RW books on "cults"

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

I was at the local Barnes & Noble the other day, and came across a couple of books on cults, written by some right wing Christians. I laughed when I found my friends the Unitarian-Universalists and Unity there, but was a little put out that they ignored Sufis altogether! I must've made some of my comments out loud because another person checking out the same section looked at me rather strangely!

But seriously-where do these right wingers get off calling free thinking, liberating groups as "cults"? I think they must have their definitions backwards, as it appears that many of the rw "Christian" groups better fit the definition of brainwashed people walking in lockstep giving all their money to a charismatic leader.

[hvn_nbr_2]

1. You have to be in their cult to understand their inverse definition of ...

cult.

[wildflower]

2. I think the view is that...

A view of God that differs from their own is not normal; therefore it must require indoctrination into the 'strange' beliefs. Thus it is a cult. You know what I mean?

Were these mainly Christian or America-based religions? Maybe this just underlines the thinking - because anyone who is Christian should have the same beliefs as they do, whereas they understand a religion like Islam or Buddhism is different and has different roots.

In my experience, I think Sufism isn't very well known here. It probably depends on the community in which you grow up or with which you associate later on. I'd certainly love to learn more about it.

-wildflower

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. you're right about Sufism

I'd heard the term "Whirling Dervishes" since I was little, but other than that didn't know a thing about them. And I grew up on the campus of the University of Illinois. My grandmother had an apartment house, and she tended to have foreign students for tenants. I knew people from China, Kenya, Australia, and Egypt, all before I was out of second grade.

I didn't discover Sufism until I had a series of visions and dreams, which led me to this path. What I find interesting is that many Sufi ceremonies are open to anyone-no question of being an initiate or a "member", and definately no pressure to "join" anything.

You are right that most of the book was about Christian sects the author didn't agree with. No Sufi orders were mentioned.

[Maat]

4. HeHeHe.

If they think 'Unity' is a cult, they most certainly would think that 'Church of Religious Science' is a cult, because they are both New Thought Churches.

I usually respond to that kind of talk by saying, "Ummm ... who gets told what to think ... who gets told with whom to associate ... who gets told what positions to take ... who gets told what to read?"

NOT ME!

That usually shuts them up.


And I'm doing my monthly visit to the UU church tomorrow!

[elshiva]

5. Please tell us about your trip to UU.

What are New Thought Churches?

[Maat]

6. As you have a New Thought ...

So shall you have a new experience.

Jesus expressed it something like, 'it is done to you as you believe,' referring to the power of the mind.

New Thought Churches:
Unity
Divine Science
Church of Religious Science

[elshiva]

7. Thanks!

How is Divine Science different than Religious Science?

[Maat]

8. That is the one of them that I do not know much about.

I'll have to google it tomorrow.

Will report back.

I know that many studied under Mary Baker Eddy of Christian Science.

They studied the great philosophers ... Emerson, Troward, and Thoreau.

Ernest Holmes went off on his own ... and founded CRS.

Divine Science was a couple that had also studied the same people, and went off on their own.

[elshiva]

9. My dad has always read a lot of Emerson and Thoreau.

He did an exhibit on Emerson's trip to Baltimore last year at the Johns Hopkins Library.

[Maat]

10. Wowee. Good for him!

I'm going to study them more eventually too.

Add it to the list.

Right now, I'm studying Holmes.

I'm going night-night.

See you tom. all!

[elshiva]

11. Goodnight, dear Maat!

Happy Mother's Day!

[Maat]

12. You have a great Sunday!

You are very important to your friends. So enjoy!

We are each an expression of God's perfection.

[elshiva]

13. Thank you!

You are a lovely human being and mother.

[Maat]

14. You're a lovely human being ...

and I consider all who post in this forum lovely human beings!

Happy Mothers' Day (it really should be ... Happy Women's Day!). I don't like it that they leave out all other women who contribute to this society.

Oh, well.

[elshiva]

15. There is an international Women's Day, though!

I do agree that there are some wonderful people on this board!

[Tux]

16. Well, I'll be

I belong to a cult just as my dad said. :wtf: Why they would leave out Sufis, who knows? What is Unity anyways? I wouldn't get upset not being labeled a cult follower. It's hard work to get that title. Afterall, thinking for yourself is hard work.

For the characteristics of real cults, I provide this: http://www.refocus.org/charcult.html

As a degree holder of psychology, I can say that several "Christian" groups I ran into on campus were technically cults. Sad.

[Maat]

18. I agree. I have a Master's in Psych. and was a social worker ..

for several years.

I also ask my fundie relatives/acquaintances, "Who is being told what to think? Who is being told with whom to associate? Who is being told what their own personal moral code is? Not me."

I'm UU and CRS (Church of Religious Science, New Thought).
( www.rsintl.org , www.uua.org - just in case anyone wants to know where I am coming from)
(Info on Unity ... http://www.unity.org/)

On edit:

I just checked out the link about cult characteristics - very good!

I'm certainly not a part of one - my pastors MOST STRONGLY ENCOURAGE me to THINK for myself.

[NMMNG]

17. Christians like to use the term 'cult'

to refer to pretty much any religious group but their own. I've even heard a few of them refer to Buddhism as a cult! Hello!--Buddhism has been around for about 500 years longer than Christianity people!


It's just another one of the RW tools they use to try to keep their stranglehold on the American religious scene.