Cults Essay -- essays research papers fc

The word cult is defined as an alternative religion. Most cults are started because someone doesnt like the way the world is, and feels that his/her church isnt doing anything to make it better, so they leave and create what they believe to be the perfect religion. Then this person strives to make opposites believe as they do so they entrust join (Miller, 1991, p. 15). There are somewhere around 3,000 to 5,000 of these cults through unwrap the United States, but only 75 to 100 are documented (Miller, 1991, p. 15-16). Satanism is the oldest compliance of such cults. A few other commonly dwelln cults are Reverend Jim Jones and the People Temple, Heavens Gate, and Charles Manson and the Family.In the early 20th century, Allistar Crowly, AKA The Black pontiff, started modern Satanism. It is said that Anton Lavey brought Satanism to the United States. Anton believed that he was the reincarnation of the Black Pope. He set his church up in San Francisco in 1966. inwardly one year Ant ons cult grew to more than 200,000 members (Miller, 1991, p. 28-29). Anton then went to Hollywood to help make movies about Satanism. He succeeded in doing so and was involved with the reservation of many movies including Rosmarys Baby (Miller, 1991, p. 29). During this time Lavey and his assistant Michael Aquins wrote The Satanic Bible, which instantly became a best seller. The Satanic Bible told of the main concepts of Satanism. Basically, it is the reverse of Christianity. The main liking projected is Do what thou will (Miller, 1991, p. 31). One of the peculiar rituals of Satanist is the alienate of a newborn child. They believe that the newborn has a special power, and if they sacrifice the baby immediately after birth, that its power will go into the coven (Miller 1991, p. 33).Reverend Jim Jones was the leader of The Peoples Temple. Jim thought of himself as the reincarnation of Jesus and Lenin. His vision of world domination was nuclear war, and the only cities that would survive are Ukiah, California and Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Because of this belief, he moved his cult to Ukiah and awaited the war (Cults R Us, 2000, September 27, p. 1). After awhile he grew tired of waiting for what he claimed would be WW 3, so he relocated his church to San Francisco. There he practiced a ritual know as White Nights. In this ritual members prepare... ...ly where to go first. Mansons first victim was Terry Melcher. Several members of The Family went to his house and killed him. When they were finished they wrote POLITICAL PIGGY on a wall to make it look like the Black Panthers had committed the murder. The next victim was Cielo Drive. Once again several members of The Family went to her house and killed her. They killed five other people. One of the members wanted to cut a baby from the stomach of a pregnant woman they had killed and take it to Charles. She also thought about cutting out the babys heart and eating it (Cults R Us, 2000, p. 1). Mansons antics were pu t to an end one day while The Family was out in the desert equitation dun buggies where marshals arrested Charles and other members of the Cult (Cults R Us, 2000, p. 1).Statistics have shown that most Satanist lack self-confidence. They enter the religion because of the false sense of power and protection it offers. Although Bibliography1.Cults R Us (2000, September 27) online Available www.mayhem.net/crime/cults1/html2. Miller, M (1990). Coping With Cults. Rosen Publishing Group, INC. New York.