For Allie

The characteristics of a cult/new religious movement, as defined in Sociology 262 at the University of Waterloo by professor Lorne Dawson, Jan 5 2005.

(That is to say: some things may have changed, but it is fairly recent information.)

There are two basic types of cults: "innovative" (Scientology, etc.) and "imported" (Hare Krishna, etc.)

The following characteristics are "ideals" of each type. Cults are a kind of offshoot of sects, which will be explained a little later. I'm going to do up the chart that we were given, as it seems easiest...

CHURCH/SECT TYPOLOGY

Feature	Church	Sect
Membership	involuntary (because of parents), inclusive, heterogeneous	voluntary, exclusive, homogenous
Beliefs/Practices	More dogmatic (but just accepting basic beliefs is OK), ritualistic	More radical, "stern" (require deeper faith/involvement), inspirational
Leadership	Hired/appointed, professional/trained	Lay leadership, chosen because of charisma
Organization	More hierarchical, impersonal administration	Smaller, more democratic, personal
Attitude to Dominant Society	Accomodating	Born of schism (either with larger religious group or society), often protest society (vice, etc.)

KEY FEATURES OF CULTS
1. Primarily concerned with satisfying the needs and desires of its members.
2. Lay claim to esoteric knowledge that has been lost (ex. Templars), discovered (ex. Atlantis), or repressed (ex. "true self"/Thetan)
3. Offer some kind of direct, ecstatic, or transfiguring experience (ex. magic)
4. Focused on a charismatic leader - often, a cult will disintegrate when the leader dies or is discredited
(5. Society tends to see them as "subversive")
( Why cults became so popular - and reviled )

( Who joins cults? )

...if people want me to keep typing up my notes, I'm more than glad to do the "four main points" of the cults that we studied, as well as my notes on "the Cult Conversion Controversy" (read: why not to trust Margaret Singer or Steve Hassan) and "Violence and Cults".

(The specific cults we studied in depth: neopaganism, Unification Church, Branch Davidians, Scientology, Hare Krishna/ISKCON, and I may have notes on Shambhala.)

The start of a book, or: a piece that will probably be trashed in the final edit

gharbad and I have promised one another that we will write a certain number of words per week.

I decided to finally write the goddamn intro to that book I keep pretending I'm gonna write. It is not good. It is mostly dialogue. I do not set ANY sort of scene (they're in some forest cover, watching an army that has put up tents for the evening). The mud Rasha is talking about is basically that they rolled in mud/dirt to cover up the fact that Ayori, at least, is a pasty white girl that would burn (and stand out like crazy) if she didn't.

I think I have spent almost as many words explaining this clip as I have writing it. Almost.

( 126/100: Success! )