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Cult ChecklistSeveral cult checklists of "cult behavior" have been circulated by members of the anti-cult movement. These lists differ by their sources, the terminology they use, and how they group the behaviors they indentify. In most cases the purported aim of the list is to identify new religious movements and other groups that the anti-cult movement believes will likely abuse, exploit or otherwise harm its members. The creators of these lists do not explain how they created the list and do not claim that this has been done following scholarly or scientific standards. A few lists have been created by social scientists and scholars who claim to have based their lists on scholarly or empirical research to predict dangerous situations. See also Definitions of cult. Eileen Barker A checklist, allegedly based on empirical research, was made by professor Eileen Barker, in which traits of groups that can evolve to be dangerous are described. These traits include: - A movement that separates itself from society, either geographically or socially;
- Adherents who become increasingly dependent on the movement for their view on reality;
- Important decisions in the lives of the adherents are made by others;
- Making sharp distinctions between us and them, divine and satanic, good and evil, etc. that are not open for discussion;
- Leader who claim divine authority for their deeds and for their orders to their followers;
- Leader and movements who are unequivocally focused on achieving a certain goal.
Steve Eichel In his "Building Resistance to Manipulation", the psychologist Steve K.D. Eichel created a checklist of signs of a sect designed to brainwash its members into loyal followers: - Isolate them in new surroundings apart from old friends or reference-points;
- Provide them with instant acceptance from a seemingly loving group;
- Keep them away from competing or critical ideas;
- Provide an authority figure that everyone seems to acknowledge as having some special skill or awareness;
- Provide a philosophy that seems logical and appears to answer all or the most important questions in life;
- Structure all or most activities so that there is little time for privacy or independent action or thought, provide a sense of "us" versus "them";
- Promise instant or imminent solutions to deep or long-term problems;
- Employ covert or disguised hypnotic techniques.
James Lewis In a web essay, a person named James R. Lewis describes a number of properties he would expect a dangerous sect to have: - The organization is willing to place itself above the law. With the exceptions noted earlier (in the full document linked below), this is probably the most important characteristic;
- The leadership dictates (rather than suggests) important personal (as opposed to spiritual) details of followers' lives, such as whom to marry, what to study in college, etc.;
- The leader sets forth ethical guidelines members must follow but from which the leader is exempt;
- The group is preparing to fight a literal, physical Armageddon against other human beings;
- The leader regularly makes public assertions that he or she knows is false and/or the group has a policy of routinely deceiving outsiders.
See also References - Steve K.D. Eichel. "Building Resistance to Manipulation". The Journal of Professional & Ethical Hypnosis, 1, (Summer 1985), pp. 34-44.
- Lewis, James. Common Signs of Destructive Cults. Available online
Bibliography
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