List your favorite wackadoodle religion or cult!

[Witsec7]

I'm interested in Cargo Cults and Rosicrucians ( I lived near Mt. Ecclesia and got to visit many times).

[fundiefun]

The House of Yahweh interests me I think they are part of the 12 tribes messianic cult.

http://www.yahweh.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Yahweh

[Jeff]

Pretty sure it's the SSPX (Priestly Fraternity of Pius X, sometimes called Society of St. Pius X) that Mel Gibson is involved with (as an adherent, not a member since he is not a priest), not Opus Dei. They are in essence more Catholic than the Pope in a very literal way - they refuse anything to do with any of the post-Vatican II reforms and many even quietly question the legitimacy of the current version of Mass. They are in a de facto state of schism with the Roman Catholic Church, but believe themselves to be its most loyal people. I have always found it deliciously ironic that the SSPX rails against us Protestants while themselves being on very bad terms with the Pope.

[CanticleoftheTurning]

Oh, another one that I remembered--the Medujorge cult, Caritas of Birmingham. I think I wrote a while back about how my dad bought my mom the "How To Change Your Husband" book, where the women need to be completely submissive to make a better household. I feared I had "lost" my mom when I flipped through the book. Turns out I was right. There was less fighting between my parents, because my mom stopped fighting my dad's craziness.

I can't stand to read too much of Colafrancesco's cult because it has too much of the "you're not a good enough Catholic!" vibe to it, which seriously seriously pisses me off because it was such a subtle thing that pervaded my family. It's a fringe thing that has far reaching tendrils that catches other women like my mom, though they are not members nor aren't likely to be.

[Witsec7]

The House of Yahweh interests me I think they are part of the 12 tribes messianic cult.

http://www.yahweh.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Yahweh

I'l email Lina the links this could be her next religion :lol:

[NurseNell]

And here's ours: bruderhof.org

The pictures totally freak me out. Because anybody under 15 I've never met, but they all look so familiar. And the people in their late teens to early twenties I knew as infants and little kids, and probably changed a few of their diapers. :shock:

This is interesting:

Young adults are encouraged to gain experience elsewhere and to seek God’s will for their own lives. The step of lifetime commitment to the service of Jesus Christ in community must be a personal calling and an informed adult decision.

So, no SAHDs.

I didn't realize they make the Rifton chairs. A lot of the special needs kids I worked with had these chairs, which are very well made.

[NurseNell]

I am really interested in Black Hebrew Israelites. I don't really understand a lot about why they believe what they do, or how the movement was started, but they are definitely a little whackadoodle.

I worked with a woman who had been involved in this group. She joined in her hometown, Chicago. Then she moved to Israel, lived several years there in a kibbutz. She became disillusioned with the group and left about 6 years ago. She didn't talk much about why she left.

[Deleted12]

I love 'em all, from Jonestown to the ATI!

The only one that I haven't seen mentioned on here is the Kingston Clan.

When Incest Becomes a Religious Tenet

Practice sets 1,000-member Kingston clan apart from other Utah polygamous groups

http://www.rickross.com/reference/polyg ... amy25.html

[NurseShannon]

http://jwrecovery.org/2009/09/are-jehovahs-witnesses-a-cult/

Judging from several books I've read (I esp love "I'm Perfect, You're Doomed") and articles online, escapees react as if the JW is a cult. I found the link above when looking for a decent article on it, and I think the author did a good job in breaking it down and describing what is cult-like about the JWs.

Rick Ross also considers the JWs to be a cult. http://www.rickross.com/groups/witness.html

Disclaimer of bias: Anytime a group seek to control the minds of its members, I automatically consider it to be a cult.

To me, another big warning sign that a group is cultic is when they present their faith as happy, joyful, easy, loving, and then once you get into it for some time, they start turning up the crazy by gaslighting, twisting words around, and having double-standards. IE: they tell one person that it's okay to paint hearts on children's furniture, and then tell another person that they'll be disenfellowshipped if they paint hearts on children's furniture. That whole thing constantly keeps the members unsteady and unsure--another way of exerting control over members.

God this is about the biggest load of shit I have ever read! Only people who get DF'ed are usually people that don't repent from a wrong doing, doesn't matter if it's smoking, drugs, sex...but usually its one of those things. Painting hearts? really? :lol:

And I am sorry I grew up a JW...yes I believe that they, like every.other.religion seek to control their members.

I was 4th generation JW. I may not agree with everything they preach, but I still have close ties to several people there. What people preceive and assume is usually sooo far off base with what is the truth about JW's is crazy!

[NurseShannon]

My personal faves are holy rollers....

[O Latin]

My favorite are whatever religion(s) teach that standing on college campuses waving signs and shouting about Jesus is a productive use of time.

I'm also completely fascinated by Mormons, although I don't consider them to be wackadoodle or a cult.

[Witsec7]

I used to follow snake handlers in GA and TN. I travel to see them handle snakes and drink arsenic.

[tropaka]

The internet keeps eating my replies (grrrr)

I have no real "favourite" amongst the "cults" - although I find most religious groups cultish, my definition of cult boils down to those groups who will not reveal their true beliefs to anyone but members/insiders. I have a great respect for old order mennonites, as they helped a family member out when sick (ran the farm while he recovered - great people).

JW's piss me off. This past Sunday a man came by with his son, who was 5 or 6 - when I opened the door this little kid looks up at me and asks "Do you think people who obey God are happier?" Luckily, my daughter chose this moment to have a fit...thank Goodness.

A question: does anyone remember when the "moonies" (Unification Church) was the latest cult that would take all the children? What happened to this group - are they mainstream?

[jfred]

Ecofascism

[jfred]

Occupy Wall Street

[kelseyjhale]

my grandma and my aunts are jw's i dabbed in it for a little while when i was little but now im older and that is mega cultish!!!

also i nominate the children of cult why cuz they use to bonk little kids read "not without my sister" and the leaders stepson was molested and ended up killing his nanny and himself!

[LIzzieB]

Ok - my top ones are Children of God (the child molestation was appalling) and FLDS but lately I've become more interested in the Adelaide Street Church. They preach in the major pedestrian mall in the centre of the CBD with WBC-type signs about what "God hates". There are large numbers of protestors, particularly young people, who try to face them off during the day. Shopping there on Friday night after work is becoming increasingly uncomfortable as the bile-filled preachers scream at people that they are going to hell, as protestors try to drown them out. Luckily the local government is trying to find ways to reduce their impact.

http://aintnogod.com/ipb/topic/6672-adelaide-street-preachers/

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-29/preachers-rundle-mall-by-law/3035116

I went out at lunch yesterday, and there was a young guy doing an excellent "Biblical-style" reading of The Very Hungry Caterpillar while the preachers looked particularly pissed off and city workers and shoppers cheered. Bloody brilliant. :lol:

[maybeizfundie]

"Young adults are encouraged to gain experience elsewhere and to seek God’s will for their own lives. The step of lifetime commitment to the service of Jesus Christ in community must be a personal calling and an informed adult decision. "

So, no SAHDs.

Yeah. Like I said, not VF types. Though the young women who have left felt very similar gender-based restrictions and problems that are brought up here. I think we left just before the age when I would have started to have to deal with that.

*But*, what's quoted above and what is reality are kind of different. The *only* truly acceptable decision is membership, all other churches are inferior. If you go quietly, you might be allowed to maintain contact with your family. Maybe.

Also, from early teens and upward, the kids are in various "apprenticeships", both with daily chores and regular assigned work stations. A lot of that "gaining experience" is within the community, so while not necessarily in their own home, still within some pretty strict and limited confines. And frankly, once you're a member, you don't get a choice where you want to work. If the work distributor wants you in the kitchen, that's where you go. Whether college or even public highschool is allowed changes every couple of years. Just before we left there was a big mess surrounding one "rebellious" youngster who wanted to remain on his highschool soccer team, because he liked it and he was, frankly, a star player. He was viewed as prideful, since everyone else had gone along with the new mandate to quit highschool sports. His family got in trouble over it, and shortly after the community decided to pull all their kids out of public highschool and run their own program. I'm not sure if they've gone back to highschool or not, at this point. So much for personal choices and experiencing other things.

Now, some young people do get to go "out in the world" to experience it. In some cases that's involved being dumped in a strange town with a small amount of money and told "You don't want to submit to the community? Have it your own way, 'bye!" I guess the hope is they'll realize how sad life is without community and come back with their tails between their legs.

[Guest Anonymous]

Maybeizfundie - thanks so much for posting all this about the Bruderhof, it is fascinating to me. Is there anyway you would consider having a new "Ask me anything" thread so we could continue the conversation separately? If you agree, I would be happy to cut and paste the relevant bits over, but I also understand if you'd prefer to keep the conversation a bit buried over here, to avoid attention. :)

[maybeizfundie]

A new thread would be fine by me. My courage is growing. :)

Specific to Bruderhof or general "ask a former cult member"?

[Guest Anonymous]

Could we do specifically Bruderhof, please?

If you start the thread, I'll cut and paste the relevant parts of this thread into a word doc and insert them into the second post? Thanks so much!

[maybeizfundie]

Sure thing

[darareaksmey]

Scientology

Pius X Society

Hasidim, particularly Satmar, Belz and Ger

[MonkeyMomma]

I'm interested in Cargo Cults and Rosicrucians ( I lived near Mt. Ecclesia and got to visit many times).

Ooh, yeah, I forgot about cargo cults. The first time I heard about it, I thought for sure it couldn't be real!

[Guest Anonymous]

The new thread on the Bruderhof can be found here: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=4730

Anyone who continues to discuss the Bruderhof here will be shunned for breaking the First Law of Sannerz ;)