6 Warning signs of religious cults

From the deadly cult of Branch Davidians to the ongoing debate on Scientology, the concept of cults is well known and often discussed. However, thousands of people are drawn to cult-like cults and organizations each year, often because they are unaware of the sect-like nature of the group until they have already joined.

The following six warning signs indicate that a religious or spiritual group may indeed be a cult.

The leader is infallible
In many religious cults, followers are told that the leader or founder is always right. Those who ask questions, elicit any potential dissent or behave in ways that call into question their loyalty are often punished. Often, even those outside the cult that cause problems for leaders can be victimized and, in some cases, punishment is deadly.

The leader of the sect often believes he is special or even divine in some way. According to Psychology Today's Joe Navarro, many cult leaders throughout history have "an overly abundant belief that they and they alone had the answers to the problems and that they needed to be revered."

Deceptive hiring tactics
Sect recruiting typically revolves around convincing potential members that they will be offered something they don't have in their current lives. Since leaders often prey on those who are weak and vulnerable, it is not difficult to convince them that joining the group will somehow make their lives better.

Those who are marginalized by society, have a minimal support network of friends and family and who feel they don't belong are the primary targets of cult recruiters. By offering potential members the chance to be part of something special - spiritual, financial or social - they are generally able to attract people.

Typically, recruiters drive with a low pressure sales pitch. It is quite discreet and the recruits are not immediately told the true nature of the group.

Exclusivity in faith
Most religious cults require that their members give them exclusivity. Participants are not allowed to attend other religious services and are told that they can only find true salvation through the teachings of worship.

The cult of Heaven's Gate, active in the 90s, operated with the idea that an extraterrestrial spaceship would arrive to remove members from the earth, hitting the arrival of the comet Hale-Bopp. Furthermore, they believed that evil aliens had corrupted much of humanity and that all other religious systems were actually instruments of these malevolent beings. Therefore, Heaven's Gate members were asked to leave any church they belonged to before joining the group. In 1997, 39 members of Heaven's Gate committed mass suicide.

Intimidation, fear and isolation
The cults generally isolate members of the family, friends and collaborators outside the group. Members are soon taught that their only true friends - their real family, so to speak - are other followers of the cult. This allows leaders to isolate participants from those who might try to get them out of group control.

Alexandra Stein, author of Terror, Love and Brainwashing: Attachment in Cults and Totalitarian Systems, has been part of the Minneapolis group called The Organization for several years. After freeing herself from worship, she explained her experience of forced isolation like this:

"... [f] from finding a true companion or company, the followers face a threefold isolation: from the outside world, one from the other within the closed system and from their internal dialogue, where clear thoughts about the group could arise. "
Since a cult can only continue to operate with power and control, leaders do everything they can to keep their members faithful and obedient. When someone starts trying to leave the group, that member often finds himself receiving financial, spiritual or even physical threats. Sometimes, even their non-member families will be threatened with harm in order to keep the individual within the group.

Illegal activities
Historically, religious worship leaders have been involved in illegal activities. These range from financial misdeeds and fraudulent acquisition of wealth to physical and sexual abuse. Many were even convicted of murder.

The cult of Children of God has been accused of numerous counts of harassment in their municipalities. Actress Rose McGowan lived with her parents in a COG group in Italy until the age of nine. In her memoir Brave, McGowan wrote of her earliest memories of being beaten by members of a sect and recalled how the group supported sexual relations between adults and children.

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his Rajneesh Movement accumulated millions of dollars each year through various investments and participations. Rajneesh also had a fondness for Rolls Royces and owned over four hundred.

The Japanese cult of Aum Shinrikyo may have been one of the deadliest groups in history. In addition to carrying out a deadly sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system that caused about ten deaths and thousands of injured, Aum Shinrikyo was also responsible for numerous murders. Their victims included a lawyer named Tsutsumi Sakamoto and his wife and son, as well as Kiyoshi Kariya, the brother of a cult member who had fled.

Religious dogma
Religious cult leaders generally have a rigid set of religious principles that members should follow. While there may be a focus on the direct experience of the divine, it is typically done through group leadership. Leaders or founders can claim to be prophets, as David Koresh of the Branch Davidians said to his followers.

Some religious cults include doomsday prophecies and the belief that the End Times is coming.

In some cults, male leaders claimed that God ordered them to take more wives, which leads to the sexual exploitation of women and underage girls. Warren Jeffs of The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a group of fringes who broke away from the Mormon Church, was convicted of sexually assaulting two 12 and 15 year old girls. Jeffs and the other members of his polygamous sect systematically "married" "underage girls, claiming that it was their divine right.

Additionally, most cult leaders make it clear to their followers that they are the only ones special enough to receive messages from the divine and that anyone who claims to hear the word of God will find themselves punished or ostracized by the group.

The key to the cult's warning signs
The cults operate under a system of control and intimidation and new members are often recruited using deceptive and manipulative tactics.
A religious cult often distorts spirituality to fit the purpose of the leader or leaders, and those who question or criticize are generally punished.
Illegal activities are rampant in religious cults, which thrive in isolation and fear. Often, these illegal practices involve physical and sexual abuse.