How to Start a Cult

[Chuck Naill]

Often I find myself thinking about the disfunction of US politics to produce a reasonable outcome that fulfills most of what most or many of Americans want. I don't think making some happy should be the goal, but I don't think making only some unhappy any more attractive. How to break the cultish hold requres a complete change in how people caught in the web think, and it is never east.

In my mid 20's I encountered several cults as they showed up at the door. The encounter was uncomfortable as I was told the way I thought was always wrong and they were on the right path. However, I was always surprised how people could be so convinced and comfident they knew the answers.

I don't think only one part is cultish. What I do think is that their membership prevents them from collaborating with the competing cult.

To Create Your Very Own Cult

Begin by creating your own reality. You do this by keeping your members away from outsiders. An isolated farm in the middle of Idaho is good but if such a retreat isn't available, impose a form of self-censorship. If it's not of the cult, it's of the devil.

Next, set the leader and his/her inner circle up as the only link to paradise ... only they hold the keys to the kingdom.
Remember to make increasing demands. Start small but keep it going and eventually you'll have your followers standing in line to turn over all their worldly possessions.

Keep turning out stories about the greatness of the leader. The more unbelievable the more they will be believed. Your members have already been conditioned from the time they were children to accept things like coming back from the dead and walking on water.

Remember to use your converts to bring in still more converts. This has the double advantage of picking up new disciples and (even if that doesn't always work) the mere act of proselytizing will further cement the commitment of those already in the fold.

Keep everybody busy. This doesn't allow time for potentially critical thought. Let the minds of the masses wander and who knows, they might put two and two together. For this reason, long sermons - the longer the better - and interminable work shifts are essential. And when you aren't haranguing them and they aren't being kept busy ... make sure they're at least singing.

And finally, keep your flock fixated on the carrot. The payoff is just around the corner and only they will be the ones paid off. The clouds will part and they will be raptured up and then, boy-oh-boy, won't all those non-believers be sorry.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/look-it-way/200906/how-start-cult

[Bold2013]

This is pretty good.

I would add that the isolation now a days could be a digital one. Also paradise could be a better world we live in now rather then on the other side of eternity.

[Empty_of_Clouds]

There are three things that aid in becoming a cult leader:

1. Charisma
2. Write a sci-fi novel
3. An orange wig

Any one or combination of the above should see you right! :crazy_pilot:

[Chuck Naill]

There are three things that aid in becoming a cult leader:

1. Charisma
2. Write a sci-fi novel
3. An orange wig

Any one or combination of the above should see you right! :crazy_pilot:
Sorry, but I have come to expect more from you .😢😢

[Empty_of_Clouds]

Thought it was obvious that it was a joke. :)

[Chuck Naill]

Thought it was obvious that it was a joke. :)

I knew it was, but had to give you some shit.

[Chip]

One of the most successful (or pernicious, depending on your point-of-view) cults of the 1800s was founded by a relative: Joseph Smith. The Mormon church didn't depend on the internet, let alone on an orange wig, but rather on a story: that angels appeared to Smith and told him where to unearth a set of plates, which held records of the past of North America, in which a white, proto-Christian society (Nephites) had been overwhelmed by the dark-skinned, evil Lamanites, and destroyed.

The story appealed to whites a generation or three from colonization, who were trying to dominate and destroy the descendants of those Lamanite buggers, in order to steal (or reclaim) their land and resources.

The history of Mormonism is the stuff of trashy TV serials, with murders, betrayals, mob violence, rebellion, schism, and an eventual mass migration (like that riff in Exodus.)

My branch of the Smith family descended from Chileab Smith while Joseph was the spawn of a younger brother, Preserved Smith (so-called because he was ill as a baby and the Lord preserved his life). When granny worked out our genealogy and realized our branch of the Smiths was the elder, she wanted to name my dad Chileab. But granddad prevailed.

https://i.imgur.com/GdqbSMM.jpg

The Mormon church fits every definition of a cult, but having endured, it has become a religion: more-or-less respectable, rich, and influential.

[Chuck Naill]

One of the most successful (or pernicious, depending on your point-of-view) cults of the 1800s was founded by a relative: Joseph Smith. The Mormon church didn't depend on the internet, let alone on an orange wig, but rather on a story: that angels appeared to Smith and told him where to unearth a set of plates, which held records of the past of North America, in which a white, proto-Christian society (Nephites) had been overwhelmed by the dark-skinned, evil Lamanites, and destroyed.

The story appealed to whites a generation or three from colonization, who were trying to dominate and destroy the descendants of those Lamanite buggers, in order to steal (or reclaim) their land and resources.

The history of Mormonism is the stuff of trashy TV serials, with murders, betrayals, mob violence, rebellion, schism, and an eventual mass migration (like that riff in Exodus.)

My branch of the Smith family descended from Chileab Smith while Joseph was the spawn of a younger brother, Preserved Smith (so-called because he was ill as a baby and the Lord preserved his life). When granny worked out our genealogy and realized our branch of the Smiths was the elder, she wanted to name my dad Chileab. But granddad prevailed.

https://i.imgur.com/GdqbSMM.jpg

The Mormon church fits every definition of a cult, but having endured, it has become a religion: more-or-less respectable, rich, and influential.

Wow, what a story, @chip!! As an Evangelical, the Mormons were considered a cult. I have encountered The Way, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Mormons.

Not sure if it was my upbringing or what, but they all seemed strange and based on an interpretation of scriptures that wasn't at all in context. I feel that Pentacostalism and Charismatic churches are on the cultish side now. When you begin to depend upon personal exclusive revelations it is easy to be lead astray from common sense as with a relative that another relative that God had told her to tell the other not to allow her children access to the Chicken Pox vaccine.

[Chip]

I didn't even mention plural marriage, or the ambitions of Brigham Young to found an independent republic in the west, called Deseret, and secede from the US. Utah was invaded by federal troops in 1858 or so.

https://www.historynet.com/utah-war-us-government-versus-mormon-settlers.htm

There's still a strong element of secrecy and privilege in Mormon practice: various priesthoods, temple rites, temple marriage, and similar customs carry on that exclusive tradition. There's a lot of informal discrimination, crony capitalism, and financial chicanery based on church membership and associations.

[Chuck Naill]

Calvin was correct regarding the depravity of man.

[Chip]

His religious offspring certainly included some depraved monsters, Oliver Cromwell, for instance.

Besides the depravity riff, he said some interesting things:

Peace is not to be purchased by the sacrifice of truth.

Satan is an astute theologian.

[dneal]

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[dneal]

And just because it’s hilarious…

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