Thank you for all your amazing work on week 4. Your discussion board on cults was fascinating to read. Many of you created your own cults: the healing cult, the immortal cult, the Frenchie cult, the live in nature cult, no social media cult, self-development cult, the Pet Pie cult, and the liberation to salvation cult. Lots of great ideas.
A few of you summarized articles about cults and shared other cult related resources. Thank you for sharing what you learned. So–watch out, everyone–cults are alive and well.
Quiz 4 was a great way to review claims. Rachel said: it is important to distinguish between objective and subjective claims because subjective claims are based upon feelings, and opinions and that can steer you in the wrong direction if you base things off of how you or someone else feels. it is important to distinguish between true and false claims because they may sound the same, false claims may appear to be true when stated matter of factly and this can lead you to believe something that isnt true. Xinlin adds: I believe that learning to distinguish between claims can help us develop critical thinking and help us communicate ideas and opinions clearly, as well as make informed judgments and decisions as we process and evaluate information. Distinguishing between objective and subjective claims, as well as true and false claims, can also help us avoid misinformation and prevent us from being misled by some deceptive advertisements or information.
If I deducted points on your quiz, it’s because: your answers were incorrect or incomplete. For false claims, a few of you discussed fraud, which can be another example of false claims, but not in critical thinking terminology, right? Refer to the reading on arguments and claims for further clarification, and/ or reach out to me.
Looking forward to Conversation 5 on arguments.
Prof. Barnes
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Shocking exposed of accused religious cults
The Esther foundation was a rehab program established in 1995 program which helped people with addiction. A domestic violence center for battered women; and a place for troubled teen. where patients can go to receive acute care that includes physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and related treatments that focus on helping patients rebuild functional and cognitive skills. The foundation was praised in the community and given huge donations for changing the life of many individuals; outsider believed in the maneuver of this facility; it was known as the ideal rehab center. The Ester foundation was ran by a woman named Patricia Lavater an extremely religious Pentecostal women whom manipulated patients by deeming them demonic and creating a cult like environment.
Patricia controlled and manipulated the patients at the rehab with the same common recruiting promises and cutting them off from the rest of the world in order to control their minds. This center stripped the patients of their humanity do to their vulnerability, this was done effortlessly. Patricia was known to have the same principles as the cult owner “Jim Jones”. The cult became a potent mix being religious; Patricia’s acts became spiritual abuse to the patients. The treatment house went from a place where people had addictions to having the devilish ways (religious order). Depression and mental illness was considered being demonic.
Therapy was never used to help resolve mental or emotional issues at the facility. Medical doctors were not allowed to examine the patients. Patricia was considered their God through blind faith. Patricia marketed her faculty as a wonderful foundation however constructed a functioning cult.
cults