggling Yogi fascinating. His image stuck in my mind for years to come. Years after seeing him on TV, I found his book at a yard sale and read it. I decided Maharishi's cure for everything that ails this planet was something I had to have.

I relentlessly searched, and after several months I found a Transcendental Meditation (TM) teacher who lived about an hour's drive from my home. I was now 23 years old. We made an appointment, and soon I was "initiated" and taught the technique.

I was thrilled with TM; it was a godsend. It gave me the peace I was looking for. It gave me the badly needed relaxation I was craving. I became angry at my church and commented that one week of TM did me more good than reading the Bible a hundred times. Hopefully, I didn't offend any Christians, but this was the truth. I thought so highly of TM that I got some of my friends into it.

Several years later, I was intrigued with the beautifully done pamphlets and fliers I was receiving from Maharishi International University (MIU).[1] They claimed it was one of the best universities around.

During this time, I gradually began noticing that I was having difficulty finishing my thoughts and was getting spacy. I checked with my TM teacher, and she said that was part of the normal process of "enlightenment" and not to pay attention to it. "Just watch the thoughts as if you are in a train and watching the scenery go by." I didn't realize it then, but I was being trained to dissociate from my emotions and thoughts.

I applied and was accepted into MIU, and very happy to be in such an enlightened school. The classes started, and the first of the core courses was quantum physics. This was the classic "trying to get a drink out of a fire hose" type of course—too much new information all at once. I was surprised to be one of the few who got an A+ from that course. Never has so much been said about things so small.

Honestly, I didn't "get" quantum physics, but they told me I had the best paper they had ever seen. I told them that I took random statements by Maharishi from those handwritten on sheets of paper they had stuck on the classroom walls. These statements were so general in nature that they could be applied to understanding quantum physics, changing your tire, or catching chickens.

The following courses were the dullest, most miserable, and most useless courses I had ever experienced. The Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI) had nothing to do with creativity or intelligence. I told the Vedic psychology instructor that his course cured my insomnia and told the business teacher that I learned how not to teach business.

Meanwhile, I was getting more spacy and having to force myself to be able to finish a thought. Anxiety was creeping into my meditations and starting to spill over into daily life; it eventually developed into a full-blown mental disorder. At that time, I chose to quit TM, and my thoughts for a while seemed to get crystal clear.

The classes continued to worsen by the day. I thought they couldn't get any worse, but they did. I began talking to other students about the poor-quality classes, and some agreed with me. Several told me just not to question the school—"just get your degree and get out." I was there to learn; a degree was secondary to me, I told them.

Sorry to say, a year's worth of classes, and I didn't learn anything worth remembering. Others disagreed and said I was "unstressing." They said MIU was perfect and I was the problem. This view left me confused, and I didn't know what to make of it. My impression was that, by Christmas break, more than one-half of the freshman class had dropped out.

Every morning, world news would be announced in class. Then we were told how our collective consciousness in the practice of TM and the siddhis was changing the world for the better. I don't recall anybody really believing this, but most of us learned to keep our opinions to ourselves.

If any bad news came up, the explanation given was that the world was unstressing. I struggled for about a month with what unstressing could be. What is wrong with me? What's missing? And a thousand other questions to myself. It wasn't making any sense.

Eventually I earned the reputation as a rabble-rouser because I was complaining about the lousy classes. One of the teachers called me into her office and told me I was unstressing for saying the classes were garbage."

Brighton and Hove Psychotherapy: The psychology of cults: part one – what defines a cult? (Sam Jahara)

What is the definition of a cult?

"I'm going to share with you how some academics in this field describe a cult – there are five key attributes that can help us with this explanation. Let's go through each one of them."

1. A charismatic leader
2. A transcendent belief system
3. High demands and exploitation
4. A closed and hierarchical structure
5. Mind control techniques – brainwashing

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

CultEducationEvents.com

CultMediation.com   

Intervention101.com to help families and friends understand and effectively respond to the complexity of a loved one's cult involvement.

CultRecovery101.com assists group members and their families make the sometimes difficult transition from coercion to renewed individual choice.

CultNEWS101.com news, links, resources.

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Cults101.org resources about cults, cultic groups, abusive relationships, movements, religions, political organizations, and related topics.

The selection of articles for CultNEWS101 does not mean that Patrick Ryan or Joseph Kelly agree with the content. We provide information from many points of view to promote dialogue.

Please forward articles that you think we should add to cultintervention@gmail.com.

Thanks,

Ashlen Hilliard (ashlen.hilliard.wordpress@gmail.com)

Joe Kelly (joekelly411@gmail.com)

Patrick Ryan (pryan19147@gmail.com)

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'Have I just joined another cult?': Daniella grew up in The Family, then joined the army - where she experienced toxic control, again

The Conversation
January 25, 2023

Author
Martine Kropkowski
Tutor, The University of Queensland

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On Daniella Mestyanek Young’s first day of military training, she stands among her fellow recruits holding a duffle bag high in one arm above her head. As she ponders the other bodies lined up in her peripheral vision, all struggling to maintain the same pose, it gradually occurs to her that this feeling — of being owned, coerced, programmed — seems unsettlingly familiar: “Have I just joined another cult?”

This sense of suspicion forms a pattern in Mestyanek Young’s life, which she documents with remarkable insight in her memoir, Uncultured, exploring the systems of control in which toxicity can thrive.

Mestyanek Young was born into religious cult the Children of God, also known as The Family. (Not to be confused with Anne Hamilton Byrne’s Australian-based cult, also known as The Family.)

Mestyanek Young spent her childhood shuffled from compound to compound in Brazil, Mexico and the United States. At 15, she fled what she would come to recognise as a cult, made her way to Texas and put herself through school and college, eventually graduating as valedictorian and joining the US army, where she served as an intelligence officer.

But this book is not simply a survival story. It’s an exposé of the abuse that can run unchecked within cults. It’s a story about trauma, a war memoir, a meditation on the difference between culture and cults. And it’s a searing indictment of groups that continue to view those who are not men as subservient to those who are.

But at its core, Uncultured is a book about groups. It asks readers to look closely at the power mechanisms at work within the communities we call our own.

The Children of God
Mestyanek Young describes her childhood as a third-generation cult member (one of the “children of the children of the Children of God”) in chilling detail — but also striking detachment. The cult, also known as The Family, is infamous for its widespread and systematic abuse, especially of children.

The hierarchy cited the proverb, “Spare the rod, spoil the child”, to justify its exploitative treatment of children. It subjected children to routine beatings and demanded they remain perpetually available to satiate the sexual impulses of the cult’s adults. Mestyanek Young’s father was 49 years old when she was born; her mother was only 15.

Even as a young child programmed from birth, Mestyanek Young intuited that something about her world was deeply wrong. At just six years old, already questioning the legitimacy of the Bible, Mestyanek Young was locked in a room and repeatedly raped and beaten by one of the cult’s men, a distinguished uncle.
Despite the cult’s coercion tactics, however, Mestyanek Young was able to observe its inner workings from an unusually critical perspective, haunted by a sense that “even though I was the one getting punished, somewhere deep inside I suspected the wrong thing wasn’t me”.

Defining a cult
Uncultured invites readers to reconsider what they think about the ways cults emerge and function. The Children of God falls easily under a recognisable definition of cult.

It had a leader, David Brandt Berg, thought charismatic by followers at the time. It had vernacular: defectors were backsliders; untouchable members of the hierarchy were selah. It divided the world into moral, inside members and evil, outsider systemites. It limited medical care and exploited its members’ labour. Its exit costs were high: excommunication, not only from loved ones but also from the stability, comfort and sense of purpose that scaffolds a life built around a clear mission.

Cults have attracted significant scholarly attention over the last several decades, and working definitions suggest a cult is
[…] a very specific kind of social group that uses similar methods to entice supporters, transmit its ideology, control its members, and put its worldview into practice.

But Mestyanek Young takes a more expansive view. By drawing parallels between the systems of coercion and control she experienced in the Children of God and those she experienced in the army, she implicates a broad array of institutions in her characterisation of cult-like behaviour.

The cult(ure) of the army
As a recruit and officer in the US army, Mestyanek Young constantly recalls instances from her childhood that correspond to her military experiences.
She sees parallels everywhere: in the pageantry, the unrelenting demands, the chanting, the bespoke language, the ingrained sexism; in the unquestioning fidelity to superiors, the unique learning resources, the absolute, continual, exhaustive expectations of its members. She also sees parallels in the camaraderie, the sense of belonging, and the satisfaction of pursuing a clear objective alongside driven, like-minded people.

In particular, this book compels us to reflect on the entitlement of men in both groups: uncles and captains, for example, who operate within cultures that excuse the abhorrent behaviours of the worst of their members. The structure of both groups enables men to access the bodies of their subordinates in a way that is not only tolerated but expected.

Mestyanek Young details how the impulses of men were baked into the structure of power within both the Children of God and the US army – in the latter, particularly when she was deployed overseas.

As a member of the Children of God, Mestyanek Young was taught to “share in God’s love” by engaging in sexual acts without question whenever propositioned. In the army, Mestyanek Young found herself in a sexual relationship with her superior, a captain to whom “under the cover of darkness, I hadn’t felt at all powerful enough to say no”.

She was warned to not get herself raped on deployment, and simultaneously told that one in four women will be raped on deployment — by the men they serve alongside.

The army’s rape culture was buoyed by vernacular such as “rape alley”; by lore that positioned army women as one of only three categories: a bitch, dyke or slut. And by a culture that expected women to keep themselves safe, but didn’t expect men not to commit rape.

Mestyanek Young recounts the way workplace rape was shrugged off through a conversation with her superior, who casually remarks,
You know, before I got over here [to Afghanistan], I used to think that the women who said they were scared were just being dramatic. But the more I get used to what it’s like over here, the more I think that you probably will get raped on this deployment.

A former soldier’s ‘familiar’ perspective
Reading this memoir as a former solider in the Australian army, I found Mestyanek Young’s detailing of casual sexism exhaustingly familiar.

When I was a serving member, the often-used phrase, “There are no women in the army, only soldiers”, was meant to signal a type of equality: an erasure of the female gender that somehow signalled inclusivity.

But this type of phrase is not just a thought-stopping cliché masking an untruth. It’s not just a phrase that was deployed selectively and unfairly. It’s an erasure that misses the insights and additions from diverse points of view that can enrich an organisation.

On patrol in Kandahar, for example, Mestyanek Young enjoyed seeing children – in particular young girls – playing on the streets. On one patrol, Mestyanek Young notices there are none of these girls around. And this observation saves her patrol’s life: they pause, find an explosive device and abort the mission.
On the way to the helicopters, the patrol commander says, “I love having you girls on the team — you notice the silliest things.” Mestyanek Young reflects:
What if, our being so different, with such divergent life experiences, and all the silly, little things we notice, was the entire point? What if we could save lives, just by being women?
 
Mestyanek Young makes a number of salient points here. Firstly, it’s important that those inside a cult – those “good” members – challenge toxic culture. And strategies that normalise casual sexism and rape culture within organisations, which lead to the unique trauma women suffer when they deploy on a nation’s behalf, must be addressed.

We can extend Mestyanek Young’s observation on the value of diversity to endless group settings. But it can be difficult to see what’s going on from inside a cult – an organisation gone toxic.

Mestyanek Young demands that we look critically at our institutions, and the culture and cult behaviours that operate inside of them. She implores us to unpack the programming we have undergone as members of a society that finds it difficult to question the authority of its defence force.

Maybe groups are just groups
There’s no shortage of literature and scholarly debate about cults. What this book does particularly well is take our knowledge about cults and overlays it, by implication, on all types of groups.

Uncultured shows readers the methods of enticement, coercion and control that work so effectively within cults, so they might identify them in other areas of life.
She writes:

Maybe groups are just groups. Evil cults. Great armies. Wonderful families. Amazing countries. Pile whatever modifiers on them you want. Each one has the same inherent strengths, weaknesses, and potential pitfalls.
 

The book prompts us to reflect on our own groups — not just the social ones, but on our workplaces, institutions and governments — to reflect on our relationship to and within them. Because recognising toxic group behaviour in one context immunises us against it in all of the others.

Are we being asked to hate? Is diversity of viewpoint actively suppressed? How much of my time am I devoting to this group, versus how much time I have for other things? What are the exit costs?

Scholars will continue to debate the precise definition of a cult. Discussions delineating the hazy line between a cult and culture will continue, and they should. But, as Mestyanek Young implies through this book, perhaps precise definitions aren’t really the point. Perhaps, identifying the systems of control that can grow and fester within all types of groups is what we should be focusing on.
Mestyanek Young’s observations about groups, and programming strategies, have many applications. Our current environment, for example, of algorithmic news curation, increasingly polarised politics, and ideologically driven broadcasting networks divides people into the “in” and “out” groups so central to cultic structures.
Against Uncultur

ed’s thesis, we can understand these strategies as amounting to programming: a type that coaches people to make decisions based on identity and group-think, rather than reasoning and cooperation; a type of programming that has long been the modus operandi of cults.
In an era that includes extremist groups having unprecedented access to the general public through the internet, right through to business leaders, such as Elon Musk and Adam Neumann displaying behaviour some have described as cult-like, Uncultured is a timely and captivating read.
 
 
https://theconversation.com/have-i-just-joined-another-cult-daniella-grew-up-in-the-family-then-joined-the-army-where-she-experienced-toxic-control-again-196385
 

CultNEWS101 Articles: 3/4/2022 (Cult Definitions, SGA, Events, Shinto, Japan)

Cult Definitions, SGA, Events, Shinto, Japan

Patheos: What is a religious "cult"?

" ... Indeed it is derogatory. Undoubtedly some — but not all — groups considered to be cults have sinister track records; deceive outsiders; abuse their followers physically, psychologically, sexually, and/or financially; damage family and other relationships; and even resort to violence. The Guy [Adnan Oktar] says such allegations should be fairly pursued on the basis of secular criminal or civil law without judging whether a group's teachings measure up to some cultural standard. After all, the Constitution's Bill of Rights enshrines a religious freedom guarantee.

The U.S. Supreme Court famously settled this in its United States v. Ballard ruling of 1944. The case involved fraud convictions based upon the unconventional New Age beliefs of the "I Am" movement (still extant) and associates of its founder, the late Guy Ballard. He taught that "ascended masters" uniquely authorized him to transmit divine truth and to perform healings. In a 5-4 decision the Court stated, "The religious views espoused by respondents might seem incredible, if not preposterous, to most people," but the "truth or falsity" of a religion is no business of the American government or courts to decide.

Merriam-Webster's phrase about separation from "a larger and more accepted" faith explains why a "cult" differs from the definition of a "sect," that is a direct offshoot from an established religion. Examples would be "Mormon" polygamist cells or snake-handling churches as opposed to mainstream Pentecostalism. "Sect" is not appropriate if the breakaway is sizable, for example 16th Century Protestantism when it left the Roman Catholic Church."

ICSA Annual Conference:What do SGAs want to Cover in Counseling? Cyndi Matthews, PhD, LPC-S, NCC

June 24th (12:00 PM-12:50 PM EST)

"As therapists/counselors, we sometimes assume we know what clients/patients want and need from therapy, especially after leaving and recovering from being in a cult or high demand organization. However, two recent surveys of 414 Second Generation Adult Cult survivors (2019) and 112 counselors/therapists who work with former cult members (2019) showed us this may not be the case that we know what is best for our clients. These research surveys specifically pointed out that clients want to cover different topics/areas than what counselors/therapists want to cover in therapy. This information session will cover not only what SGA clients want from therapy, but also give specific and realistic activities/resources that are helpful in discussing and working through these topics in therapy. The information presented will be based on actual data from 414 SGA individuals who have been clients and their lived experiences from being in therapy."

The Conversation: Japan's Shinto religion is going global and attracting online followers

"American Kit Cox, 35, works as an electrical engineer and enjoys biking and playing piano. But what some might consider surprising about Cox, who was raised as Methodist, is that she practices the Japanese religion known as Shinto.

While Cox's interest in Shinto was originally sparked by her love for Japanese popular culture and media, Shinto practice is not just a phase or fad for her. For over 15 years, she has venerated Inari Ookami, a Shinto deity or "kami" connected to agriculture, industry, prosperity and success.

After several years of study, Cox received a great honor from Fushimi Inari Taisha, one of Japan's most popular Shinto shrines. She was entrusted with a "wakemitama," a physical portion of Inari Ookami's spirit, which is now housed in a sacred box and enshrined in her home altar.

What's more, Cox has emerged as a leader within a relatively small but growing community of Shinto practitioners scattered around the world. Her goal: to help Japan's "indigenous" religion go global.

As an anthropologist of Japanese religion studying the spread of Shinto around the world, I met Cox where most non-Japanese people interested in Shinto do – online. Over several years of studying social media posts, participating in livestreams and conducting surveys and interviews, I've heard many people's stories of what draws them to practice Shinto and how they navigate the difficulties of doing so outside of Japan.
What is Shinto?

Shinto has many faces. For some, it is a reservoir of local community traditions and a way of ritually marking milestones throughout the year and in one's life. For others, it is an institution that attests to the Japanese emperor's divine status as a descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu or a life-affirming nature religion.

But at its core, Shinto is about the ritual veneration of kami."

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

CultEducationEvents.com

CultMediation.com   

Intervention101.com to help families and friends understand and effectively respond to the complexity of a loved one's cult involvement.

CultRecovery101.com assists group members and their families make the sometimes difficult transition from coercion to renewed individual choice.

CultNEWS101.com news, links, resources.

Facebook

Flipboard

Twitter

Instagram

Cults101.org resources about cults, cultic groups, abusive relationships, movements, religions, political organizations and related topics.

Selection of articles for CultNEWS101 does not mean that Patrick Ryan or Joseph Kelly agree with the content. We provide information from many points of view in order to promote dialogue.

Please forward articles that you think we should add to cultintervention@gmail.com.

Thanks

What is a religious "cult"?

Adnan Oktar
Patheos
FEBRUARY 4, 2022



THE QUESTION:

What is a religious “cult”

THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER:

On this somewhat delicate terrain, trusty Merriam-Webster offers us three definitions of “cult.”

1) A small religious group “not part of a larger and more accepted religion” with beliefs many regard as “extreme or dangerous.”

2) A situation with something or someone cared about “very much or too much,” as in “a cult of personality.”

3) A small group of “very devoted supporters.”

Note that the word can also depict well-recognized mainstream devotion, as when Catholics speak of the “cult of the Virgin.”

The Guy proposes this definition: A marginal religious group we’re not supposed to like much or at all, which deviates from accepted practices or long-familiar beliefs, typically controlled by a dictatorial leader or leaders, and often isolated from mainstream society.

Similarly from J. Gordon Melton of Baylor University, author of the essential “Encyclopedia of American Religions,” who is not just an expert but highly tolerant toward America’s countless offbeat religions. He has remarked that a cult is “a group that somebody doesn’t like. It is a derogatory term”

Indeed it is derogatory. Undoubtedly some — but not all — groups considered to be cults have sinister track records; deceive outsiders; abuse their followers physically, psychologically, sexually, and/or financially; damage family and other relationships; and even resort to violence. The Guy says such allegations should be fairly pursued on the basis of secular criminal or civil law without judging whether a group’s teachings measure up to some cultural standard. After all, the Constitution’s Bill of Rights enshrines a religious freedom guarantee.

The U.S. Supreme Court famously settled this in its United States v. Ballard ruling of 1944. The case involved fraud convictions based upon the unconventional New Age beliefs of the “I Am” movement (still extant) and associates of its founder, the late Guy Ballard. He taught that “ascended masters” uniquely authorized him to transmit divine truth and to perform healings. In a 5-4 decision the Court stated, “The religious views espoused by respondents might seem incredible, if not preposterous, to most people,” but the “truth or falsity” of a religion is no business of American government or courts to decide.

Merriam-Webster’s phrase about separation from “a larger and more accepted” faith explains why a “cult” differs from the definition of a “sect,” that is a direct offshoot from an established religion. Examples would be “Mormon” polygamist cells or snake-handling churches as opposed to mainstream Pentecostalism. “Sect” is not appropriate if the breakaway is sizable, for example 16th Century Protestantism when it left the Roman Catholic Church.

Due to religious rivalry and line-drawing, Protestant evangelicals often apply the “cult” label to, for instance, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, not over any questionable practices but because its Scriptures and beliefs as proclaimed in 19th Century America disagree with long centuries of mainstream Christian teaching. Then again, there are cultish churches that teach perfectly orthodox Christian doctrines.

Journalists as aged as The Guy will well remember covering America’s great cult scare of the 1970s, when emotions ranged from hostility to hysteria toward new, off-brand and unfamiliar faiths such as the Children of God, Church Universal and Triumphant, Hare Krishna, Love Israel Family, Rajneesh disciples, or Unification Church (a.k.a. “Moonies”).

The era was somehow personified by Ted Patrick, a high school dropout hired by anxious families and friends to kidnap young converts and administer “deprogramming” to break the spiritual spell. Author Diane Benscoter, who was deprogrammed out of the Unification Church and worked as a deprogrammer herself, later founded antidote.ngo to replace such coercive tactics with counseling, education and outreach to counter groups said to practice “psychological manipulation.”

Anti-cult fear reached an apogee in 1978 at Jonestown, an isolated jungle compound in Guyana, when 642 adult and 276 child followers of the Rev. Jim Jones died in a murder / suicide orgy. This atrocity mangled the usual “cult” criteria because Jones and his Peoples Temple, which originated in California, were credentialed and in good standing as affiliated with the “mainline” Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), itself a member of the thoroughly respectable National Council of Churches.

In 1984, disciples of Rajneesh perpetrated America’s biggest biological attack up to that time and later plotted an assassination. Then a subsequent upsurge of cult scares was sparked by tragedies like the federal raid in Texas during which 80 Branch Davidians burned to death (1993), 48 suicides in Switzerland’s Solar Temple (1994), Aum Shinriko’s three sarin gas attacks in Tokyo subways that indiscriminately murdered 13 travelers and injured thousands (1995), and the collective suicide of 39 Heaven’s Gate devotees near San Diego (1997).

Precisely because fears about groups considered to be cults have been amply justified in these ways, academics and journalists should be very careful about labeling any group with such a slur.

The past four years, the cult sensation took a thoroughly secular turn with publicity about Keith Raniere’s godlike grip on followers of his purported self-help sex cult (yes, “cult”) NXIVM and perverse D.O.S. faction that branded its women. Fifteen victims testified when he was sentenced to 120 years in federal prison for racketeering and sex trafficking that included an underage girl. Among other places, the incredible story is told in the paperback and audiobook “Don’t Call It a Cult” by Sarah Berman.

A five-page New Yorker article on that book last July by novelist Zoe Heller observed that even psychiatrists like Robert Lifton, a pioneer in studying mind control, downplay “brainwashing” as though converts to sinister groups are automatons. If instead they “have some degree of volition, the job of distinguishing cult from other belief-based organizations becomes a good deal more difficult,” Heller writes.” Thus “many scholars choose to avoid the term ‘cult’ altogether.

That was asserted even more emphatically by Catherine Wessinger, a historian of religion at Loyola University New Orleans. Her article on this for religiondispatches.org focused on supposed cult-like fealty to Donald Trump, the QAnon conspiracy theory, January 6 Capitol rioters and what she terms the “Nativist Millennial Movement.”

Wessinger noted that the American Psychological Association and social scientists dismiss the myths of all-powerful leaders and passive, brainwashed flocks. A la Melton, she said “cult” conveys “an inaccurate stereotype” that people use to “stigmatize groups and movements that they simply do not like.” It “is illogically and pejoratively applied to groups” with widely varied profiles. And “in fact, people frequently change their minds and leave a group.”

She asserts that “instead of using the pejorative word ‘cult,’ which prevents unbiased research and dehumanizes believers, the term ‘totalism’ better conveys what people were actually worried about: groups whose members live in isolated communities where people are controlled and not permitted to leave when they choose.”

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/religionqanda/2022/02/what-is-a-religious-cult/

CultNEWS101 Articles: 2/15/2022 (Conspiracy Theorist, Definitions of term "Cult", Anthroposophy, Familia Spiritualis Opus, Abuse)

Conspiracy Theorist, Definitions of term "Cult", Anthroposophy, Familia Spiritualis Opus, Abuse

HuffPost: My Gentle, Intelligent Brother Is Now A Conspiracy Theorist And His Beliefs Are Shocking

" ... My brother is a modern conspiracy theorist.

He calls himself an "Evolutionary Linguist-Spiritual Warrior Fighting for Human Free Will on Earth" on his TikTok account, which has 12,500 followers. He uses hashtags like #zombe #apocolypse #weare #freedom and #1111. The latter, as far as I can tell from doing a little Googling, is a symbol that often represents interconnectedness and synchronicity, and that inspires individuals to attempt to manifest their intentions and take action to turn their visions into reality. On the surface, this sounds sedate, even inspiring — especially as we come out of COVID isolation. None of us seem to want to "go back to normal" because normal didn't serve us.

Last April, my sister-in-law texted me to warn me that my brother was heading, unannounced, to my doorstep in Idaho, where I care for our elderly father. I knew he believed "everyone on the planet who received the vaccine will be dead in a few years," but I had no idea of the depth of his fantastical beliefs.

Our evening together started with him mansplaining why cryptocurrencies are our only hope and how he had the idea for Amazon before Jeff Bezos did and how he would be the richest man in the world if not for some bad breaks along the way. Although he wasn't physically at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., he referred to the Jan. 6 rioters as "we."

Later that night, my brother announced, "The real reason I'm here is I've come to warn you that over the next two weeks, a lot of shit is going to come out about what's been going on for the past 50 years, 100 years, 4,000 years. It is going to shock you to your core. All the conspiracy theories ― everyone you ever heard from politics to Big Oil to wars in Afghanistan to Biden not being president ― this pulls it all together." At this point, I excused myself to go to the restroom, turned on the Voice Memos app on my iPhone, and tucked it in my back pocket in case he divulged any plans for violence, which, thankfully, he did not. The following is a transcribed summary of the main points he "knows with certainty" that 'the media won't tell us about.'"

ICSA Today: What Is a Cult?: Definitional Preface

"There are many definitions of cult, but for our purpose ICSA utilizes this one: "an ideological organization held together by charismatic relations and demanding total commitment."  This definition is compatible with some definitions of new religious movements (NRMs), but cult can also refer to nonreligious organizations. As defined here, cults (on the high-demand/high-control end of the social influence spectrum—see below) are at risk of abusing members, but do not necessarily do so.

Although cultic groups vary a great deal, a huge body of clinical evidence and a growing body of empirical research indicate that some groups harm some people sometimes, and that some groups may be more likely to harm people than other groups."

The Guardian: Ginger root and meteorite dust: the Steiner 'Covid cures' offered in Germany

" ... Best known outside Germany for the left-leaning schools focused on self-directed play with wooden toys, Steinerism started out as a multi-disciplinary spiritualist philosophy in the late 19th century.

Born in 1861 as a citizen of the Austrian empire, Steiner claimed to have access to higher spiritual planes that gave him insights into reincarnation, links between cosmic bodies and plant growth, and evolutionary history, including the years of Jesus's life not covered by the Bible and the sunken continent of Atlantis.

By the time of his death in 1925, Steiner had applied his philosophy to a wide array of subjects, including education, architecture, agriculture, dance and medicine.

In the 21st century, anthroposophy remains a minority movement, albeit one that enjoys a high level of social acceptance and institutional support in German-speaking countries. In Germany, there are more than 200 schools, more than 500 nurseries and 263 institutions for people with mental disabilities that follow Steiner's philosophy. The country's highest grossing drugstore chain, dm-drogerie markt, and second-largest chain of organic supermarkets, Alnatura, are both run by self-professed anthroposophists, and cosmetic products made by Steiner-devoted brands like Weleda and Dr Hauschka are not only for sale in German pharmacies but are also enjoying a global boom.

While the number of employees working at these institutions and businesses who take Steiner's philosophy at face value is likely to be low and dwindling, the movement has carved out a steady presence in German public life.

"In some ways anthroposophy is a German success story", said Helmut Zander, a historian of religion who has written books critical of the Steiner movement. "It hits a nerve that our society has for a long time ignored. Organic farming has gone mainstream over the last decade – Steinerists have done it since the 1960s."

Steiner's belief in illnesses as rites of passage that are necessary to purge spiritual imbalances is starkly at odds with the basic foundations of modern science. And yet anthroposophy has made considerable inroads into a public-private healthcare system that puts stress on consumer choice.

There are no fewer than 10 Steiner hospitals in Germany, and anthroposophic medicine is tolerated by German law as a "special therapeutic form", meaning remedies can be approved for use without external proof of their effectiveness. As recently as 2019, the conservative health minister Jens Spahn chose not to remove homeopathic remedies prescribed by Steiner clinics from the list of treatments covered by public health insurers.

But the pandemic is testing the German tolerance of Steiner esotericism in more ways than one. "Anthroposophy claims to have access to secret, higher knowledge," said Zander. 'There's a proximity to the mindset of conspiracy theorists, even if the number of Steinerists who are that way inclined is probably small'."

Catholic News Service: Safer spaces: Protecting the dignity of consecrated people

" ... Reisinger, a survivor of abuse inflicted when she was a consecrated member of Familia Spiritualis Opus, also known as The Spiritual Family "The Work," is one of several people highlighting the need to protect the rights and dignity of consecrated women and men.

"People who live together, who promise poverty, chastity and obedience under the guidance of one superior or founder have no enforceable rights," she said. "This is so dangerous" because it is a situation "where cult-like communities can grow."

All members of every Catholic community must know their rights — that "you don't have to put up with everything" — and those rights must be enforceable, she said from Germany, where she is a research assistant at Goethe University in Frankfurt. She and others spoke to Catholic News Service by phone Feb. 1.

A Catholic expert in the psychology of religion and "deviations in the Catholic world" said it is easier for warped teachings or practices to develop in communities that are smaller and have an "excessive veneration" of the founder.

Raffaella Di Marzio is the director of the Center for Studies on the Freedom of Religion, Belief and Conscience and has taught at pontifical universities in Rome. She said it is natural members would feel different from other Catholics because of their more radical, evangelical way of life and committed vows to be more Christ-like.

But when this leads to a sense of superiority and "being closer to Jesus than others, then the charism becomes a charism of power, that is, the human temptation to be able to make others do what you want now takes over," she said.

This dynamic between a strong charismatic leader and faithful follower is "a two-way street" in that the leader wields a power that a follower is searching for and willingly submits to, and, if left unchecked, it can lead to even stronger ties to the leader, a fear of persecution and a rejection of dialogue or cooperation with "the outside," Di Marzio said.

"In this situation, anything can happen in that community," she said."

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