Cults and cultish behavior have always been a part of the history of mankind. However, in the past several decades, there has been increasingly alarming attention given to the promulgation and disturbing increase in the behavior of cults in America, Western Europe, and other parts of the world. One might first ask: Why do people join cults? What are they? How should more traditional religions react to cult behavior, particularly in this age of religious toleration?
This paper will present an overview of cults, and will limit its scope to cultic behavior in the United States. After introductory material on cults, the paper will turn to an assessment of the types of cults, their methods and motivations, and whether their behavior and beliefs are damaging to members. Throughout the paper, and in particular in its conclusion, the paper will present the thesis that cults should be banned because they are dangerous to their members and may psychologically, and even physically, damage those who come into contact with them.
One way to approach the phenomenon of cults is to delineate its function into at least four coherent psychological elements: 1) a shared belief system, 2) the ability to sustain and maintain a high degree of social cohesiveness, 3) members who are strongly influenced by the group's behavioral norms, and 4) the placing of charismatic or divine power by members to the group's leadership or functional head (Galanter 5).
In contemporary society, cults have, more often than not, retained certain media functions that have both mythologized and called into question some of their functions. Supporters of cults say that their membership and organization should be protected under the U.S. Constitution, but detractors point to the fact that religious freedom is granted only when the religion does not prove harmful to the members of the group. Christians, in fact, have often been the most vehement of critics, and beli...