A cult is a group or movement that exhibits strong devotion to an individual, idea, or thing. It uses psychological manipulation and has hidden agendas. It will dictate how members should think, feel, and act in order to manage conflict with society. Cults are different from “new religions”, “new political movements” and “innovative psychotherapies” in that they use unethical methods to persuade and control members. They are also different from authoritative groups such as boot camps since the cults don’t have any external accountability.
From this definition, I learned that cults can be religious, political, or commercial. They typically make use of manipulation techniques to agenda their leader’s goals. Additionally, they are very secretive and isolating of their members which allows them to enforce their unique pattern of beliefs and values. they tend to cause psychological harm to both members and families in the community as well as themselves.
source —– https://cultrecovery101.com/cult-recovery-readings/cult-recovery-readings/
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Great job on distinguishing the difference between cults and religion or social movement. I agree with cults being secretive, manipulative and completely unethical when cult involvement can cause major psychological disorders like depression, trauma and so on.