Lesson #4

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Lesson #4

How do the popular media and our class differ with regard to a definition of the word CULT?

At times it appears that question a lot of answers, and it’s difficult to give the precise definition. Still ‘cult’ has an accurate definition or in fact, many precise definitions. The most popular and widely used definition is that it is a religious or spiritual group. ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"5WdduIQY","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(\\uc0\\u8220{}Cult Definition\\uc0\\u8221{})","plainCitation":"(“Cult Definition”)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":145,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/CyMh1xNF/items/Y68JA9ZR"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/CyMh1xNF/items/Y68JA9ZR"],"itemData":{"id":145,"type":"post-weblog","title":"Cult definition","container-title":"Cult Definition","abstract":"The term cult has several precise definitions depending on the context in which it is used. Why a qualified cult definition is important.","URL":"http://cultdefinition.com/1/cult-definition","language":"en-US","issued":{"date-parts":[["2018",1,14]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",5,21]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Cult Definition). The media interpretation of the term is however restricted to the use of the term for the religious or the spiritual groups, that most of the times are presented in a negative light.

From your text, what are some of the characteristics of high demand cults?

The main focus of the group is its leader, and his followers appear to show extremely zealous wholehearted obligation. The group is anxious about getting new followers and making money. Enquiring, uncertainty, and disagreement are dispirited or even penalized ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"shzPy3bE","properties":{"formattedCitation":"({\\i{}Checklist of HDG Characteristics})","plainCitation":"(Checklist of HDG Characteristics)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":147,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/CyMh1xNF/items/5UGBUX7V"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/CyMh1xNF/items/5UGBUX7V"],"itemData":{"id":147,"type":"webpage","title":"Checklist of HDG Characteristics","URL":"http://www.dreichel.com/Checklist_of_Cult_Characte.htm","accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",5,21]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Checklist of HDG Characteristics).

What were some of the beliefs and lifestyle characteristics of Heaven’s Gate Cult?

Marshall Herff Applewhite and Bonnie Lu Nettles created Heaven's Gate, which was a cult that "included Christian and few Theosophical principles with philosophies in Martians. They thought that they were from the heaven/ the Next Level, to discover people who would offer themselves to getting ready for the spacecraft that would leave them to heaven. The followers had to leave behind their family, and friends, etc. ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"c91kdm5W","properties":{"formattedCitation":"({\\i{}Heaven\\uc0\\u8217{}s Gate - Rituals, World, Body, Life, Beliefs, Time, Person, Human})","plainCitation":"(Heaven’s Gate - Rituals, World, Body, Life, Beliefs, Time, Person, Human)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":149,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/CyMh1xNF/items/FVXNRIIP"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/CyMh1xNF/items/FVXNRIIP"],"itemData":{"id":149,"type":"webpage","title":"Heaven's Gate - rituals, world, body, life, beliefs, time, person, human","URL":"http://www.deathreference.com/Gi-Ho/Heaven-s-Gate.html","accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",5,21]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Heaven’s Gate - Rituals, World, Body, Life, Beliefs, Time, Person, Human).

From a psychological standpoint, how did the leader of Heaven’s Gate project his internal conflicts onto the cult beliefs and lifestyle choices? Is Heaven’s gate an example of a high demand religion?

On March 26, 1997, in San Diego, the 39 dead bodies of men and women were found who committed mass suicide. Headed by Marshall Applewhite, the Heaven's Gate cult thought that a spaceship was coming. The followers had to leave their corporeal bodies after them to get restoration in an interstellar “Kingdom of Heaven” ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"iWAFomrd","properties":{"formattedCitation":"({\\i{}Heaven\\uc0\\u8217{}s Gate: The End | Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication | Oxford Academic})","plainCitation":"(Heaven’s Gate: The End | Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication | Oxford Academic)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":153,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/CyMh1xNF/items/LRZJFQA5"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/CyMh1xNF/items/LRZJFQA5"],"itemData":{"id":153,"type":"webpage","title":"Heaven's Gate: the End | Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication | Oxford Academic","URL":"https://academic.oup.com/jcmc/article/3/3/JCMC334/4584381","accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",5,21]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Heaven’s Gate: The End | Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication | Oxford Academic).

Provide a brief description of both the WACO Texas Branch Davidians and Jonestown cults. What did they have in common and how did they differ? (You will want to research these two groups before answering this question.) Are these example of high demand cults?

Although detached by almost 15 years and many miles, Jonestown, Guyana, and Waco, Tex., were the disastrous conclusions of movingly alike happenings formed by 2 odd pastors who fabricated to be more than corporeal. Jim Jones and David Koresh journeyed some of the same ways in the direction of their last journey, obsessed by a lust for authority and worship. However, by the end, it was firing that followed them and their followers no place to run ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"UgLASAUZ","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(\\uc0\\u8220{}NEWS ANALYSIS\\uc0\\u8221{})","plainCitation":"(“NEWS ANALYSIS”)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":151,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/CyMh1xNF/items/W6GX8UY5"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/CyMh1xNF/items/W6GX8UY5"],"itemData":{"id":151,"type":"article-newspaper","title":"NEWS ANALYSIS : Parallel Roads Led to Jonestown, Waco : Cults: Similar forces shaped Jim Jones and David Koresh into the violent, power-mad \"messiahs\" who doomed their followers to death.","container-title":"Los Angeles Times","source":"LA Times","URL":"https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-04-23-mn-26358-story.html","ISSN":"0458-3035","shortTitle":"NEWS ANALYSIS","language":"en-US","issued":{"date-parts":[["1993",4,23]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",5,21]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (“NEWS ANALYSIS”).

Works Cited

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Checklist of HDG Characteristics. http://www.dreichel.com/Checklist_of_Cult_Characte.htm. Accessed 21 May 2019.

“Cult Definition.” Cult Definition, 14 Jan. 2018, http://cultdefinition.com/1/cult-definition.

Heaven’s Gate - Rituals, World, Body, Life, Beliefs, Time, Person, Human. http://www.deathreference.com/Gi-Ho/Heaven-s-Gate.html. Accessed 21 May 2019.

Heaven’s Gate: The End | Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication | Oxford Academic. https://academic.oup.com/jcmc/article/3/3/JCMC334/4584381. Accessed 21 May 2019.

“NEWS ANALYSIS : Parallel Roads Led to Jonestown, Waco : Cults: Similar Forces Shaped Jim Jones and David Koresh into the Violent, Power-Mad ‘Messiahs’ Who Doomed Their Followers to Death.” Los Angeles Times, 23 Apr. 1993. LA Times, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-04-23-mn-26358-story.html.