Faith and belief are powerful forces. It forms the foundation through which one carries themselves and the motivation it provides for people to live their lives. However, a line gets drawn in the sand when one’s blind belief in something becomes skewed and devoid of any reason, facts or any real sense of grounding. At times, like these, cults can be born.
The key characteristics embodying a cult stem from the pyramid structure that is adopted where there is a charismatic leader at the top and small group of devout and obedient followers at the bottom. The lives of these followers are controlled in every aspect and their identities are moulded. Their ‘true selves’ are stripped in lieu of the identity of the cult and the ingroup/ outgroup mentality they are often brainwashed to adopt. In addition to the sense of exclusivity a group such as a cult presents, a person’s behaviour is often manipulated and orchestrated as what they wear, who they interact with and what they do are regimented by the group. One of the strongest factors indicating a cult-like group is the control of the groups access to information and the deliberate propaganda spread to counter anything the mainstream news via rhetoric, hypnosis, emotional manipulation and the bending of one’s identity.
This definition is one to be carefully applied as there has been a conflation of the word cult with other religious and non-religious entities. Additionally, there is often a spectrum of cults, from benign to radical and violent groups.
Historically, there have been few that have caught the attention of the media and have come to be infamous. However, there have been some groups that have developed a notoriety due to the horrific acts that were conducted. Most famously, if you have heard the term ‘drinking the Kool aid’ you may know this is an expression on the dangers of blindly following leaders stemming from the events surrounding the People’s Temple group. Originally created as a Pentecostal church with strong ideals of social equality and welfare, the People’s Temple eventually developed into an apocalyptic, Christian Social Gospel infused cult. This cult gained an immense following through their promises of a world without poverty, war, injustice or racism. As the group’s leader, Jim Jones’, health and leadership began to deteriorate, so did the public perception of the group as there were increasing calls for government intervention in the increasingly isolated group. A failed visit by Congressman Leo J. Ryan led to Jim Jones proclaiming that the end had come for the people of Jonestown and ‘revolutionary suicide’ was the only option. Everyone in the compound, men, women and children were given cyanide as well as other drugs to drink either willingly or forcefully via injections to die. Guards barricaded the exists to prevent anyone even those who had lost their nerve leaving took the cyanide themselves after the other members of the group had passed. The total death toll of the suicides of ‘Jonestown’ was over 900 people including over 300 children.
The tragic events in Jonestown were not the first or last glimpses the world had into people consumed by blind faith. Japan, a country usually known for its immense low crime rate and social cohesion, saw one of the worst terror incidents in the history of the country to hit unsuspecting train goers in 1995. The group responsible, Aum Shinrikyo, led by its leader, Shoko Asahara, began as a spiritual group which mixed Hinduism, Buddhism and Christian prophesies and ideologies which had maintained global following with tens of thousands of followers around the world. However, the group slowly began to change into a paranoid doomsday cult where the leader, Asahara, was convinced World War III was imminent and the apocalypse was near. The group believed that an attack was the only way to save the souls of the condemned and trust them to a higher spiritual power. In March 1995, cult members released Sarin gas, a gas initially developed by the Nazis, on the crowded subway in Tokyo’s political district before fleeing. The attack killed 13 people and left over 6000 people either temporarily or permanently wounded by the gas. Although this caused the group to go underground, the group still exists globally, working under different aliases.
More recently, parallels can be drawn from such attacks to that of the terrorist group, ISIS, which has maintained similar characteristics to that of a cult. Former Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, labelled ISIS “an apocalyptic death cult” with the New York Times adopting the label “cult of sadism” due to the brutal images of beheadings, killings and rape that attracted hoards of disenfranchised people. ISIS recognised the power of developing ingroup/ outgroup narratives in order to establish an ideology that people could identify with. In addition, the group utilises one of the most powerful characteristics of a cult, the power of collectivism especially when propaganda was involved. Despite ISIS growing weaker than it was during it’s height a few years ago, the immense global range of followers it attracted was a nod to the importance of pushing an ideology beyond all measure.
Although one needs to be careful with the categorisation of cults so as to not disregard the teachings of standard of branches of religions, there also needs to be a sense of vigilance when approaching the world. It is far too easy to be swept up with a theology or propaganda that may deviate from the truth in an age of mass information and a lack of human interaction.
If not anything, one must be careful not to hold blind faith without the sense to have doubts, question and find answers. This can be in theology, the workings of a group or even the sense of fear that seems to be festering in the world.
Strong personality cults have been a hallmark of populist autocratic leaders such as Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin as very similarly to religious cults, they understood the necessity of fortifying the ingroup/ outgroup mentality and recreating a sense of identify with their followers. People would then become so engulfed in the ideology and the work that they were doing that there was no opportunity to collectively question what was unfolding.
With the rise of nationalism once again, the world has seen a growing trend of politicians emerging from right-wing, anti-immigration and anti-establishment sentiments. The most prominent example of Donald Trump in the 2016 American elections comes to mind when considering perhaps the most publicised rise of the right movement in recent years. Since then leaders such as Maine Le Pen of France, an avid opponent of immigration, have come dangerously close to winning France’s elections. In other parts of the world it can be said that the right has risen given Jair Bolsonaro’s win at the Brazilian elections late last year, Viktor Orban’s third term victory in Hungary primarily due to his anti-immigration sentiment and the concerning recent rise in support once again of The Freedom Party in Austria, the first only-right party in power in West Europe since it’s inception in 2017. The rise of the right has given fresh concerns and calls for people to be vigilant in their beliefs and question their leaders. It is a dangerous world to blindly believe, trust and allow oneself to be consumed by the ideologies that are presented. Therefore, I put this to you. Regardless of your philosophy, your ideology or your belief system, understand the necessity of questioning leaders, disregarding blind faith and believing in something without at least understanding the opposing viewpoint. Understand facts, do not merely consider all news, fake news but do research and understand the importance of alternative viewpoints. It is only then that the world stands a chance to ride any ideology or political spectrum that rises without reverting back to the way we were.
