Is It A Cult? Identification And Warning Signs
There’s a fair amount of public confusion over what ingredients make an organization a cult. Popular stories often miss the point. False narratives become real in the minds of observers. Experts have different models that confuse people too.
Sometimes groups that are simply unorthodox get slapped with the “cult” label despite missing key elements of the equation. Not everything “weird” is cultish people! At The Body International, we receive suggestions for stories concerning entities that aren’t cults with some regularity. This kind of confusion has a history of consequence. Elsewhere in common discourse you find the rejection of the cult label in cases where a group fits all the standards. This is dangerous too. The word cult implies a group contains a level danger and when stories about legitimate cults appear without the “c” word they fail their audience and embolden cult leaders.
The dictionary also does a disservice to the modern understanding of what a cult is.
“A relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister.”
What about cults with hundreds of thousands of members in their ranks like the Moonies? What about cults like NXIVM where religion plays no role? Strange OR Sinister? If a group is merely strange and not sinister in any way the experts will tell you it’s not actually a cult by any of their standards.
For these reasons, it’s worth using one of the proper identification systems available before making a definitive declaration.
Awareness of the cult phenomenon in its many forms is best understood by modern social science. Experts have introduced useful systems to properly identify what exactly a cult is that we’ll explore for the remainder of this article. There are many different models to choose from, so we’ve paired down the field and have picked definitions and warning signs we feel are easiest to unpack from the experts we trust most.
First up is exit counselor Rick Ross and his three pronounced criteria for cults. Other experts include more determining factors, but Ross’s brief list contains the critical characteristic shared by all cultic groups.
1. A charismatic leader, who increasingly becomes an object of worship as the general principles that may have originally sustained the group lose power. That is a living leader, who has no meaningful accountability and becomes the single most defining element of the group and its source of power and authority.
2. A process [of indoctrination or education is in use that can be seen as] coercive persuasion or thought reform [commonly called "brainwashing"]. The culmination of this process can be seen by members of the group often doing things that are not in their own best interest, but consistently in the best interest of the group and its leader.
3. Economic, sexual, and other exploitation of group members by the leader and the ruling coterie.
Other lists contain things like all cults using deceptive means of recruiting and that they all have an authoritarian structure, which are valid in all cases, but the three Ross lists are the most important.
A group may have a charismatic leader with their own ideas of how things should operate, but if no one is being brainwashed or exploited, it’s not a cult. Manipulation is the root of what gives a cult power.
*There are a few caveats when it comes to leadership that should be addressed. One is that there are cults that continue after the death of their leader. In these cases, the power will likely shift to someone who has been groomed, or in a case like Scientology the leader is replaced by a board of directors, though one expert we consulted said they believed in these cases there’s still an individual calling the shots. Elsewhere, some generational cults lack a traditional leadership structure but have systems built into their doctrine that keep the cult in line perpetually. Each community of the Amish, for example, have someone in place who doles out the rules and determines how strictly the flock adheres to its original principles. In this case the authoritarian structure and control over members was determined hundreds of years ago and the cult is preserved despite the nature of the man in charge. Recently, we’ve also seen the explosion of internet cults like QAnon where leadership shifts from the creator to a variety of individuals who perpetuate the cult without having to account to a main authority. These decentralized cults represent a modern blip in the system of coercive control. QAnon brainwashes people, it exploits people, it’s methods of recruitment are deceptive, and the doctrine is authoritative. Whether or not one person is pulling the strings, it’s still a cult.
Next, we’ll observe Dr. Alexandra Stein’s list of warning signs a cult will display which was adapted from the godfather of cult experts, Robert J Lifton. These signs are critical if you want to understand the methods commonly shared by cults that allow us to define them. Even more important is that if you can retain these ideas, you’ll be far less likely to find yourself in a coercive group yourself.
1. The group/person has the Total and Only answer. Only they have the right line, will make the revolution, solve your problems, empower you, make you loved, rich, effective, holy, etc.
2. Attempts to isolate you from existing close relationships (friends/family) and the outside world.
3. Extreme, immediate and/or inappropriate friendliness or attention.
4. Promises of perfection if only you adhere to their program
5. Your “gut-feeling” tells you something is wrong. Trust this and try to analyze it.
6. The group creates conditions of extreme stress, threat or fear (emotional and/or physical.)
7. Not answering questions or turning them back on the questioner.
8. Inappropriate personal boundaries
9. Loaded language: strange language or jargon you initially can’t understand. Canned, repetitive phrases.
10. A hard sell for further commitment, programs or contact. If you resist, you’re selfish, ungodly, “bourgeois”, don’t believe in yourself, etc.
11. Encouragement to cut ties with family or friends, unless you can recruit them.
12. Secrecy, inappropriate “confidentiality”.
13. Lack of privacy - constantly with group members, constantly busy with group activities.
14. Ends justifies the means. It’s OK to lie to others in the name of the Cause, God, for success, etc.
15. Challenging your fundamental identity: Your strengths are criticized as your weaknesses.
16. Once you’re in, heavy pressure to stay in.
17. Those who do leave are shunned. They become the enemy, or objects of pity.
18. No criticism allowed of the group or leader. The group/leader is always right.
19. Deception: what you thought you’d get on joining or attending an activity turns out to be something else.
Many of these tactics are designed to pull members further into the group while pushing them away from their former selves and their loved ones. This kind of isolation is one of the hallmarks all cults share. Once this has been accomplished it becomes harder for the member to leave a bad situation which benefits the leader and the group as a whole.
The final model we’ll explore is Dr. Steven Hassan’s BITE model. This accounts for the spectrum between the healthy and the toxic in a group setting. On one end you have organizations that are harmless and on the other you have cults. Hassan’s model is broken down into four categories. BITE stands for Behavior control, Information control, Thought control, and Emotional control. Hassen argues that these are the factors that decide what is and isn’t a cult. It’s a bit more complex than the other models but the fact that it includes elements of what a cult is not make it the most useful for making a proper determination. Here are slides of the continuum.
What makes this model particularly interesting is its flexibility. A group might pass some of the tests but fail in other areas. There’s also room for grey area where on any given metric a group could land in the middle. Every time something lands in the cult zone it should be considered a significant red flag. If a group keeps checking the boxes on the right side, it’s probably a cult. Hassan’s contribution to this field is important because cults exist on a wide spectrum and the BITE model accounts for a variety of destructive characteristics.
Hopefully this information can help you determine if the group you’re curious about is a cult. This article will be updated if we find another source we believe to be as valuable as the one’s we’ve analyzed.
