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Cult (religion)

Cult (religion)

:This article discusses cult in the original sense of "religious practice." It does not discuss religious or sociological cultist groups or uses in the sense of "cultural sub-group," as in cult film, etc. ---- In traditional usage, the cult of a religion, quite apart from its sacred writings ("scriptures"), its theology or myths, or the personal faith of its believers, is the totality of external religious practice and observance, the neglect of which is the definition of impiety. Cult is literally the "care" owed to the god and the shrine. The term "cult" first appeared in English in 1617, derived from the French culte, meaning "worship" or "a particular form of worship" which in turn originated from the Latin word cultus meaning "care, cultivation, worship," originally "tended, cultivated," also the past participle of colere "to till" By extension, "cult" has come to connote the total cultural aspects of a religion, as they are distinguished from others through change and individualization. The meaning "devotion to a person or thing" is from 1829, and from that connotation comes the modern meaning of "cult" as in a "cultist" or a "cult following". Cult and cultist have recently accrued negative connotations that are separately dealt with at the entry cult. Some Christians make refined distinctions between worship and veneration, both of which are outwardly expressed in cultus or cult and are indistinguishable to the observer. Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy distinguish between worship (Latin adoratio, Greek latreia [λατρεια]) which is due to God alone, and veneration (Latin veneratio, Greek doulia [δουλεια]), which may be lawfully offered to the saints. These private distinctions between deity and mediators are exhaustively treated at the entries for worship and veneration. Among the observances in the cult of a deity are ritual, which may involve spoken or sung prayers or hymns, and often sacrifice, or substitutes for sacrifice. Other manifestations of the cult of a deity are the preservation of relics or the creation of images, such as icons (usually connoting a flat painted image) or idols (usually connoting three-dimensional objects), and the identification of sacred places, hilltops and mountains, fissures and caves, springs and pools, or groves, which may be the seat of an oracle. The sacred places may be elaborated by construction of shrines and temples, on which are centered public attention at religious festivals (called "Feasts" in some Christian communities) and which may become the center for pilgrimages. The comparative study of cult practice is part of the disciplines of the anthropology of religion and the sociology of religion, two aspects of comparative religion.

Cult

:This article does not discuss "cult" in its original sense of "religious practice"; for that usage see Cult (religion). See Cult (disambiguation) for more meanings of the term "cult". In religion and sociology, a cult is a cohesive group of people (often a relatively small and new religious movement) devoted to beliefs or practices that the surrounding culture or society considers to be far outside the mainstream. Its marginal status may come about either due to its novel belief system or because of its idiosyncratic practices. In common usage, "cult" has a negative connotation, and is generally applied to a group by its opponents, for a variety of possible reasons.

Definitions of "cult"

In English-speaking countries since about the 1960s, especially in North America, the term cult has taken on a pejorative and sometimes offensive connotation. This largely originated with highly publicized cults which purportedly exploited their members psychologically and financially, or which allegedly utilized group-based persuasion and conversion techniques. These techniques may include "brainwashing", "thought reform", "love bombing", and "mind control", whose scientific validity, modern and historical use, and effectiveness (for religious conversion) are discussed within the linked articles. Understandably, most groups, if not all that are called "cults" deny this label. Some groups called "cults" by some critics may consider themselves not to be "cults", but may consider some other groups to be "cults". The literal and traditional meanings of the word cult is derived from the Latin cultus, meaning "care" or "adoration", as "a system of religious belief or ritual; or: the body of adherents to same". In English, it remains neutral to refer to the "cult of Artemis at Ephesus" and the "cult figures" that accompanied it, or to "the importance of the Ave Maria in the cult of the Virgin." This usage is more fully explored in the entry Cult (religion). In non-English European terms, the cognates of the English word "cult" are neutral, and refer mainly to divisions within a single faith, a case where English speakers might use the word "sect", as in "Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism are sects (or denominations) within Christianity". In French or Spanish, culte or culto simply means "worship" or "religious attendance"; thus an association cultuelle is an association whose goal is to organize religious worship and practices. The word for "cult" in the popular English meaning is secte (French) or secta (Spanish). In German the usual word used for the english cult is Sekte, which also has other definitions. A similar case is the Russian word sekta.

Definition of "cult" in dictionaries

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary lists five different meanings of the word "cult". This article quotes the 3rd definition: # a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also : its body of adherents Similarly, the Random House dictionary's 3rd and 4th definitions are: # a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist # the members of such a religion or sect

Definition by the Christian countercult movement

Walter Martin, the pioneer of the Christian countercult movement gave in his 1955 book the following definition of a cult: :"By cultism we mean the adherence to doctrines which are pointedly contradictory to orthodox Christianity and which yet claim the distinction of either tracing their origin to orthodox sources or of being in essential harmony with those sources. Cultism, in short, is any major deviation from orthodox Christianity relative to the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith." Robert Bowman defines cult as :"A religious group originating as a heretical sect and maintaining fervent commitment to heresy. Adj.: "cultic" (may be used with reference to tendencies as well as full cult status)." See also:
- heresy

Definition by secular cult opposition

Secular cult opponents define a "cult" as a religious or non-religious group which tends to manipulate, exploit and control its members. Here two definitions by Michael Langone and Louis Jolyon West, scholars who are widely recognized among the secular cult opposition: :Cults are groups that often exploit members psychologically and/or financially, typically by making members comply with leadership's demands through certain types of psychological manipulation, popularly called mind control, and through the inculcation of deep-seated anxious dependency on the group and its leaders. :"A cult is a group or movement exhibiting a great or excessive devotion or dedication to some person, idea or thing and employing unethically manipulative techniques of persuasion and control (e.g. isolation from former friends and family, debilitation, use of special methods to heighten suggestibility and subservience, powerful group pressures, information management, suspension of individuality or critical judgement, promotion of total dependency on the group and fear of [consequences of] leaving it, etc) designed to advance the goals of the group's leaders to the actual or possible detriment of members, their families, or the community."

Points of view regarding definitions

According to Professor Timothy Miller from the University of Kansas, in his 2003 Religious Movements in the United States, during the controversies over the new religious movements in the 1960s, the term “cult” came to mean something sinister, generally used to describe a movement that was at least potentially destructive to its members or to society, or that took advantage of its members and engaged in unethical practices. But he argues that no one yet has been able to define “cult” in a way that enables the term to identify only problematic groups. Miller asserts that “cults” are usually defined by anticultists by a list of attributes they possess (see cult checklist), but that such attributes are perfectly capable of belonging to groups that few would consider “cultic”, such as Catholic religious orders or many evangelical Protestant churches. Miller further argues that if the term does not enable the distiction between a pathological group and a legitimate one, then it has no value and it is in fact the religious equivalent of “nigger”, it conveys disdain and prejudice without having any valuable content. Due to the usually pejorative connotation of the word "cult", new religious movements (NRMs) and other purported cults often find the word highly offensive. Some purported cults have been known to insist that other similar groups are cults but that they themselves are not. On the other hand, some skeptics have questioned the distinction between a cult and a mainstream religion. They say that the only difference between a cult and a religion is that the latter is older and has more followers and, therefore, seems less controversial because society has become used to it. See also anti-cult movement and Opposition to cults and new religious movements. Unification Church member Lloyd Eby calls the third definition of Merriam-Webster problematic, because: :"...then we must ask: regarded as spurious or unorthodox by whom? Who has or was given this authority to decide what beliefs or practices are orthodox or genuine, and what are unorthodox or spurious? In the realm of religion and belief, one person's or group's norm is another's anathema, and what is regarded as false or counterfeit by one person or group is regarded as genuine and authentic by another.... This definition is entirely subjective: it means that if you think a religion is unorthodox, then you will call it a cult."
Cult, NRM and the sociology and psychology of religion
The problem with defining the word cult is that (1) purported cult members generally resist being called a cult, and (2) the word cult is often used to marginalize religious groups with which one does not agree or sympathize. Some serious researchers of religion and sociology prefer to use terms such as new religious movement (NRM) in their research on cults. Such usage may lead to confusion because some religious movements are "new" but not necessarily cults, and some purported cults are not religious or overtly religious. Furthermore, some religious groups commonly regarded as cults are in fact no longer "new"; for instance, the Jehovah's Witnesses have been around for over 100 years in the USA; Scientology is over 50 years old; and the Hare Krishna came out of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, a religious tradition that is about 500 years old. Where a cult practices physical or mental abuse, some psychologists and other mental health professionals use the terms cult, abusive cult, or destructive cult. The popular press also commonly uses these terms. However, not all cults function abusively or destructively, and among those that psychologists believe are abusive, few members would agree that they suffer abuse. Other researchers like David V. Barrett hold the view that classifying a religious movement as a cult is generally used as a subjective and negative label and has no added value; instead, he argues that one should investigate the beliefs and practices of the religious movement. Some psychologists who specialised in group psychology have studied what cognitive and emotional traits make people join a cult and to stay loyal to it. For example, see an analysis in the Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g2699/is_0004/ai_2699000433]. Some groups, particularly those labeled by others as cults, view the "cult" designation as insensitive and feel persecuted by their opponents. They often believe their opponents to be part of the anti-cult movement. Such groups often defend their position by comparing themselves to more established, mainstream religious groups such as Catholicism and Judaism. The argument offered can usually be simplified as, "except for size and age, Christianity and Judaism meet all the criteria for a cult, and therefore the term cult simply means small, young religion." According to the Dutch religious scholar Wouter Hanegraaff, another problem with writing about cults comes about because they generally hold belief systems that give answers to questions about the meaning of life and morality. This makes it difficult not to write in biased terms about a certain cult, because writers are rarely neutral about these questions. In an attempt to deal with this difficulty, some writers who deal with the subject choose to explicitly state their ethical values and belief systems. For many scholars and professional commentators, the usage of the word "cult" applies to maleficent or abusive behavior, and not to a belief system. For members of competing religions, use of the word remains pejorative and applies primarily to rival beliefs (see memes), and only incidentally to behavior. It should be noted that there is no clear causal connection between extremist belief and the formation of a so-called destructive cult. Most far-right hate groups are not cults, although they have pathological ideas and are frequently violent. Some groups regarded as cults have quite benign belief systems--the devil is in the details of how the members relate to the cult's founder and inner circle. In the sociology of religion, the term cult is a part of the subdivision of religious groups into sects, cults, denominations and ecclesias. The sociologists Rodney Stark and William S. Bainbridge define in their book "Theory of Religion" and subsequent works cults as "deviant religious organization with novel beliefs and practices", that is as new religious movements that unlike sects have not separated from another religious organization. Cults, in this sense, may or may not be dangerous, abusive, etc. By this definition, most of the groups which have been popularly labeled cults are indeed cults.
Methodological issues and challenges
The field of cults and new religious movements is studied by sociologists, religious scholars, psychologists and psychiatrists. The debates about purported cults are often polarized with widely divergent opinions, not only among current followers of and disaffected former members, but also among scholars and social scientists. Scholars that challenge the validity of critical former members' testimonies as the basis for studying a religious group include David G. Bromley, Anson Shupe, Brian R. Wilson, and Lonnie Kliever. Bromley and Shupe, who studied the social influences on these testimonies asserts that the apostate in his current role is likely to present a caricature of his former group and that the stories of critical ex-members who defect from groups that are subversive (defined as groups with few allies and many opponents) tend to have the form of "captivity narratives" (i.e. the narratives depict the stay in the group as involuntary). Wilson introduces the atrocity story that is rehearsed by the apostate to explain how, by manipulation, coercion or deceit, he was recruited to a group that he now condemns. Introvigne found in his study of the New Acropolis in France, that public negative testimonies and attitudes were only voiced by a minority of the ex-members, who he describes as becoming "professional enemies" of the group they leave. Kliever, when asked by the Church of Scientology to give his opinion on the reliability of apostate accounts of their former religious beliefs and practices, writes that these dedicated opponents present a distorted view of the new religions and cannot be regarded as reliable informants by responsible journalists, scholars, or jurists. He claims that the reason for the lack of reliability of apostates is due to the traumatic nature of disaffiliation that he compares to a divorce and also due the influence of the anti-cult movement even on those apostates who were not deprogrammed or received exit counseling. Scholars who tend to side more with critical former members include David C. Lane, Louis Jolyon West, Margaret Singer, Stephen A. Kent, Benjamin Beith-Hallahmi and Benjamin Zablocki. The latter performed an empirical study that showed that the reliability of former members is equal to that of stayers in one particular group. Philip Lucas found the same empirical results. According to Lewis F. Carter, the reliability and validity of the testimonies of believers are influenced by the tendency to justify affiliation with the group and the testimonies of former members and apostates are influenced by a variety of factors. Besides, the interpretative frame of members tends to change strongly upon conversion and disaffection and hence may strongly influence their narratives. Carter affirms that the degree of knowledge of different (ex-)members about their (former) group is highly diverse, especially in hierarchically organized groups. Using his experience at Rajneeshpuram (the intentional community of the followers of Rajneesh) as an example, he claims that the social influence exerted by the group may influence the accounts of ethnographers and of participant observers. He proposes a method he calls triangulation as the best method to study groups, by utilizing three accounts: these of believers, apostates and ethnographers. Carter asserts that this is difficult to put into practice ²¹. Daniel Carson Johnson wrote that even this method rarely succeeds in making assertions with certitude. James Richardson writes that there is a large number of groups and a tendency among scholars to make unjustified generalizations about them based on a select sample of observations life in cults or the testimonies of (ex-)members. According to Richardson this tendency is responsible for the widely divergent opinions about cults among scholars and social scientists. Eileen Barker (2001) wrote that critical former members of cults complain that academic observers only notice what the leadership wants them to see. See also Apostasy in new religious movemets, and Apostates and Apologists.
Christianity and Cults
Since at least the 1940s, the approach of orthodox or conservative or fundamentalist Christians was to apply the meaning of cult such that it included those religious groups who used (possibly exclusively) non-standard translations of the Bible, put additional revelation on a similar or higher level than the Bible or had practices deviant from those of traditional Christianity. Some examples of sources (with published dates where known) that documented this approach are:
- Heresies and Cults, by J.Oswald Sanders, pub.1948.
- Cults and Isms, by J.Oswald Sanders, pub.1962, 1969, 1980 (Arrowsmith), ISBN 0 551 00458 4.
- Chaos of the Cults, by J.K.van Baalen.
- Heresies Exposed, by W.C.Irvine.
- Confusion of Tongues, by C.W.Ferguson.
- Isms New and Old, by Julius Bodensieck.
- Some Latter-Day Religions, by G.H.Combs. In contrast of this, some people consider fundamentalism a cult in itself.
Cults and terrorism
The terrorist waves due to Islamic extremist organizations starting with the 1995 Islamist terror bombings in France and Al-Qaeda's acts of terrorism, have resulted in the comparison of Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups to the ancient Hassan-i-Sabah cult. The Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995, by members of Aum Shinrikyo has also raised awareness on the danger of groups that adopt extreme views commonly associated with destructive cults.
Theories about the reasons for joining a cult
Michael Langone gives three different models regarding joining a cult : :"The definitional ambiguity surrounding the term cult has fueled much controversy regarding why people join cults and other unorthodox groups. Three apparently conflicting models attempt to account for conversion to unorthodox groups. The deliberative model, favored by most sociologists and religious scholars, says that people join because of what they think about the group. The psychodynamic model, favored by many mental health professionals with little direct experience with cultists, says that people join because of what the group does for them-namely, fulfill unconscious psychological needs. The thought reform model, favored by many mental health professionals who have worked with large numbers of cultists, says that people join because of what the group does to them- that is, because of a systematic program of psychological manipulation that exploits, rather than fulfills, needs." According to Gallanter, typical reasons why people join cults include a search for community and a spiritual quest. Jeffrey Hadden summarizes a lecture named "Why Do People Join NRMs?" (a lecture in a series related to the sociology of new religious movements) as follows: # Belonging to groups is a natural human activity; # People belong to religious groups for essentially the same reasons they belong to other groups; # Conversion is generally understood as an emotionally charged experience that leads to a dramatic reorganization of the convert's life; # Conversion varies enormously in terms of the intensity of the experience and the degree to which it actually alters the life of the convert; # Conversion is one, but not the only reason people join religious groups; # Social scientists have offered a number of theories to explain why people join religious groups; # Most of these explanations could apply equally well to explain why people join lots of other kinds of groups; # No one theory can explain all joinings or conversions; # What all of these theories have in common (deprivation theory excluded) is the view that joining or converting is a natural process. Stark and Bainbridge have questioned the utility of the concept of conversion. They suggest, instead, that the concept of affiliation is a more useful concept for understanding how people join religious groups.
Cult leadership
According to Dr. Eileen Barker, new religions are in most cases started by charismatic leaders whom she considers unpredictable. According to Mikael Rothstein, there is in many cases no access to plain facts both about historical religious leaders and contemporary ones, though there is an abundance of legends, myths, and theological elaborations. According to Rothstein most members of any new religious movement have little chance of a personal meeting with the Master (leader) except as a member of big audience when the Master is present on stage. See also Role of charismatic figures in the development of religions
Development of cults
Cults based on charismatic leadership often follow the routinization of charisma, as described by the German sociologist Max Weber. The death of the founder may lead to a succession crisis.
Relationships with the outside world
Barer wrote that peripheral members may help to lessen the tension that exists between some groups and the outside world. ²⁷ In the case where members live in intentional communities, custody disputes (if one parent leaves and one stays) may be a source of confrontation between the cult and the outside world.
Cults: genuine concerns and exaggerations
The stigma surrounding the classification of a group as a cult stems from the purported ill effect the group's influence has on its members. The narratives of ill effect include threats presented by a cult to its members (whether real or perceived), and risks to the physical safety of its members and to their mental and spiritual growth. Much of the actions taken against cults and alleged cults have been in reaction to the harm experienced by some members due to their affiliation with the groups in question. Members of alleged cult groups have taken pains to emphasize that not all groups called cults are dangerous. Over a period of time, some minority religious organizations that were at one point in time considered cults have been accepted by mainstream society, such as Mormonism, the Amish, and Christian Science in the USA, though the last is faced with renewed opposition lately. Christian Science as the loving father of the "Rainbow Family". ]] Certain cults, such as Heaven's Gate, Ordre du Temple Solaire, Aum Shinrikyo, and the Peoples Temple have demonstrated by their actions that they do pose a threat to the well-being of both their own members and to society in general; these organizations are often referred to as doomsday cults by the media, and their mass suicides and mass murders are well-documented. According to John R. Hall, a professor in sociology at the University of California-Davis and Philip Schuyler, the Peoples Temple is still seen by some as the cultus classicus^,, though it did not belong to the set of groups that triggered the cult controversy in United States in the 1970s. Its mass suicide on November 18, 1978 led to increased concern about cults. Other groups include the Colonia Dignidad cult (a German group settled in Chile) that served as a torture center for the Chilean government during the Pinochet dictatorship. Certain other groups, while not universally condemned, remain suspect in the minds of the general public, such as Scientology and to a lesser extent the Unification Church and the Children of God. A problem in studying such high-profile groups is to distinguish between a group's public image (which may have become fixed decades earlier) and the group's actual practices in the here and now. This is especially important when one is studying a group whose founder has died or which has splintered, or a group with foreign origins that is gradually integrating itself into another culture. It is worth noting that despite the emphasis on narratives of "doomsday cults" by the media and the anti-cult movement, the number of cults known to have fallen into that category is approximately ten, which is very few when compared with the total number of new religious movements (including cults that are psychologically destructive but not extremely violent or doomsday-oriented), which E. Barker estimates to be in the tens of thousands. According to Benjamin Zablocki, the professor in Sociology at Rutgers University, cults are at high risk of becoming abusive to members. He states that this is in part due to members' adulation of charismatic leaders contributing to the leaders becoming corrupted by power. Zablocki defines a cult here as an ideological organization held together by charismatic relationships and demanding total commitment. There is no reliable, generally accepted way to determine which groups will harm their members. In an attempt to predict the probability of harm, popular but non-scientific cult checklists have been created by anti-cultists for this purpose. According to Barrett the most common accusation made against alleged "cults" is sexual abuse. See some allegations made by former members. According to Kranenborg, some groups, like Christian Science and Jehovah's Witnesses are risky when they advise their members not to use regular medical care. Barker, Barrett, and the anti-cult activist Steven Hassan all advise seeking information from various sources about a certain group before getting deeply involved, though these sources differ in the urgency they suggest.
Stigmatization and discrimination
Some feel that the terms "cult" and "cult leader" are used pejoratively by opponents of cults, asserting that they are to be avoided to prevent harm. A website affiliated with Adi Da Samraj [http://www.firmstand.org/] sees the activities of cult opponents as the exercise of prejudice and discrimination against them, and regards the use of the words "cult" and "cult leader" as similar to the manner in which "nigger" and "commie" were used in the past to denigrate blacks and Communists. In an essay by Amy Ryan, the argument is made for the need to differentiate those groups which may be dangerous from groups that are more benign. Ryan refers to New Religious Movements: Some Problems of Definition, were George Chryssides identifies two types of definitions: opponents define them in terms of negative characteristics, while scholars attempt to study these groups and be value free. The movements themselves may have different definitions of religion as well. Chryssides cites a need to develop more appropriate definitions to and allow for common ground in the debate. These definitions have political and ethical impact beyond just scholarly debate. In Defining Religion in American Law, for example, Bruce J. Casino presents the issue as crucial to international human rights laws. Limiting the definition of religion may interfere with freedom of religion, while too broad a definition may give some dangerous or abusive groups "a limitless excuse for avoiding all unwanted legal obligations." Also several authors in the cult opposition are not happy with the word cult. Some definitions used imply that there is a continuum with a large gray area separating "cult" from "noncult". Others authors, e.g. Steven Hassan differentiate by using terms like Destructive cult or Cult (totalitarian type) vs. benign cult.

Leaving a cult

There are basically three ways people leave a cult ^,
- by intervention (Exit counseling, deprogramming)
- on their own decision (walkaways)
- through expulsion (castaways) The majority of authors agree that there are some people who experience problems after leaving a cult. There are, though, disagreements regarding the frequency of such problems and regarding the cause. According to Barker (1989), the biggest worry about possible harm concerns the relatively few dedicated followers of a new religious movement (NRM). Barker also mentions that some former members may not take new initatives for quite a long time after disaffiliation from the NRM. This generally does not concern the many superficial, or short-lived, or peripheral supporters of a NRM. Membership in a cult usually does not last forever: 90% or more of cult members ultimately leave their group^,. According to Carol Giambalvo, most people leaving a cult do have to a certain degree psychological problems like feelings of guilt or shame, depression, feeling of inadequacy, or fear, independent of their manner of leaving the cult. Feelings of guilt, shame or anger are by her observation worst with castaways, but walkaways can also have serious problems with feeling inadequate or guilty. People who had interventions or a rehabilitation therapy do have similar problems but are usually better prepared to deal with them. Bromley and Hadden say that there is lack of empirical support for alleged consequences of having been a member of a cult or sect, and that there is substantial empirical evidence against it such as, the fact that the overwhelming proportion of people who get involved in NRMs do leave, most short of two years, the overwhelming proportion of people leave of their own volition, and that two-thirds (67%) felt "wiser for the experience". Flo and Conway in Snapping described a survey regarding after-cult effects and deprogramming and concluded that people deprogrammed had less problems than people not deprogrammed.: "...Our last block of findings concerned the controversial issue of deprogramming. The numbers confirmed that deprogramming was indeed a vital first step on the road back from cult control. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of the people in our survey were deprogrammed, about half voluntarily and half involuntarily. As a group, they reported a third less, and in many cases only half as many, post-cult effects than those who weren’t deprogrammed. Average rehabilitation time was one-third longer--more than a year and a half--for those who weren’t deprogrammed compared to just over a year for those who were. Overall, deprogrammees reported a third fewer months of depression, forty percent less disorientation, half as many sleepless nights--clearly, something in the process worked! ..." The BBC writes that in a survey done by Jill Mytton on 200 former cult members most of them reported problems adjusting to society and about a third would benefit from some counseling. Burks (2002) in a study comparing Group Psychological Abuse Scale (GPA9 and Neurological Impairment Scale (NIS) scores in 132 former members of cults and cultic relationships found a positive correlation between intensity of thought reform environment as measured by the GPA and cognitive impairment as measured by the NIS. Additional findings were a reduced earning potential in view of the education level which corroborates earlier studies of cult critics ( (Martin 1993; Singer & Ofshe, 1990; West & Martin, 1994) and significant levels of depression and dissociation agreeing with Conway & Siegelman, (1982), Lewis & Bromley, (1987) and Martin, et al. (1992). According to Barret, in many cases the problems do not happen while in a movement, but when leaving a movement which can be difficult for some members and may include a lot of trauma. Reasons for this trauma may include conditioning by the religious movement, avoidance of uncertainties about life and its meaning, having had powerful religious experiences, love for the founder of the religion, emotional investment, fear of losing salvation, bonding with other members, anticipation of the realization that time, money and efforts donated to the group were a waste, and the new freedom with its corresponding responsibilities, especially for people who lived in a community. Those reasons may prevent a member from leaving even if the member realizes that some things in the NRM are wrong. According to Kranenborg, in some religious groups, like the Jehovah's Witnesses, members have all their social contacts within the group, which makes disaffection and disaffiliation very traumatic. According to F. Derks and J. van der Lans there is no uniform post-cult trauma but psychological and social problems upon resignation are not rare but their character and intensity are greatly dependent on the personal history and on the traits of the person, and on the reasons for and way of resignation. See also Shunning

Criticism by former members of purported cults

Allegations against cults come from a variety of sources including parents, relatives and close friends of cult members (who believe their loved one has undergone a personality change for the worse); victims of scams perpetrated by some cults; people who go to a few meetings and then back away out of fear; researchers who carefully study a cult's published literature; persons raised in cults who left after coming of age; and former adult members. Usually the most dramatic allegations as well as the most systematic and detailed ones, will come from adult former members (also known by the pejorative term "apostates" in the writings of so-called cult apologists such as Melton) and in some instances from persons who were raised in the cult. The allegations of former members include sexual abuse by the leader, failed promises and failed prophecy, causing suicides through neglect or abuse, leaders who do not admit nor apologize for mistakes, false irrational or even contradictory teachings, exclusivism, deception in recruitment (by using "front groups"), demands of total immersion in religion at the expense of career, education, family and friends, and more. The role of former members in the controversy surrounding cults, has been widely studied by social scientists. Former members in this context are those individuals who become public opponents against their former movement. The former members' motivations, the roles they play in the anti-cult movement, the validity of their testimony, and the kinds of narratives they construct, are controversial with some scholars who suspect that at least some of the narratives are strongly influenced by the exit-counseling (or formerly of the deprogramming) process, while other scholars conclude that testimonies of former members are at least as accurate as testimonies of current members. See also Apostasy in new religious movements.

Allegations made by scholars and skeptics

- False, irrational or even contradictory teaching made by David C. Lane with regards to Paul Twitchell
- False miracles performed or endorsed by the leadership, made by the skeptics Abraham Kovoor, H. Narasimhaiah, and Basava Premanand for a variety of gurus and fakirs;
- Discouraging regular medical care but instead relying on faith healing, made by the magazine salon.com with regards to Christian Science;
- Plagiarism, allegations made by David C. Lane;
- Incitement to anti-Semitism and other forms of hate, as documented in the writings of Dennis King;
- Child abuse, for example subjecting blindfolded children to many hours of meditation, as documented by Dr. David C. Lane with regards to Thakar Singh.
- Forced labour and confinement of members made by Stephen A. Kent regarding Scientology .

Other allegations

- Harassment and ad hominem attacks on critics: Allegations regarding the use of such tactics have been made against Scientology, the Lyndon LaRouche organization, and the now defunct Synanon drug-treatment cult.

Prevalence of purported cults

By one measure, between 3,000 and 5,000 purported cults existed in the United States in 1995. While some of the more well-known and influential of these groups are frequently labelled as cults, the majority of these groups vigorously protest the label and refuse to be classified as such, and often expend great efforts in public relations campaigns to rid themselves of the stigma associated with of the term cult. In order to maintain a neutral point of view, a list of purported cults presents a listing of groups labeled as cults by various non-related, reasonably unbiased sources.

Cults and governments

For the main article, see Cults and governments In many countries there exists a separation of church and state and freedom of religion. Governments of some of these countries, concerned with possible abuses by cults, have taken restrictive measures against some of their activities. Those measures were generally motivated by various crimes committed by a string of murderous incidents involving doomsday cults circa 1995. Critics of such measures claim that the counter-cult movement and the anti-cult movement have succeeded in influencing governments in transferring the public's abhorrence of doomsday cults and make the generalization that it is directed against all small or new religious movements without discrimination. The critique is countered by stressing, that the measures are directed not against any religious beliefs but specifically against groups whom they see as inimical to the public order due to their totalitarianism, violations of fundamental liberties, inordinate emphasis on finances, disregard for appropriate medical care. There exists a controversy regarding religious tolerance between the United States and several European countries, especially France and Germany that have taken legal measures directed against cultic groups which violate human rights. The 2004 annual report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom states that these initiatives have "...fueled an atmosphere of intolerance toward members of minority religions in France". On the other hand, the countries confronted with such allegations see the United States attitude towards NMRs as lack of responsibility of the state regarding the wellbeing of its citizens, especially concerning children and incapacitated persons, and claim that the interference of the United States in their internal affairs is at least partially due to lobbying of cults and cult apologists with the United States government.

External links

- [http://www.apologeticsindex.org/ Apologetics Index: research resources on cults, sects, and related issues] Large website published by Anton Hein, who operates from an evangelical Christian point of view, but offers a variety of viewpoints.
- [http://www.cesnur.org/ Homepage of CESNUR] See CESNUR (a network of scholars working in the field of NRMs)
- [http://www.cultawarenessnetwork.org/ Cult Awareness Network] website of the Cult Awareness Network affiliated with Scientology
- [http://www.americanreligion.org/cultwtch/index.html "Cult Watch"] led by J. Gordon Melton.
- [http://www.csj.org/ Cultic Studies: Information about Cults and Psychological Manipulation] Scholarly articles, group descriptions and news by the International Cultic Studies Association
- [http://www.math.mcgill.ca/triples/infocult/ic-e1.html Info cult]
- [http://www.religioustolerance.org/ Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance] - an extensive library of articles and essays promoting religious understanding, tolerance and freedom.
- [http://www.rickross.com/ The Rick A. Ross Institute for the study of Destructive Cults, controversial groups and movements] Rick Ross' extensive website, contains groups database with media articles
- [http://www.skepsis.nl/onlinetexts.html Dutch Skeptics Society: Online papers, articles and books about Cults, New Religious Movements, and the Social Scientific Study of Religion]
- [http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu University of Virginia Religious Movements Homepage] Extensive website with entries on definitions, controversies and many religious groups, by the late sociologist Jeffrey Hadden now edited by Douglas E. Cowan (some entries on individual religious groups have not been updated since 2001 and sometimes contain factual mistakes)
- [http://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Cult "Cult"] Defense of the term "cult" to describe the Children of God
- [http://www.addbible.com/search.php?version=tbl_bib_srv&books=45&keyword=12%3A1&rbtn=4] Romans 12:1 explains "cult".

Bibliography

Books

- Bromley, David et al.: Cults, Religion, and Violence, 2002, ISBN 0521668980
- Melton, Gordon: Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America, 1992, ISBN 0815311400
- House, Wayne: Charts of Cults, Sects, and Religious Movements, 2000, ISBN 0310385512
- Lalich, Janja: Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults, 2004, ISBN 0520240189
- Landau Tobias, Madeleine et al. : Captive Hearts, Captive Minds, 1994, ISBN 0897931440
- Martin, Walter et al.: The Kingdom of the Cults, 2003, ISBN 0764228218
- Oakes, Len: Prophetic Charisma: The Psychology of Revolutionary Religious Personalities, 1997, ISBN 0815603983 [http://www.enlightenmentblues.com/chapter2.html Excerpts]
- Singer, Margaret Thaler: Cults in Our Midst : The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace, 1992, ISBN 0787967416 [http://www.forum8.org/forum8/singer/singer_cults.htm Excerpts]
- Tourish, Dennis: On the Edge: Political Cults Right and Left, 2000, ISBN 0765606399
- Zablocki, Benjamin et al.: Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field, 2001, ISBN 0802081886
- Barker, E. (1989) New Religious Movements: A Practical Introduction, London, HMSO
- Enroth, Ronald. (1992) Churches that Abuse, Zondervan, ISBN 0310532906
Articles

- Langone, Michael: Cults: Questions and Answers [http://www.csj.org/infoserv_articles/langone_michael_cultsqa.htm ]
- Lifton, Robert Jay: Cult Formation, The Harvard Mental Health Letter, February 1991 [http://www.csj.org/infoserv_articles/lifton_robert.htm]
- Moyers. Jim: Psychological Issues of Former Members of Restrictive Religious Groups [http://home.earthlink.net/%7Ejcmmsm/article/index.html]
- Richmond, Lee J. :When Spirituality Goes Awry: Students in Cults, Professional School Counseling, June 2004 [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0KOC/is_5_7/ai_n6121244]
- Rogge. Michael: On the psychology of spiritual movements[http://www.xs4all.nl/~wichm/psymove.html ]
- Shaw, Daniel: Traumatic abuse in cults [http://members.aol.com/shawdan/essay.htm ]
- Rosedale, Herbert et al.: On Using the Term "Cult" [http://www.csj.org/infoserv_articles/langone_michael_term_cult.htm]
- Van Hoey, Sara: Cults in Court The Los Angeles Lawyer, February 1991 [http://www.csj.org/infoserv_articles/van_hoey_sara_cults_in_court.htm]
- Zimbardo, Philip: What messages are behind today's cults?, American Psychological Association Monitor, May 1997 [http://www.csj.org/infoserv_articles/zimbardo_philip_messeges.htm]
- Aronoff, Jodi; Lynn, Steven Jay; Malinosky, Peter. Are cultic environments psychologically harmful?, Clinical Psychology Review, 2000, Vol. 20 #1 pp. 91-111
- Rothstein, Mikael, Hagiography and Text in the Aetherius Society: Aspects of the Social Construction of a Religious Leader, an article which appeared in the book New Religions in a Postmodern World edited by Mikael Rothstein and Reender Kranenborg, RENNER Studies in New religions, Aarhus University press, ISBN 8-772887-48-6
References

- William Chambers, Michael Langone, Arthur Dole & James Grice, The Group Psychological Abuse Scale: A Measure of the Varieties of Cultic Abuse, Cultic Studies Journal, 11(1), 1994. The definition of a cult given above is based on a study of 308 former members of 101 groups.
- Barker, E. The Ones Who Got Away: People Who Attend Unification Church Workshops and Do Not Become Moonies. In: Barker E, ed. Of Gods and Men: New Religious Movements in the West. Macon, Ga. : Mercer University Press; 1983. ISBN 0865540950
- Galanter M. Unification Church ('Moonie') dropouts: psychological readjustment after leaving a charismatic religious group, American Journal of Psychiatry. 1983;140(8):984-989.
- Singer, M with Lalich, J (1995). Cults in Our Midst, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0787900516
- West, L. J., & Langone, M. D. (1985). Cultism: A conference for scholars and policy makers. Summary of proceedings of the Wingspread conference on cultism, September 9–11. Weston, MA: American Family Foundation.
- Barrett, D. V. The New Believers - A survey of sects, cults and alternative religions 2001 UK, Cassell & Co. ISBN 0304355925
- Barker, E. (1984), The Making of a Moonie, p.147, Oxford: Basil Blackwell. ISBN 0631132465
- Galanter, Marc M.D.(Editor), (1989), Cults and new religious movements: a report of the committee on psychiatry and religion of the American Psychiatric Association, ISBN 0-89042-212-5
- Hadden, Jeffrey K. SOC 257: New Religious Movements Lectures, University of Virginia, Department of Sociology.
- Bader, Chris & A. Demaris, A test of the Stark-Bainbridge theory of affiliation with religious cults and sects. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 35, 285-303. (1996)
- Hadden, J and Bromley, D eds. (1993), The Handbook of Cults and Sects in America. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, Inc., pp. 75-97.
- Kranenborg, Reender Dr. (Dutch language) Sekten ... gevaarlijk of niet?/Cults... dangerous or not? published in the magazine Religieuze bewegingen in Nederland/Religious movements in the Netherlands nr. 31 Sekten II by the Free university Amsterdam (1996) ISSN 0169-7374 ISBN 90-5383-426
- F. Derks and the professor of psychology of religion Jan van der Lans The post-cult syndrome: Fact or Fiction?, paper presented at conference of Psychologists of Religion, Catholic University Nijmegen, 1981, also appeared in Dutch language as Post-cult-syndroom; feit of fictie?, published in the magazine Religieuze bewegingen in Nederland/Religious movements in the Netherlands nr. 6 pages 58-75 published by the Free university Amsterdam (1983)
- Dr. Zablocki, Benjamin [http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~zablocki/] Paper presented to a conference, Cults: Theory and Treatment Issues, May 31, 1997 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- Duhaime, Jean (Université de Montréal), Les Témoigagnes de Convertis et d'ex-Adeptes (English: The testimonies of converts and former followers, an article which appeared in the book New Religions in a Postmodern World edited by Mikael Rothstein and Reender Kranenborg, RENNER Studies in New religions, Aarhus University press, 2003, ISBN 8772887486
- Amy Ryan: New Religions and the Anti-Cult Movement: Online Resource Guide in Social Sciences (2000) [http://rand.pratt.edu/~giannini/newreligions.html#Definitions]
- Carter, Lewis, F. Lewis, Carriers of Tales: On Assessing Credibility of Apostate and Other Outsider Accounts of Religious Practices published in the book The Politics of Religious Apostasy: The Role of Apostates in the Transformation of Religious Movements edited by David G. Bromley Westport, CT, Praeger Publishers, (1998). ISBN 0-275-95508-7
- Johnson, Daniel Carson (1998) Apostates Who Never were: the Social Construction of Absque Facto Apostate Narratives, published in the book The Politics of Religious Apostasy: The Role of Apostates in the Transformation of Religious Movements edited by David G. Bromley Westport, CT, Praeger Publishers, (1998). ISBN 0-275-95508-7
- Barker, E. (2001), Watching for Violence: A Comparative Analysis of the Roles of Five Types of Cult-Watching Groups, [http://www.cesnur.org/2001/london2001/barker.htm availible online]
- Richardson, James T. (1989) The Psychology of Induction: A Review and Interpretation, article that appeared in the book edited by Marc Galanter M.D. (1989) Cults and new religious movements: a report of the committee on psychiatry and religion of the American Psychiatric Association ISBN 0-89042-212-5
- Hall, John R. and Philip Schuyler (1998), Apostasy, Apocalypse, and religious violence: An Exploratory comparison of Peoples Temple, the Branch Davidians, and the Solar Temple, in the book The Politics of Religious Apostasy: The Role of Apostates in the Transformation of Religious Movements edited by David G. Bromley Westport, CT, Praeger Publishers, (1998). ISBN 0-275-95508-7, page 145 "The tendency to treat Peoples Temple as the cultus classicus headed by Jim Jones, psychotic megaliomanic par excellence is still with us, like most myths, because it has a grain of truth to it. "
- McLemee, Scott Rethinking Jonestown on the salon.com website "If Jones' People's Temple wasn't a cult, then the term has no meaning." [h

Scriptures

Many religions and spiritual movements believe that their sacred texts (or scriptures) are the "Word of God", often feeling that the texts are wholly divine or spiritually inspired in origin. Even non-believers often capitalize the names of sacred scriptures as a mark of respect or tradition. Although ancient civilizations have produced handmade texts for thousands of years, the first printed scripture for wide distribution to the masses was The Diamond Sutra, a Buddhist scripture, printed in the year AD 868.

Texts

Sacred texts of various religions:
- Ásatrú
- The Poetic Edda, including especially the Hávamál
- The Younger Edda
- Ayyavazhi
- The Akilattirattu Ammanai
- The Arul Nool
- Bahá'í Faith
- The Kitáb-i-Aqdas
- Kitáb-i-Íqán
- and many other writings including ones from other faiths
- Buddhism
- The Tipitaka or Pali canon
- and other Buddhist texts
- Christianity - The Bible (also referred to as the Holy Writ)
- Catholicism
- The Bible, The Apocrypha
- Mormonism
- The Bible
- Book of Mormon
- Pearl of Great Price
- Doctrine and Covenants
- Confucianism
- The Analects of Confucius
- also The I Ching
- Discordianism
- The Principia Discordia although this may not be true for every sect.
- Falun Gong
- The Zhuan Falun
- Hinduism
- Veda
- Shruti
- Smriti, particularly the Bhagavad Gita
- Islam
- The Qur'an
- Ahadith
- Jainism
- Tattvartha Sutra
- Judaism
- The Hebrew Bible (Tanakh = Torah)
- Nevi'im
- Ketuvim)
- Mandaeanism
- The Ginza Rba
- Manichaeism
- The Arzhang
- Mohism
- The Mozi
- Various New Age religions may regard any of the following texts as inspired:
- A Course in Miracles (ACIM)
- Conversations with God
- The Urantia Book
- Oahspe
- Swedenborgianism
- The Bible
- The writings of Emanuel Swedenborg
- Some also consider a number of posthumously published manuscripts of Swedenborg to also be sacred.
- Rastafari movement
- The Bible
- the Holy Piby
- Samaritanism
- The Samaritan Pentateuch
- Satanism
- The Satanic Bible
- Sikhism
- The Guru Granth Sahib
- The Dasam Granth Sahib
- Taoism
- The Tao-te-ching
- The I Ching
- Thelema
- The Holy Books of Thelema especially Liber Al vel Legis
- Zoroastrianism
- The Zend-Avesta

Views

Attitudes to sacred texts differ. Some religions make written texts widely freely available, while others hold that sacred secrets must remain hidden from all but the loyal and the initiate. Most religions promulgate policies defining the limits of the sacred texts and controlling or forbidding changes and additions. Translations of texts may receive official blessing, but an original sacred language often has de facto, absolute or exclusive paramouncy. Some religions make texts available gratis or in subsidised form; others require payment and the strict observance of copyright. References to scriptures profit from standardisation: the Guru Granth Sahib (of Sikhism) always appears with standardised page numbering while the Abrahamic religions and their offshoots appear to favour chapter and verse pointers.

External links

- [http://www.sacred-texts.com/index.htm Sacred-texts] ja:聖典

Myth

The word mythology (from the Greek μυολογία mythología, from μυολογειν mythologein to relate myths, from μυος mythos, meaning a narrative, and λογος logos, meaning speech or argument) literally means the (oral) retelling of myths – stories that a particular culture believes to be true and that use the supernatural to interpret natural events and to explain the nature of the universe and humanity. The modern definition of mythology primarily the body of myths from a particular culture or religion, as in Greek mythology, Egyptian mythology or Norse mythology. Mythology is also the branch of knowledge dealing with the collection, study and interpretation of myths.

What is mythology?

Myths are generally narratives passed down traditionally intended to explain the universal and local beginnings ("creation myths" and "founding myths"), natural phenomena, inexplicable cultural conventions, and anything else for which no simple explanation presents itself. Not all myths need have this explicatory purpose, however. Myths are by definition sacred, and involve a supernatural force or deity. Many legends and narratives passed down orally from generation to generation have mythic content. In common parlance, a myth is generally considered a "mere story" — that is, a story that holds meaning for people, but the core of which is untrue. In folkloristics, which is concerned with the study of both secular and sacred narratives (the latter being myths), a myth also derives some of its power from being believed and deeply held as true; to folklorists, all sacred traditions have myths, and there is nothing pejorative or dismissive about the term as there is in common usage. This broader truth runs deeper than the advent of critical history which may, or may not, exist as in an authoritative written form which becomes "the story" (Preliterate oral traditions may vanish as the written word becomes "the story" and the literate become "the authority"). However, as Lucien Lévy-Bruhl puts it, "The primitive mentality is a condition of the human mind, and not a stage in its historical development." (Mâche 1992, p.8) Most often the term refers specifically to ancient tales from very old cultures, such as Greek mythology or Roman mythology. Some myths descended originally as part of an oral tradition and were only later written down, and many of them exist in multiple versions. According to the eighth chapter of F. W. J. Schelling's Introduction to Philosophy and Mythology, "Mythological representations have been neither invented nor freely accepted. The products of a process independent of thought and will, they were, for the consciousness which underwent them, of an irrefutable and incontestable reality. Peoples and individuals are only the instruments of this process, which goes beyond their horizon and which they serve without understanding."

Religion and mythology

Mythology figures prominently in most religions, and most mythology is tied to at least one religion. Some use the words myth and mythology to portray the stories of one or more religions as false, or dubious at best. While nearly all dictionaries include this definition, "myth" does not always imply that a story is either false or true. The term is most often used in this sense to describe religions founded by ancient societies whose belief systems are nearly extinct. However, it is important to keep in mind that while some view myths as merely stories, others may hold them as a religion. By extension, many people do not regard the tales surrounding the origin and development of modern dominant religions as literal accounts of events, but instead regard them as figurative representations of their belief systems. Many modern day rabbis and priests within the more liberal Jewish and Christian movements, as well as most Neopagans, have no problem viewing their religious texts as containing myth. They see their sacred texts as indeed containing religious truths, divinely inspired but delivered in the language of mankind. Others separate their beliefs out from the similar stories of other cultures and refer to them as history. These people object to the use of the word myth to describe what they believe. For the purposes of this article, therefore, the word mythology is used to refer to stories that, while they may or may not be strictly factual, reveal fundamental truths and insights about human nature, often through the use of archetypes. Also, the stories discussed express the viewpoints and beliefs of the country, time period, culture, and/or religion which gave birth to them. One can speak of a Jewish mythology, a Christian mythology, or an Islamic mythology, in which one describes the mythic elements within these faiths without speaking to the veracity of the faith's tenets or claims about its history.

Classifications

Ritual myths explain the performance of a certain religious practices or patterns and associated with temples or centers of worship. Origin myths describe the beginnings of a custom, name or object. Cult myths are often seen as explanations for elaborate festivals that magnify the power of the deity. Prestige myths are usually associated with a divinely chosen hero, city, or people. Eschatological myths are stories which describe catastrophic ends to the present world order of the writers. These extend beyond any potential historical scope, and thus can only be described in mythic terms. Some myths fit in more than one category. Apocalyptic literature such as The Revelation of St. John the Divine is an example of a set of eschatological myths.

Related concepts

A fairy tale itself is not a myth. Myths are not the same as fables, legends, folktales, fairy tales, anecdotes or fiction, but sloppy usage has blurred the distinctions in many people's minds. The term myth is sometimes used pejoratively in reference to common beliefs of a culture or for the beliefs of a religion to imply that the story is both fanciful and fictional. Myth is often used to refer to a commonly held but erroneous belief or a misconception. Other examples of stories that are not mythology but are frequently confused with myth:
- Philosophical allegory
- Sentimental or moral fable, parable or anecdote
- Cupid and Psyche
- Prodigal Son
- Cornelia's jewels
- Romance
- Cultural propaganda
- Betsy Ross
- "Rationalized" explications of myths that are no longer understood
- This is an approach attributed to Euhemerus
- Heroic saga and epic
- Narrative drama
- Enriched history
- Song of Roland

Formation of myths

What forces create myths? Robert Graves said of Greek myth: "True myth may be defined as the reduction to narrative shorthand of ritual mime performed on public festivals, and in many cases recorded pictorially." (The Greek Myths, Introduction). Graves was deeply influenced, perhaps too strongly, by Sir James George Frazer's mythography The Golden Bough, and he would have agreed that myths are generated by many cultural needs (more on the forces that generate myth is needed). Myths authorize the cultural institutions of a tribe, a city, or a nation by connecting them with universal truths. Myths justify the current occupation of a territory by a people, for instance. All cultures have developed over time their own myths, consisting of narratives of their history, their religions, and their heroes. The great power of the symbolic meaning of these stories for the culture is a major reason why they survive as long as they do, sometimes for thousands of years. Mâche (1992, p.20) distinguishes between "myth, in the sense of this primary psychic image, with some kind of mytho-logy, or a system of words trying with varying success to ensure a certain coherence between these images. A collection of myths is called a mythos, e.g. 'the Roman mythos.' A collection of those is called a mythoi, e.g. 'the Greek and Roman mythoi.' One notable type is the creation myth, which describes how that culture believes the universe was created. Another is the Trickster myth, which concerns itself with the pranks or tricks played by gods or heroes. Joseph Campbell was considered by some to be the world's leading authority on myth and the history of spirituality. Roger Caillois (1972) contrasts myths of situations determined from outside by historical events with myths of heroes determined from inside by their psychic life. However Mâche (1992, p.10) argues that, "on this level he [Caillois] refers only to the presentation of images in the form of stories, which in themselves are more ancient than stories, not yet submitted to this kind of distinction."

Myths as depictions of historical events

Although myths are often considered to be accounts of events that have not happened, many historians consider that myths can also be accounts of actual events that have become highly imbued with symbolic meaning, or that have been transformed, shifted in time or place, or even reversed. One way of conceptualizing this process is to view 'myths' as lying at the far end of a continuum ranging from a 'dispassionate account' to 'legendary occurrence' to 'mythical status'. As an event progresses towards the mythical end of this continuum, what people think, feel and say about the event takes on progressively greater historical significance while the facts become less important. By the time one reaches the mythical end of the spectrum the story has taken on a life of its own and the facts of the original event have become almost irrelevant. This method or technique of interpreting myths as accounts of actual events, euhemerist exegesis, dates from antiguity and can be traced back (from Spencer) to Evhémère's Histoire sacrée (300 BCE) which describes the inhabitants of the island of Panchaia, Everything-Good, in the Indian Ocean as normal people deified by popular naivety. As Roland Barthes affirms, "Myth is a word chosen by history. It could not come from the nature of things" (Mâche 1992, p.20). This process occurs in part because the events described become detached from their original context and new context is substituted, often through analogy with current or recent events. Some Greek myths originated in Classical times to provide explanations for inexplicable features of local cult practices, to account for the local epithet of one of the Olympian gods, to interpret depictions of half-remembered figures, events, or account for the deities' attributes or entheogens, even to make sense of ancient icons, much as myths are invented to "explain" heraldic charges, the origins of which has become arcane with the passing of time. Conversely, descriptions of recent events are re-emphasised to make them seem to be analogous with the commonly known story. This technique has been used by some religious conservatives in America with text from the Bible, notably referencing the many prophecies in the Book of Revelation. It was also used during the Russian Communist era in propaganda about political situations with misleading references to class struggles. Until World War II the fitness of the Emperor of Japan was linked to his mythical descent from the Shinto sun goddess, Amaterasu. Mâche (1992, p.10) argues that euhemerist exegesis, "was applied to capture and seize by force of reason qualities of thought, which eluded it on every side." This process, he argues, often leads to interpretation of myths as "disguised propaganda in the service of powerful individuals," and that the purpose of myths in this view is to allow the "social order" to establish "its permanence on the illusion of a natural order." He argues against this interpretation, saying that "what puts an end to this caricature of certain speeches from May 1968 is, among other things, precisely the fact that roles are not distributed once and for all in myths, as would be the case if they were a variant of the idea of an 'opium of the people.'" Contra Barthes (quote above) Mâche (1992) argues that, "myth therefore seems to choose history, rather than be chosen by it" (p.21), "beyond words and stories, myth seems more like a psychic content from which words, gestures, and musics radiate. History only chooses for it more or less becoming clothes. And these contents surge forth all the more vigorously from the nature of things when reason tries to repress them. Whatever the roles and commentaries with which such and such a socio-historic movement decks out the mythic image, the latter lives a largely autonomous life which continually fascinates humanity. To denounce archaism only makes sense as a function of a 'progressive' ideology, which itself begins to show a certain archaism and an obvious naivety." (p.20)

Other theories

"For Lévi-Strauss, myth is a structured system of signifiers, whose internal networks of relationships are used to 'map' the structure of other sets of relationships; the 'content' is infinitely variable and relatively unimportant." (Middleton 1990, p.222) A modern interpretation of myths, primarily as indicators of astrononomical events, has been put forward in such works as Hamlet's Mill: An Essay Investigating the Origins of Human Knowledge And It's Transmission Through Myth by Giorgio De Santillana, Hertha Von Dechend (ISBN: 0879232153), and serves as a counterpoint to numerous Jungian (often psychological or mystical) interpretations as put forward by Joseph Campbell. Catastrophists such as Immanuel Velikovsky believe that myths are derived from the oral histories of ancient cultures that witnessed cosmic catastrophes. For example, Velikovsky believes the dragon represented a fiery cosmic object such as a comet. Believers in catastrophism are only a small minority within the field of mythology.

Modern mythology

Film and book series like Star Wars and Tarzan have strong mythological aspects that sometimes develop into deep and intricate philosophical systems. These items are not mythology, but contain mythic themes that, for some people, meet the same psychological needs. An excellent example is that developed by J. R. R. Tolkien in The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings. Fiction, however, does not reach the level of actual mythology until people believe that it really happened. For example, some people believe that fiction author Clive Barker's Candyman was based upon a true story, and new stories have grown up around the figure. The same can be said for the Blair Witch and many other stories. Mythology is alive and well in the modern age through urban legends, New Age beliefs, certain aspects of religion and so forth. In the 1950s Roland Barthes published a series of essays examining modern myths and the process of their creation in his book Mythologies. Swiss psychologist Carl Jung (1873-1961) and his followers also tried to understand the psychology behind world myths.

Myths by region

Mythological archetypes

- culture hero
- Earth Mother
- first man or woman
- hero
- life-death-rebirth deity
- lunar deity
- psychopomp
- sky father
- solar deity
- trickster
- underworld

Mythological creatures

- legendary creature
- list of species in folklore and mythology
- list of species in folklore and mythology by type
- list of species in fantasy fiction

Books on mythology

- Bulfinch's Mythology by Thomas Bulfinch
- The Golden Bough by James George Frazer
- The Hero with a Thousand Faces and other titles by Joseph Campbell
- Mythology by Edith Hamilton
- Mythology by Anne Birrell

References

- Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Princeton University Press, 1949.
- Mircea Eliade. Cosmos and History: The Myth of the Eternal Return. Princeton University Press, 1954.
- Charles H. Long, Alpha: The Myths of Creation. George Braziller, 1963.
- Kees W. Bolle, The Freedom of Man in Myth. Vanderbilt University Press, 1968.
- Elliot Aronson, Timothy D. Wilson, Robin M. Akert, Social Psychology. Addison-Wesley, 1997.
- Mâche, François-Bernard (1983, 1992). Music, Myth and Nature, or The Dolphins of Arion (Musique, mythe, nature, ou les Dauphins d'Arion, trans. Susan Delaney). Harwood Academic Publishers. ISBN 3718653214.
- Caillois, Roger (1972). Le mythe et l'homme. Gallimard.
- Lévi-Bruhl, Lucian.
- Schelling. Introduction to Philosophy and Mythology.
- Middleton, Richard (1990/2002). Studying Popular Music. Philadelphia: Open University Press. ISBN 0335152759.
- Santillana and Von Dechend (1969, 1992 re-issue). "Hamlet's Mill: An Essay Investigating the Origins of Human Knowledge And Its Transmission Through Myth", Harvard University Press. ISBN: 0879232153.

External links

- [http://www.pantheon.org/mythica.html Encyclopedia Mythica] Comprehensive encyclopedia of mythology, folklore, and legend; covers deities, heroes and mythical beasts.
- [http://www.godchecker.com Godchecker] Easy-to-use searchable encyclopedia of gods and goddesses from around the world; currently has over 2,500 gods listed, including many obscure deities.
- [http://ericdigests.org/1996-4/mythic.htm Using Mythic-Archetypal Approaches in the Language Arts. ERIC Digest.]
- [http://www.mythology.com/ www.mythology.com] Information about myths, legends and folklore, as well as a message board.
- [http://www.folkstory.com/articles/onceupon.html How Fairy Tales Shape Our Lives] ko:신화 ja:神話 th:ปุราณวิทยา

Impiety

Impiety is a lack of proper concern for the obligations owed to cult in its proper sense. Impiety was a main pagan objection to Christianity, for unlike other initiates into mystery religions, Christians refused to cast a pinch of incense before the images of the gods, among whom were the protective deified Emperors. Impiety was a civic concern, for it could bring down upon the whole res publica the wrath of the tutelary gods who protected the polis. Sin was an alien concept to the Greeks and Romans. When Aramaic had to be translated into Greek in editing the New Testament, the Greek word hamartia came to be used. Hamartia ("missing the mark") is only very approximately translated as "sin."

Culture

:For other uses of Culture or Cultures, see Culture (disambiguation) The word culture, from the Latin root colere (to inhabit, to cultivate, or to honor), generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. Different definitions of "culture" reflect different theoretical orientations for understanding, or criteria for valuing, human activity. Anthropologists most commonly use the term "culture" to refer to the universal human capacity to classify, codify and communicate their experiences symbolically. This capacity is a defining feature of the genus Homo.

Defining culture

Different definitions of culture reflect different theories for understanding - or criteria for valuing - human activity. Sir Edward B. Tylor wrote in 1871 that "culture or civilization, taken in its wide ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society", while a 2002 document from the United Nations agency UNESCO states that culture is the "set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group, and that it encompasses, in addition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs". http://www.unesco.org/education/imld_2002/unversal_decla.shtml UNESCO, 2002 While these two definitions range widely, they do not exhaust the many uses of this concept - in 1952 Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of more than 200 different definitions of culture in their book, Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions [Kroeber and Kluckhohn, 1952].

Culture as civilization

Many people today use a conception of "culture" that developed in Europe during the 18th and early 19th centuries. This idea of culture then reflected inequalities within European societies, and between European powers and their colonies around the world. It identifies "culture" with "civilization" and contrasts the combined concept with "nature". According to this thinking, one can classify some countries as more civilized than others, and some people as more cultured than others. Thus some cultural theorists have actually tried to eliminate popular or mass culture from the definition of culture. Theorists like Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) or the Leavises regard culture as simply the result of "the best that has been thought and said in the world” (Arnold, 1960: 6), thus labeling anything that doesn't fit into this category as chaos or anarchy. On this account, culture links closely with social cultivation: the progressive refinement of human behavior. Arnold consistently uses the word this way: "...culture being a pursuit of our total perfection by means of getting to know, on all the matters which most concern us, the best which has been thought and said in the world". http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/nonfiction_u/arnoldm_ca/ca_all.html Arnold, 1882 In practice, culture referred to élite goods and activities such as haute cuisine, high fashion or haute couture, museum-caliber art and classical music, and the word cultured described people who knew about, and took part in, these activities. For example, someone who used 'culture' in the sense of 'cultivation' might argue that classical music "is" more refined than music produced by working-class people such as punk rock or than the indigenous music traditions of aboriginal peoples of Australia. People who use "culture" in this way tend not to use it in the plural as "cultures". They do not believe that distinct cultures exist, each with their own internal logic and values; but rather that only a single standard of refinement suffices, against which one can measure all groups. Thus, according to this worldview, people with different customs from those who regard themselves as cultured do not usually count as "having a different culture"; but class as "uncultured". People lacking "culture" often seemed more "natural", and observers often defended (or criticized) elements of high culture for repressing "human nature". From the 18th century onwards, some social critics have accepted this contrast between cultured and uncultured, but have stressed the interpretation of refinement and of sophistication as corrupting and unnatural developments which obscure and distort people's essential nature. On this account, folk music (as produced by working-class people) honestly expresses a natural way of life, and classical music seems superficial and decadent. Equally, this view often portrays non-Western people as 'noble savages' living authentic unblemished lives, uncomplicated and uncorrupted by the highly-stratified capitalist systems of the West. Today most social scientists reject the monadic conception of culture, and the opposition of culture to nature. They recognize non-élites as just as cultured as élites (and non-Westerners as just as civilized) - simply regarding them as just cultured in a different way. Thus social observers contrast the "high" culture of élites to "popular" or pop culture, meaning goods and activities produced for, and consumed by, non-élite people or the masses. (Note that some classifications relegate both high and low cultures to the status of subcultures.)

Culture as worldview

During the Romantic era, scholars in Germany, especially those concerned with nationalist movements - such as the nationalist struggle to create a "Germany" out of diverse principalities, and the nationalist struggles by ethnic minorities against the Austro-Hungarian Empire - developed a more inclusive notion of culture as "worldview". In this mode of thought, a distinct and incommensurable world view characterizes each ethnic group. Although more inclusive than earlier views, this approach to culture still allowed for distinctions between "civilized" and "primitive" or "tribal" cultures. By the late 19th century, anthropologists had adopted and adapted the term culture to a broader definition that they could apply to a wider variety of societies. Attentive to the theory of evolution, they assumed that all human beings evolved equally, and that the fact that all humans have cultures must in some way result from human evolution. They also showed some reluctance to use biological evolution to explain differences betwee

Cult (religion)

See also

Cult

Definitions of "cult"

Definition of "cult" in dictionaries

Definition by the Christian countercult movement

Definition by secular cult opposition

Points of view regarding definitions

Cult, NRM and the sociology and psychology of religion

Methodological issues and challenges

Christianity and Cults

Cults and terrorism

Theories about the reasons for joining a cult

Cult leadership

Development of cults

Relationships with the outside world

Cults: genuine concerns and exaggerations

Stigmatization and discrimination

Leaving a cult

Criticism by former members of purported cults

Allegations made by scholars and skeptics

Other allegations

Prevalence of purported cults

Cults and governments

See also

External links

Bibliography

Books

Articles

References

Scriptures

Texts

Views

External links

Myth

What is mythology?

Religion and mythology

Classifications

Related concepts

Formation of myths

Myths as depictions of historical events

Other theories

Modern mythology

Myths by region

Africa

Asia (non-Middle East)

Australia and Oceania

Europe

Middle East

North America

South America and Mesoamerica

Mythological archetypes

Mythological creatures

Books on mythology

See also

References

External links

Impiety

See also

Culture

Defining culture

Culture as civilization

Culture as worldview