What's a Good Description of a Cult?


Over the years, I've found many definitions for "cult." In my view, one of the best is by Robert Jay Lifton, PhD, one of the first scholars to examine the cult phenomenon.

Losing Reality: On Cults, Cultism, and The Mindset of Political and Religious Zealotry by Robert Jay Lifton. The New Press. 2019. Pg. 4, 5. [Chapter 7: Trump, is very timely].

"I have insisted upon retaining the word “cult” for groups that meet three criteria: 

First, a shift in worship from broad spiritual ideas to the person of a charismatic guru; 

second, the active pursuit of a thought reform-like process that frequently stresses some kind of merger with the guru; and 

third, extensive exploitation from above (by the guru and leading disciples)—whether economic, sexual, or psychological—of the idealism of ordinary followers from below."

For more voices on this topic, read here: What is a Cult?

For more about Lifton, visit Robert Jay Lifton - Wikipedia


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