{"id":1086,"date":"2011-06-20T12:13:22","date_gmt":"2011-06-20T12:13:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/projectconversion.com\/?p=1086"},"modified":"2011-06-20T12:13:22","modified_gmt":"2011-06-20T12:13:22","slug":"cults-putting-a-stereotype-to-rest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/2011\/06\/cults-putting-a-stereotype-to-rest.html","title":{"rendered":"Cults: Putting a Stereotype to Rest"},"content":{"rendered":"

My wife, whom you all now know and love, recently joined a new church here in town. This church is what you would call “contemporary.” All this really means is that everything about the establishment–from the music, the dress code(there isn’t one), the preaching style, the church groups–is modern. In fact their slogan is that they are a “Church for people who don’t like church.”<\/p>\n

If I were a Christian, I would attend this church. Trouble is, here in the South, folks like tradition–especially when it comes to religion. Once this church came into town with its hip music and non-dress code and modern logo, all of a sudden, church attendance from the surrounding area dropped. Turns out, people started going to this new church.<\/p>\n

Not only were folks checking out this new gig, they liked it so much that they stayed.<\/p>\n

Now, it’s not really that big a deal right? I mean, as long as these new guys are preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ as lord and savior then everyone is cool, right?<\/p>\n

Wrong. Once church attendance dropped, the rumors began. The one toxic\u00a0word that slipped from\u00a0everyone’s lips: “Cult.”<\/p>\n

By the way, here’s the\u00a0link to the “cult” my wife looks forward to attending every Sunday: Vertical Church<\/span><\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Hearing this, I began to wonder what a cult really is.\u00a0I always thought cults were made up of\u00a0crazy people who perform strange sex\u00a0rituals and sacrifice kids and neighborhood pets to the devil or something like that, right?\u00a0At first, I thought\u00a0it was a waste of time to\u00a0look up the word, you know, to actually\u00a0discover the meaning\u00a0for myself instead of depend on\u00a0what\u00a0culture and media tells me.<\/p>\n

Here’s what I found from Webster’s Dictionary: Cult…<\/p>\n

1)<\/span> Formal religious veneration.<\/p>\n

2)<\/span> A system of religious beliefs and ritual.<\/p>\n

3)<\/span> A religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious.<\/p>\n

4)<\/span> Great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (such as art).<\/p>\n

Uh, wow, that actually sounds like religion in general. In fact, every faith tradition I’ve practiced so far in this journey and every one I know of contains most if not all of these elements.<\/span><\/p>\n

So why are cults considered bad things?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Because the term is associated\u00a0with folks like Charles Manson and his infamous “Manson Family”…and therefore any group considered on the religious fringe. But why? How did this innocuous term of categorization become so criminalized?<\/p>\n

The term “cult” in the area of religious studies remains a neutral term which describes religious movement or practice in general. A more derogatory incarnation of the term took root in the 1940’s and throughout the 1980’s with the advent of\u00a0“Christian counter-cult movements” and secular “Anti-cult movements.” These groups identified elements of belief and philosophy which lay on the outskirts of the mainstream religion (mostly Christian) and culture and\u00a0demonized them\u00a0as cults. Some of these\u00a0isolated movements, such as the Manson Family and the People’s Temple founded by Jim Jones, were obviously dangerous, however it is the fierce categorization of anything outside one’s own theological perspective as a cult that\u00a0disturbs me the most.<\/p>\n

Oh people, how soon we forget the past of our own hallowed traditions.<\/p>\n

Franz Kafka once said that “Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy.”<\/p>\n

The monotheistic ideals of Zarathushtra and the Hebrews (during the age of the prophets) was a revolution against the polytheism of their day. Buddhism is a social and cultural revolution within Hinduism. Jesus brought new, revolutionary ideals to Judaism. Muhammad saw Islam as a reform within the faiths of Abraham. Guru Nanak, who founded Sikhism, started a revolution to erase the lines between Muslims and Hindus.<\/p>\n

In this way, everything I lists–and all I have not listed–fulfill the “unorthodox and spurious” requirements of the definition above.<\/p>\n

Ladies and gentlemen, your religion or philosophy,\u00a0no matter how\u00a0ingrained into the national culture, no matter how much it echoes throughout history…is a cult.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

How many readers did I just lose for that one?<\/p>\n

The truth is, we need these unorthodox and spurious movements. Every one of them represent the evolution of spiritual and philosophical thought. Each wave of new ideas and insights proves that, like life itself, our spiritual awareness and concepts continually evolve. But that’s a subject for another day…<\/p>\n

I hope you realize now that cults aren’t a bad thing. If you still think\u00a0that all cult members are just brain-washed lunatics, then I recommend\u00a0you stop attending your church, mosque, temple, study circle, grove of trees, classroom now\u00a0before you are told more dangerous ideals. In fact, stop reading this blog and leave our “Congregation,” because we are part of a movement\u00a0which goes against the mainstream as well. The real danger is when we judge the traditions of our neighbor with such a fine-toothed comb, yet leave our own convictions with\u00a0every stone unturned.<\/p>\n

As for those traditionalists who labeled Vertical Church <\/span><\/a><\/strong>as a cult, I wonder what would happen\u00a0if\u00a0they\u00a0examined their\u00a0our own faith with such a ferocity as when\u00a0judging others? It’s okay really, because we all do it. But maybe we don’t use that same lens on ourselves\u00a0because we are afraid of what we might find, or\u00a0even more terrifying…what we might not<\/em> find.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My wife, whom you all now know and love, recently joined a new church here in town. This church is what you would call “contemporary.” All this really means is that everything about the establishment–from the music, the dress code(there isn’t one), the preaching style, the church groups–is modern. 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