hes@ecsvax.UUCP (Henry Schaffer) (02/04/85)
I heard an authority on cults/brainwashing/deprogramming speak recently. The main way he distinguished between a cult and an ordinary religious group was that a cult has a living (or recently deceased) leader whose word over-rides all else. --henry schaffer n c state univ P.S. He mentioned "neuro-linguistic programming" as a new technique in the persuasion area. Does anyone know what this is?
polard@fortune.UUCP (Henry Polard) (02/07/85)
In article <647@ecsvax.UUCP> hes@ecsvax.UUCP (Henry Schaffer) writes: >I heard an authority on cults/brainwashing/deprogramming speak >recently. The main way he distinguished between a cult and an >ordinary religious group was that a cult has a living (or recently >deceased) leader whose word over-rides all else. Sounds like a cult to me! (oh, all right - :-)) BTW, from that point of view the Catholic church is a cult, a class in a school is a cult, and most governments are cults. The real distinction between a religion and a cult is that the person who uses "cult" disagrees with the group he or she labels as a "cult." -- Henry Polard (You bring the flames - I'll bring the marshmallows.) {ihnp4,cbosgd,amd}!fortune!polard N.B: The words in this posting do not necessarily express the opinions of me, my employer, or any AI project.
polard@fortune.UUCP (Henry Polard) (02/08/85)
In article <647@ecsvax.UUCP> hes@ecsvax.UUCP (Henry Schaffer) writes: >I heard an authority on cults/brainwashing/deprogramming speak >recently. The main way he distinguished between a cult and an >ordinary religious group was that a cult has a living (or recently >deceased) leader whose word over-rides all else. If his word overrides all else, it sounds like a cult to me! :-) According to the above definition, the Roman Catholic church is a cult, and teachers, corporate officers, government heads, etc. might be considered cult leaders... Perhaps the main distinction between a religion and a cult is that the person who uses the term "cult" disagrees with the organization he or she applies the term to. -- Henry Polard (You bring the flames - I'll bring the marshmallows.) {ihnp4,cbosgd,amd}!fortune!polard N.B: The words in this posting do not necessarily express the opinions of me, my employer, or any AI project.