Whenever I’ve spent some time engaging cults (with Answers In Genesis being the most recent), I’ve inevitably found the same patterns of observation – almost always without fail. Here is my rough ‘Am I in a cult?’ top ten checklist:
1) The first rule
of cult club is that you don’t know you’re in a cult.
2) The second
rule of cult club is that you’re made to feel guilty for even considering that
there’s anywhere else you should be.
3) The third rule
of cult club is that any alternative viewpoint or meaningful connection you may
explore from within the cult will be frowned upon as a sense of betrayal.
4) The fourth
rule of cult club is that it is everyone outside the group that is wrong,
dishonest and corrupt, not you and your cult.
5) The fifth rule
of cult club is that if you stick with them, they ensure favour and protection
against all those wrong, dishonest and corrupt outsiders.
6) The sixth rule
of cult club is that questioning the authority of the leadership is equated
with wrong thinking and being seduced by falsehoods and untruths.
7) The seventh
rule of cult club is that leaving the cult means condemnation and ostracism
from the community (or in extreme cases, threats and intimidation).
8) The eighth
rule of cult club is that they will eventually make you so comfortable in the
cult that you’ll learn to enjoy dismissing and laughing at external attempts to
appeal to evidence, reason and rational argument.
9) The ninth rule
of cult club is that aspiring status-mongerers within the cult will break away
and form their own subset cult, invoking public shaming and repudiation.
10) The tenth rule
of cult club is that if you doubt any of the previous 9 rules, you’re not really
fully committed to the cult’s membership and cause.
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