Cult Culture in the USA
We wouldn’t be human if we didn’t have the ability to idolize other humans. Even though it can be a good thing when we have influential and caring humans to idolize, there have been way too many situations when idolization has turned deadly. Most times these cults start with good intentions. People look for a community where they are accepted and have someone leading them with a purpose and in hopes for a better life.
Children of God/Family International
This cult is still active today, and can be found in over 80 countries. The founder was David Berg who was called Moses. He founded the cult in 1968 in California and was against “moral decay and evolution.” That didn’t stop him from using sex to bring women to the cult, and unfortunately being a pedophile. Former members have said that not only was having sex with children okay it was a “divine right.” Rose McGowan and Joaquin Phoenix were both born into the cult. Today they no longer allow sex with children, so that is a very good thing. Yet, since leaving the cult both Rose and Joaquin have shown their disapproval of the cult, so I can’t imagine it is a very great and happy place. The start of the cult didn’t have the best intentions so why would it be any better today.
The Manson Family
This is the cult that I remember learning about the most probably because of Charles Manson. Manson was an ex convict and singer-songwriter, and he thought there would be a race war called “Helter Skelter” coming soon. His followers believed him to be Jesus, and believed his claims of the race war. They were known as “The Family” and were influenced by Manson to commit a number of murders. They killed actress Sharon Tate at her home along with four others, and even plotted and attempted to kill President Gerald R. Ford. Manson was caught and given a death sentence for the crimes. He died in prison on November 19, 2017. He was able to get others to kill for him. To me it is crazy to think that humans can be influenced to take another person’s life. It happens, and often too.
Peoples Temple
Jim Jones was the founder of the Peoples Temple of the Disciples of Christ and promised to be a progressive community where people of all sorts were welcomed. It was made to be inclusive of elderly people, people with mental illness, and it was even for civil rights. So at the start it is understandable why this cult was appealing to people. Who would disapprove of a place that claimed to be accepting of all people. The truth was that this religious movement was not just a new way of thinking and accepting people. The organization moved from California to Guyana where they sought to get away from the media in the USA. There they grew to more than 900 followers. The place was informally known as “Jonestown.” There were a few members who were able to tell the media what was really going on in the cult, and this resulted in a congressman named Leo Ryan to travel down there and investigate. While there he had a few members express their desire to leave the Jonestown. The members of the cult were not allowed to leave, and a few of them had had enough of the abuse and wanted to leave. Leo Ryan was able to get some of them out but they were shot at. Leo Ryan, three journalists, and one of the members who had left with them were killed. This led to Jim Jones ordering his followers to drink a drink that had cyanide and others drugs. The mass suicide was the “greatest single loss of American civilian life in a deliberate act until the events of September 11, 2001.” The total dead were over 900, with 276 being children. It is not something we can really image happening. When I first learned about this events I could not comprehended why someone would be this evil, or how the people could blindly follow such a person. Yet, we are human and we are tragically programmed with the ability to make terrible choices. If this had been the only cult that had ever happened it would be easier deal with the questioning thoughts yet there have been countless cults, and unfortunately I don’t think they are something we will be rid of easily.
