Cults

"Cult" may refer to the original and typically ancient sense of "religious practice" or to a newly established religious movement. It is also a pejorative term for a group whose religious beliefs are considered fanatical and unacceptable.

(See also cult classics.) ...more

New Releases Tagged "Cults"

End of Days: Ruby Ridge, the Apocalypse, and the Unmaking of America

American Reich: A Murder in Orange County, Neo-Nazis, and a New Age of Hate

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The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom

Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show (While Also in an Actual Cult!)

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Cults Books

Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith

The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple

Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape

Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology

Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders

Sex Cult Nun: Breaking Away from the Children of God, a Wild, Radical Religious Cult

Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamist Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs

Don't Call It a Cult: The Shocking Story of Keith Raniere and the Women of NXIVM

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Lists

Large Group Awareness Training

29 books — 24 voters

(Literal) Cult Classics

2 books — 1 voter

The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes

YA Cults

59 books — 13 voters

A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century by Heather E. Heying

Decoding the Gurus Podcast

84 books — 2 voters

Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong by Herbert W. Armstrong

The Seven Laws of Success by Herbert W. Armstrong

Mystery of the Ages by Herbert W. Armstrong

Worldwide Church of God (Armstrong) Books

27 books — 1 voter

Cults and Communes in Fiction

362 books — 161 voters

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Quotes Tagged “Cults”

“ Professor Langdon,' called a young man with curly hair in the back row, 'if Masonry is not a secret society, not a corporation, and not a religion, then what is it?' 'Well, if you were to ask a Mason, he would offer the following definition: Masonry is a system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols.' 'Sounds to me like a euphemism for "freaky cult." ' 'Freaky, you say?' 'Hell yes!' the kid said, standing up. 'I heard what they do inside those secret buildings! Weird candleli ...more ”
― Dan Brown, The Lost Symbol

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“ The absurdity of many UFO stories and of many religious visions is not a superficial logical mistake. It may be the key to their function. According to Major Murphy, the confusion in the UFO mystery may have been put there deliberately to achieve certain results. One of these results has been to keep scientists away. The other is to create the conditions for a new form of social control, a change in Man’s perception of his place in the universe. Are his theories fantastic? Before we decide, let The absurdity of many UFO stories and of many religious visions is not a superficial logical mistake. It may be the key to their function. According to Major Murphy, the confusion in the UFO mystery may have been put there deliberately to achieve certain results. One of these results has been to keep scientists away. The other is to create the conditions for a new form of social control, a change in Man’s perception of his place in the universe. Are his theories fantastic? Before we decide, let us review a few other facts. We need to examine more closely the political connections. Paris Flammonde, in his well-documented Age of Flying Saucers, remarked that “a great many of the contactees purvey philosophies which are tinged, if not tainted, with totalitarian overtones.”1 A catalogue of contactee themes, compiled from interviews I have conducted, includes the following. Intellectual abdication. The widespread belief that human beings are incapable of solving their own problems, and that extraterrestrial intervention is imperative to save us “in spite of ourselves.” The danger in such a philosophy is that it makes its believers dependent on outside forces and discourages personal responsibility: why should we worry about the problems around us, if the Gods from Outer Space are about to solve them? Racist philosophy. The pernicious suggestion that some of us on the Earth are of extraterrestrial descent and therefore constitute a “higher race.” The dangers inherent in this belief should be obvious to anybody who hasn’t forgotten the genocides of World War II, executed on the premise that some races were somehow “purer” or better than others. (Let us note in passing that Adamski’s Venusian, the Stranger of the Canigou seen by Bordas, and many other alleged extraterrestrials were all tall Aryan types with long blond hair.) Technical impotence. The statement that the birth of civilization on this planet resulted not from the genius and ability of mankind, but from repeated assistance by higher beings. Archaeologists and anthropologists are constantly aware of the marvelous skill with which the “Ancient Engineers” (to use L. Sprague de Camp’s phrase) developed the tools of civilization on all continents. No appeal to superior powers is necessary to explain the achievements of early culture. The belief expressed by the contactees reveals a tragic lack of trust on their part in human ability. Social utopia. Fantastic economic theories, including the belief that a “world economy” can be created overnight, and that democracy should be abolished in favor of Utopian systems, usually dictatorial in their outlook. ...more ”
― Jacques F. Vallée, Messengers of Deception: UFO Contacts and Cults

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