John_Taverner wrote on Apr 14
th, 2016 at 10:51am:
All religions are cults. Cult comes from the same root as "culture". It has only been in recent times that cult in English was used in a pejorative way. Historians still speak about the Cult of Juno, Hermes or whatever. It just means religion.
Et Voila! Le culte de Jésus:
http://www.mariedenazareth.com/qui-est-marie/le-culte-de-jesusLe culte Musulman:
http://www.lecfcm.fr/That's how the word used to be used in English (and still is to some extent)
Good point, JT, but things changed in the 1970s after a spate of cult atrocities. The end of the peace and love era of the 1960s is generally put down to the murders of the Manson gang, a hippie/LSD cult.
The focus on cults came about after the Jonestown massacre, a mass suicide orchestrated by Jim Jones, the leader of a Christian cult that had received government funds and favours.
Cults became popular in the 1970s as new recruiting processes and cold war "mind control" techniques were used to exploit people interested in religion. As the established churches lost their hold over the population, new movements arose. The 1960s saw a new interest in alternative religion. The post-war baby boom provided plenty of young, well-educated spiritual seekers, and these were rich pickings for charismatic cult leaders.
The Hare Krishnas, the Moonies, the Children of God and others used fanatical fundraising techniques. It was common to be approached by the Krishnas or the Moonies in airports and car parks. They both became multi-million dollar organizations with centres all over the world.
Initially, governments and law enforcement saw these movements as benign. After all, it's an individual's right to sell their souls or "swallow the Kool Aid", a reference to the cyanide-spiked cordial used at Jonestown in its mass-suicide.
This changed with Jonestown. Jim Jones' guards killed a US senator who had gone down to investigate rumours of people being held against their liberty. Cults like the Krishnas and Moonies were instantly held to account and started ramping up their own propaganda. The Krishnas wrote a pamphlet and press release saying "don't lump us in". Political favours granted to the Krishnas, the Moonies and the Church of Scientology (in the US) started to wane. Suddenly, politicians wanted nothing to do with organizations that could be seen to be cults.
These cults were a defining feature of the 1970s. They represented the dearth of organized religion and the paranoia associated with the height of the cold war. So this was where the counter-culture had ended up: intelligent young people from good families dropping out to join movements where they became little more than brainwashed drones.
And what about the worldly power of these cults? Think how obsessive the Chinese government is about eradicating the Falun Gong movement. Strangely, US politicians cultivated the cults of the 1970s, and why not? The Moonies, for example, could be told how to vote and bussed to the local polling station. Political donations came thick and fast - in cash. The Reverend Sun Myung Moon had connections to US politicians and high profile business leaders until his death in 2012. Scientology guru, Ron L Hubbard, left an organization to his protégé, David Miscavige, that is now a global, multi-billion dollar business.
Modern communications, tax laws, even modern transport has allowed cults to prosper. We're not talking about religion here - we're talking about hierarchical systems of fundraising and mass human control. We're talking about the dearth of organized religion and the sort of organizations that have arisen to fill the void.
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