3D Dialogue: The Rise of Cults

[logicbranch]

These guys seem to think cults are about as threatening as chewing gum. Cults have ruined thousands of lives, even just recently, so why don't they talk about that? Has anyone committed suicide because of Britney Spears? What a farce, the interviewer did a poor job. This is a harmful and misleading video.

[nowgleaning]

WTF! Are these people cult apologists or something? Cults deserve to be viewed in a negative light. They’re not something you can just walk away from or try on for size. Most cults are manipulative, dysfunctional, & destructive! How irresponsible can these people be? Campbell says he is more concerned with Britney Spears than Jim Jones types! Seriously, is he for real! People need to be more suspicious of cults not less!

[DRDNIBOY]

Jesus dint lead a cult due to the fact that Jesus advocated going to the JEWISH temple and worshiping there. He didnt speak against the jewish religion, but against the Pharisees. Also.... The early Christians worshiped in the synagogues along side the Jews IF ANYTHING THE EARLY CHRISTIANS WERE A SECT OF JUDAISM! NOT A CULT! Calling them a cult is stretching it and under its definition most every religion would be a cult. We need to be clear as to what is a religion, a sect and a cult.

[GermanChocolateCake]

All religions are simply marketing. They are selling a largely intangible product for your donations and support. You take one look at Scientology, Catholicism, American Christianity, Islam, and you see the millions and millions of dollars their churches generate as a whole and it is so blatantly obvious as to be impossible to overlook unless you WILLFULLY do so.

For crying out loud, Scientology sells salvation for thousands of dollars. The Catholic church used to sell indulgences for sin.

[GermanChocolateCake]

@GermanChocolateCake Can it BE any more obvious that the goal is the generation of money. Look at the Christian mega-churches and the lifestyles of their ministers. Do you think all that luxury is free?

It's a scam,a con game, and far far too many people fall hook, line, and sinker for it.

[farswept]

This video is completely worthless.

[thepedomo]

islam is the biggest cult

[summerjoe]

are these guys examplerary figures in society?

[Jruny]

I think one good criteria of a cult is how well it tolerates questioning and criticisms, both internally and externally, and how it reacts to such criticisms.

[BnThDnTh]

Scientology is an evil cult that uses people for their money.

It's a criminal organization. A business that hides behind the name of religion.

They have to recruit new members because more members leave than join.

Stay away from Scientology.

:-)

[wilsonta1]

He misses the major point in that these cults are FALSE!!! CULT: A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader. So, you must know TRUTH before you can identify what is & isn't a cult. TRUTH is an absolute. Jesus said "I am the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE". All religions without Jesus are cults and those who pervert him are as well!

[Xenu]

You're an idiot.

[Nicole9Keewatin]

What I find scarry about religion or beliefes becoming or tooken like in a cult like manner, is that deffinetly it affects people close to the poeple whom are active and espeacialy thier children. I used to think it was a joke to look at cults, until i realized this is how children are brought up seriously, and if it's very destructive, this is how it effcets people the most, because young people whom have to relie and identify to thier only parents, do not chioce for thier beliefs!

[SURV100]

Cults sound like organized stalkers. Organized stalking is covering the globe and there is much mind control and indoctrination used by these people to get them to submit. Search organized stalking it is unbelieveable.

[St0neman]

This video is very interesting.

[dmokri]

Americans are so wrong!The true Aristocracy is when you are coming form a Royal family.American Hollywoods are Capitalists and not aristocrates!I am an Aristocrate by blood,my grand pa ws the last descendent of King Luis Phillipe of France! But we only carry the family name through hisotry!We are nto rich or famouse,but In US or Canada those rich nouveau rich bourgois or capitalists are absolutely not aristocrate at all!Give me a break,you should have true blue blood if called arisotcrate!

[creamgurl411]

Erm.. dude, how do you think aristocratic lines get started. Yes it starts with some rich powerful duchebag starting a family line. Cram it.

[masameus]

There is a review process, which is susceptible to corruption, academic stupidity, etc. Many of the most quoted scholars of cults right now are politicised cult lobbyists. The most prestigious (or so they say) centre for the study of "new religious movements" in Europe, called CESNUR, publishes only, and I mean only, research which presents cults in a decidedly favorable light. Kent has also criticized the susceptibility of the review process to the influence of the academic cult lobby.

[arthadude]

"Academic cult lobby?" I can't speak to what's going on in Europe, but that's not how things work in North America. By the way, professor Ilkka Pyysiäinen was trained as a theologian and not as a social scientist. His views on non-traditional religious groups seem to reflect that training.

[arthadude]

(continued) At any rate, reasonable people can scrutinize academic research on new religious movements for themselves and determine how reliable or biased it is. Sound research identifies the sources that were used and makes explicit any a priori assumptions on the part of the researcher. There is no "cult lobby" conspiracy in the major North American academic periodicals.

[masameus]

"There is no "cult lobby" conspiracy in the major North American academic periodicals."

There is a conspiracy of sorts which involves both American and European scholars or religion. I'm referring to the collaboration of scholars like Hadden (US), Bromley (US) and Barker (UK) with representatives of Scientology and the Unification Church to create a "strategy" for defeating "anti-cultists" and an "agenda" for future academic research.

[masameus]

In Misunderstanding Cults Beit-Hallahmi discusses a confidential memo he received, the writer of which was later identified as Hadden, which exposes an intimate collaboration between scholars and representatives of cults. Hadden lists as one of the conclusions of the secret meetings the resolution that there is a need to "neutralize" the efforts of the "anti-cultists" (as opposed to simply doing research on the groups). This is no longer scientific research of cults, it is PR work for cults.

[arthadude]

(continued) There are thousands of these groups, between 80-90% of the members leave voluntarily within two or three years, and the vast majority are NOT violent. Of course those that are violent or abusive should be identified and condemned, but sadly this type of behavior is not limited to the so-called "new" religious movements.

[arthadude]

(continued) Besides, scholars of Religion have almost no voice in the popular media. You are far more likely to hear from a psychologist or a member of the anti-cult establishment (often allied with the Conservative Christian Right in the US) when TV producers want a so-called "expert" to support their sensational coverage.

[masameus]

The good professor's idea that the power of individual celebrities like Britney Spears over people's lives is more terrible than the power of cults just goes to show how hysterically overrated the authority of academic researchers really is. These academic types are no more credible sources of information about cults than laypersons who are familiar with the phenomenon.

[arthadude]

Wrong. Academics actually go out and conduct research- they speak to people (current cult members, former members, friends/relatives of members, government authorities, and so forth). Good research relies on a variety of sources. They also monitor these groups (many of which are short-lived) over a period of time and chart the ways that they change. Most laypeople get their info from the media.

[masameus]

They speak to people alright: people who are currently inside cults and have been handpicked by the cult leaders as representatives of the group. Many scholars of so-called "new religious movements" not only refuse to listen to or take seriously people who are former members of cults but have also developed a scientifically perverse doctrine that says "disgruntled former members," or "apostates" as they call them, are "unreliable" and should not be used as informants in academic research.

[masameus]

(Continued 1) Prominent scholars of cults, particularly in the US, also follow a doctrine according to which it is the responsibility of scholars of religion to promote a positive public image of cults. The practical effect of this doctrine is that crucial information about cults has actually been omitted from research reports as it may be harmful to the groups' public image. Is this decent research? No, it is a travesty and a cynical exploitation of the authority of science.

[masameus]

(Continued 2) Professor Ilkka Pyysiäinen, has written critically about this "methodological anarchy" in the field of religious studies, reminding researchers that it is not the business of scholars of religion to promote a favorable image of their research subject any more than it is the business of scholars of violence or neo-Nazism to promote tolerance towards their subject. Professor Stephen A. Kent has also criticised academic cult apologists of corrupt scholarship (When Scholars Know Sin).

[arthadude]

As I said in my original response, GOOD research relies on a variety of sources. There is a review process in academia that identifies any research that is one-sided, polemical, etc.

[masameus]

The naivety with which many academics and media people are now looking at the cult phenomenon worries me. I have to voice my objection on the idea that people are as free to move on from one cult to another as if they were to change one shampoo brand to another. This is something which just doesn't happen in groups like Scientology because they have such a powerful control over their followers' lives and thought patterns.

[gurutruth]

Interesting that virtually no mention was made of the destructive nature of cults, Aum Shinrikyo, etc...