cults

Jesus lied...

The other night I watched 48 Hours, and for the first time learned about the woman claiming to be Jesus reincarnated. She had many followers, many children of dubious origins, whom she dressed and groomed to look the same. Like perfect white, blond, children. This took place in Australia. Those...

Interesting podcast. Explores the Heaven's Gate cult from the angle of the family members left behind by those who "stepped up another level" I'm up to the most recent episode and enjoyed it so far. My only slight complaint is the over indulgence in spooky background music, doesn't spoil the...

I am very interested in accessing any resources regarding this issue. I am interested in any biographical accounts, historical accounts, any kind of resource really. My special areas of interest are: Cults and pseudo-spiritual movements, gurus, fakirs and holy men and women who use / used...

hi all recently i was asked by someone i know to look into this: http://www.wopg.org/en/about-words-of-peace/prem-rawat he has been with them for years and thinks i should give them a try. i said i was a skeptic but would look at the site and have a conversation about it, as long as he didnt...

All knowing Leader whose demise would signal the end of it all. Fanatical followers who seem to be deluding themselves more and more. The continued extortion of money in order to "belong" and get "the answers." Ridicule of those not already converted. Promise of protection for those that...

There is an absolutely wonderful 5 part series about the Rajneeshees in the Oregonian. I highly recommend it, its a fascinating read: http://www.oregonlive.com/rajneesh/ In the spirit of recent threads such as thee quran burning or the double standard threads, I thought I'd play devil's...

The 9/11 Truthers have many indications of being a cult- but there in no one unifying belief- they have a dozen diifferent theories, many of which contradict one another- Truthers tend to be impressionable college freshmen, or crazy people. But does their movement have a leader? Are they as...

This is an extremely difficult subject for me to bring up. When I was a kid, my parents got involved with a church in the Tulsa area called Morningstar Church. I'd been involved in churches since I was very little, and they were all what you'd expect. Nice people, Sunday School programs...

I just finished reading The Rise Of Christianity by the sociologist Rodney Stark Here are some quotes for you that you might enjoy from his section The Appeal Of New Religions (p. 37-44):

I doubt anybody here is familiar with the "Awakening into Oneness" movement but I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm checking out their website but haven't found any information on them from any cult watch groups. My sister is going to India for a "seminar" and is sold on it. I'm just worried shes...

About two years ago, a college friend and my significant other moved into together. The college friend had been struggling with alcoholism for some time, and had attended A.A. to get a grip on her problem. She eventually reached a point where she felt that she had her problem with alcohol under...

Elan Vital cult leader Maharaji, using his title rather than the name Prem Pal Rawat, has two My Space pages, neither of which seem to attract many visitors or 'friends' at all, leaving him looking quite the Billy No Mates - they are at...

Hi all, I know (or used to know) two people quite well who joined cults some years ago. They are different cults and the two didn't know each other, but were quite similar in a lot of ways, and the cults they joined are similar in a lot of ways. They've both been in the cults for some years...

Posted by permission of the author. Subject: from Ed Lottick: Prevalence of Cults in the USA Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon From: (Dave Touretzky) Message-ID: <42e5b2d9@news2.lightlink.com> Date: 25 Jul 2005 23:49:45 -0400 Dr. Ed Lottick became an anti-cult activist...

An interesting take in the NYT (today): Interesting to call a spade a spade. And the media's failure to address it. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/07/opinion/07brooks.html

In another thread Mercutio and I had an argument as to how legitimate is to compare the cult of Jedi Knights with the Christians. I want to explore this topic a bit further. It seems logical to me that the mechanism that creates the religious feeling is similar all around the world but still I...

Of course it's two employees suing a former employer, so what really happened remains to be seen, but still...good story: [/B] from here: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2307067 The thing is, I can totally believe this. I used to work audio for a popular television show...

Not sure if this has been linked before but ‘Which cult would you choose?’ My results are #1 Unarius Society #2 Blavatsky Foundation #3 The Discordians #4 Aetherius Society #5 Eckankar #6 International Raelian Movement #7 Friends of Osho #8 Falun Gong #9 Cult of Lord Jesus Christ #10...