Social control and cults

Heaven’s Gate, Peoples Temple, Children of God, Branch Davidians, and Scientology
are names that likely stir up a few memorys of the nefarious side of organized religion.
They also happen to be some of the most recognized and infamous cults in North
America, but who’s to say they’re cults? Consensus on the issue remains hard to find,
as it’s not clear if the negatively loaded term could also apply to conventional religions
and organizations. In psychology “cult” refers to both religious and non-religious groups
yet in other disciplines such as sociology and anthropology there remains different
distinctions of what’s implied. In the general society, it’s the charismatic leaders of weird
grassroot religious movements that typically raise our suspicions. Not having a precise
and universal definition to offer you, I’ll mention the vague explanation offered by the
scholar from which I’m framing this post around: “where totalism exists… [the
organization] becomes little more than an exclusive cult”.

This was extracted from Dr. Robert Lifton’s book, Thought Reform and the Psychology
of Totalism, which studied ‘mind control’ in the 50’s under Chinese Communism. His
work detailed eight techniques used under totalitarianism to create and maintain a
cultural milieu that would control people. Cult membership is understood to generally
apply these methods, although there is no guidebook about what manipulation
techniques different cults implement (scholars can’t even agree on what is objectively a
cult to begin with). I’ll now outline Lifton’s techniques for thought reform and the rest of
the post will hereon refer to “cult” specifically as a religious organization.

1. Milieu control involves limiting most forms of communication, either from

the outside world coming into the group or what group members are
permitted to share outside of their close-knit community. This control is not
limited to person to person interactions but could also contain the media and
entertainment for the group, perhaps the cult citing that these things are
inherently corrupt. This of course isolates the group to itself and causes all
points of reference to come from within the group. Even the removal of
 family and friends from the member’s life isn’t strong enough to waiver a cult
members faith because it oftentimes serves to strengthen opposition and
alienation to society.

2. Mystical manipulation occurs when “spontaneous” events arise that are

then attributed to be proof of the leader’s divinity or greatness. Members are
put into a position where they are manipulated into trusting the leader to the
point of dependence and will therefore listen to their commands. This opens
the doorway for the leader to make strenuous requests which can lead to
over extension and exhaustion.

3. Demand for purity rests on the premise that the group has superior access
to the greatest truth and therefore there is only be one correct way to live or
maintain faith. “Good and evil” divides the world and anyone who doesn’t
‘see the light’ so to speak are worthy of condemning. Members who stray
from perfect adherence by questioning doctrine or leaders are prone to be
attacked or abandoned.

4. Cult of Confession relies on mandated sharing of the individual’s personal

life, transgressions, or weakness which is seen as a means to spiritual
purification. This repetitive and expected “confession” allows for emotional
catharsis, however the mandatory nature of the confession rests on the
assumption that there is something inherently wrong with the person. In
some instances, this confession will be a public event to foster a sense of
community within the group. This is troubling in that there is no private part
of identity for the members.

5. Sacred Science instills in cult members that any lack of knowledge or doubt

that they hold about their faith is because there is a deficiency about them
individually, rather than one in the group’s ideology. The sacred science is
monitored by a charismatic leader who is God or hold’s God’s ultimate truth
with an exclusive understanding of it. This Truth oftentimes requires
extensive study, training, and adherence to group rituals before one can
 come close to comprehension of it. This leaves no room for questioning of
the Truth or the divine leader.

6. Loading the language is when entirely new meanings are structured for
oftentimes pre-existing words. This meaning is built from the group’s
doctrine. Such an example of this comes from the Children of God cult,
which has rebranded itself to be named “The Family of Love”, and then “The
Family”, and now settling on “Family International” (which are pretty
disturbing names given how philanthropic they sound contrasted with how
the cult endorses pedophilia and incest). This cult calls members who try to
remove their children from the group “10:36ers” which is in reference to
Matthew chapter 10 verses 36-37. “And a mans foes shall be they of his own
household. He that loveth father or mother more then Me is not worthy of Me
and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” This
passage threatens the ex-communication and damnation of members who
try to place their children (and their safety) before the leader or the cult.

7. Doctrine over person “erases” or at least minimizes any memories of the

cult that are unfavourably out of line with the doctrine of the group, because
the doctrine shapes the reality for the members. This could also extend to
the person’s previous history before conversion, where the past is rewritten
as being negative and unappealing. During conversion, the member
relinquishes themself from their past, adapting a reinterpretation that serves
to suggest that the individual is better off in the cult. This is sometimes
symbolized through changing their name.

8. Dispensing of existence, simply stated, is the fact that the cult and its
doctrine get to decide those who have the right to exist and those who don’t.
If someone fails to convert to the group’s ideology they will be rejected by
the group members and face damnation. There will remain a segregation of
the pure from the impure, and this is also true of members who leave the
organization.