Defining Cults in American History
Historians and philosophers have long debated if there can ever be a true definition of a “cult.” Some have said the difference between a cult and a religion is about two or three generations. Once a cult has survived for that long and appears that future generations will subscribe to the same beliefs, it makes the transition from a cult to a religion. Others believe cults are defined by a brainwashing and highly charismatic leader who indoctrinates their followers to believe they are something they are not. This definition differentiates cult leaders from religious leaders, whose role is to deliver the teachings of their religion and not coerce the public for their own agenda. Most people believe cults are a combination of both definitions, but all agree that cults are more totalitarian, authoritarian, and isolating than religions. Normally, one can live a normal life while being a member of a religious group, but cults often force their members to live away from society with all of the other followers, allowing mob mentality to affect their decisions and actions. The first amendment protects the American people’s freedom of religion, speech, press, and their right to assemble, creating a culture that for over two-hundred years has allowed for violent cults to rise up and commit atrocious acts of murder and savagery. Taking advantage of both their first amendment rights and the social climate at their respective times, the Puritans, the Ku Klux Klan, the International Peace Mission Movement, the People’s Temple, and the Manson Family all were able to acquire large followings and make radical changes during their existence.
The Puritans: America's First Cult?
The Great Puritan Migration of the 1620s, when Puritans from England fled to the New World, marked the beginning of the United States of America. Some have argued that the Puritans’ extreme religious measures were the first cult in America and paved the way for other cults to form later in history. In Adam Morris’s book, American Messiahs: False Prophets of a Damned Nation, he writes, “the impulse to purify the group through separation from mainstream society, now regarded as the signature of a cult, could not be more fundamental to the nation’s history.” The Puritans did not leave England because they were oppressed, but because they were fanatics. Their goal was to buildta “city uponta hill,” wheretequality prevailed andtprivate property wastabolished. However, their actions were not completely consistent with their words. Their desire for religious tolerance was exclusively for themselves, and if someone did not agree with their beliefs they were labeled a heretic and shunned. Furthermore, the Puritans lived in compact villages and homes as opposed to a spread-out homestead; they were relatively isolated from world trade and they were severely religious. One could only live amongst the Puritans if they shared their same radical religious beliefs. While there were religious shifts and changes in the next 100 years, the next major cult/movement that arose was the Ku Klux Klan in the late 19th century.
The Ku Klux Klan: From Reconstruction to Modern Times
From the 16th to the 19th century, the brutal and violent treatment of African-Americans in the United States ultimately culminating with the Civil War in Following the Civil War, a social club was formed for Confederate veterans in Pulaski, Tennessee. In 1865, they named themselves the name Ku Klux Klan (KKK), which they derivedtfrom the Greek wordtkyklos, meaningtcircle. People fromtall ranks of society joined the Klan with the hope of getting rid oftRepublican influence in the South by terrorizingtand murdering itstparty leaders and all thosetwho voted for it. They elected Confederate generaltNathan Bedford Forrest as their first leader and gave him the titletof grand wizard. Clothed in white masks and robes, the first KKK sought to promote white supremacy and get rid of the newly given freedom the Republicans gave to blacks using violence and fear. Their dress both frightened superstitious African-Americans and prevented the federal troops from identifying them and became a symbol of white supremacy. Through a series of nighttime raids, the KKK violently whipped and killed free blacks and their white supporters. The 19th century Klan was responsible for the restoration of white rule in many parts of the South. However, due to the group’s excessive violence and pressure from the government, Forrest disbanded the group in 1869. Congress responded by passing the Force Act in 1870 and the Ku Klux Klan Act in 1871. These bills enabled federal authorities to punish anyone who tried to interfere with the freedom of blacks and allowed the president to impose harsh penalties on terrorist groups. But by the time these bills passed in the 1870s, the KKK had achieved their goal of white power in the South and did not feel the need to continue their violent actions, so the Ku Klux Klan Act was declared unconstitutional and repealed. The first Ku Klux Klan was violent and goal-oriented, and the second Klan took those characteristics to a new, awful level.
The second Klan started around four decades later when Colonel William J. Simmons encountered Thomas Dixon’s book The Clansman (1905) and D.W. Griffith’s film The Birth of a Nation (1915). Both the book and the film glorified the first Klan and promoted hateful rhetoric concerning the topic of African-Americans, inspiring Simmons to bring back the Klan in late 1915. The second KKK used propaganda and fundraisers to reach larger audiences than the first and spread a hateful and supremacist message. Fueled by patriotism and a longing for the old South, the KKK reached its peak of four million members in the 1920s, developing their now infamous white robes and burning cross to become symbols of their organization. Marches, parades, and nighttime cross burnings started to occur all over the country, and they did not just target blacks; Roman Catholics, Jews, and foreigners were also victims of the KKK’s terrorism. The Great Depression in the 1930s served as the downfall for the organization because people could not afford the membership anymore, leading to its temporary end in 1944. The KKK reappeared in the political scene during the 1960s when the Civil Rights movement was well underway. Klansmen would kill and terrorize anyone supporting equal rights for blacks, drawing inspiring non-Klan members to join them because of their fanatic rhetoric. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) finally stepped in and were able to The Ku Klux Klan left its mark on America by taking thousands of lives and perpetuating racism against blacks.
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Father Divine and the International Peace Mission Movement
In the early 1930s, Father Divine, a prominent African-American religious leader, heard the sermons of a preacher on the streets of Philadelphia who called himself Jehoviah. These sermons served as the bedrock for Father Divine’s belief that he was equivalent to God. He forbade the use of “hello” among his people because it contained the word “hell,” so instead, his followers greeted one another with “peace.” Here lies the beginning of his movement, the International Peace Mission Movement. Father Divine required his potential followers, or “angels” as he called them, to sever any kinship ties so they could not be persuaded to change their minds about their new religion. By the 1940s, his movement controlled millions in real estate and had spread around the world. John Lamb, Father Divine’s secretary, credited the sudden success of Divine’s movement to the economic and political turmoil of the Great Depression. Lamb believed that the lack of wealth the Americans had meant that they no longer felt they had a higher purpose in life, and turned to Father Divine to help change their lives. Ruth Boaz, a former member of the Peace Mission Movement, wrote in her book Life with Father Divine about his ability to “capture the minds of sincere people and bend them to his will.” His skillful manipulation of his followers combined with their mob mentality meant that they were willing to do whatever Father Divine wanted because they believed he was their God. Following Father Divine’s instructions, his followers practiced a form of communism without even realizing it; they worked for little to no money, pooled their resources, and benefited from the common good.
Jim Jones and the Tragic End of the People’s Temple
Jim Jones came across Father Divine’s seemingly successful system of economic cooperation in 1956 and decided to start his Pentecostal congregation: The People’s Temple. Jones, a white man from Indiana, tried to appeal to the African-American community by preaching for social activism and racial equality. However, the whole time Jones was lying about his true goals, hiding his desire for socialism from his followers. Before Jones met Father Divine, he even called himself an atheist. Religion, to Jones, was only a way to reach the masses and help him take advantage of the social climate at the time. While Jones appeared to his community as a promoter of a peaceful interracial society, he really believed in immediate, radical action, and strongly encouraged his followers to tithe heavily. By the time his church had started to spread throughout communities, he started referring to his church as a movement and focused on expanding his following as opposed to spreading his original message. Instead of being wholesome and inclusive, he was superficial and greedy, affected heavily by drugs and mental illness. Not everyone saw_____ Jones needed to move the location of his Temple to another place. He chose the city Jonestown in the Republic of Guyana. After the People’s Temple had relocated to Jonestown, Jones, affected heavily by drugs and paranoia, told his followers that America was taken over by Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan, and there was no hope of returning. Jones used the biggest fears of his followers to manipulate them into staying with him and not returning to, what he claimed to be, fascist America. On November 18, 1978, Jones indoctrinated his followers to believe that it was better to die for socialism than live under fascism. As a result, over 900 people drank a mixture of Kool-Aid infused with cyanide and tranquilizers and subsequently died from the poisoning. The Jonestown massacre marked the end of the previously tolerant attitude of the American people regarding idiosyncratic religious movements.
Charles Manson: Misinterpreting Music and Leading a Murderous Cult
The 1960s were racist, violent, full of drugs, and the start of The Beatles’ popularity. Everyone in America was listening to their music, making their albums become huge hits and constant chart-toppers. Since The Beatles’ audience was so big and full of different perspectives, people interpreted their music in different ways. Most people listened to the beats of the songs and just danced to them. Others would listen to the lyrics and revel in their brilliance. But one man, Charles Manson, had a completely different perception of their music that ultimately led to the murder of nine people. Growing up, Manson’s life was not easy. One month after his birth, his 16-year-old single mother was imprisoned for armed robbery. He lived with his aunt and uncle until 1967, when he moved to San Francisco. At the time, psychedelic drugs played a huge part in social life. Manson used drugs such as LSD and psychedelic mushrooms to lure young hippies to him. He began to attract a small,tdevout group of followerstfrom the city’s bohemiantyouth. By the next year, he was the leader of a communal religious cult, or as he called it, his “Family.” Manson would teach his eccentric religious and spiritual beliefs, which derived from science fiction, and they would implement worshipping his beliefs into their daily routines. The prevalence of hallucinogenic drugs combined with the free spirits of teenagers in the 60s meant that many desired to be a part of his inclusive, tight Family. One of Manson’s followers, Paul Watkins, wrote in his book My Life With Charles Manson that “Charlie’s wanted to program [his followers] to submit: to give up [their] egos, which, in a spiritual sense, is a lofty aspiration. As rebels within a materialistic, decadent culture, [they] could dig it.” Since his following was expanding, he decided to move down to Los Angeles, California. Here is where Manson decided to start his rock and roll career by becoming friends with Dennis Wilson from the Beach Boys. Through Wilson, he gained a lot of celebrity connections, including the famous producer Terry Melcher. Manson had an intense love for music and eventually, his interpretation of the popular song Helter Skelter became the catalyst of his killing sprees. The Beatles featured the song Helter Skelter on their 1968 album, the White Album. While the phrase “helter skelter” means intense confusion, the Beatles did not use it for that meaning. As stated by Paul McCartney in The Beatles Anthology, the song “is a ridiculous song about slides…it’s loud and messy ’cause [McCartney] like[s] noise.” However, this is not the way Manson interpreted the popular song. He said that he believed the lyrics to be a subliminal message from the Beatles about a bloody,tapocalyptic race war that wastabout to start. In response to the racial protests and riots that were occurring everywhere in America, Manson began to use the words “helter skelter” to describe what he believed to be an oncoming, chaotic racial conflict.
The Beatles’ song completely changed the Manson Family and their agenda. Watkins noted that before Helter Skelter came along, all Charlie cared about were orgies, drugs, and odd religious rituals, but after the album, everything was different. The Manson Family sent telegrams, letters and phone calls to try to invite the Beatles to join them beforetthe race war, but they couldn’ttreach the band. So instead, they focused their energy on Manson’s music, which conveyed his fears about the race war. Manson moved his Family out to Spahn Ranch, an old movie set, and Manson had total control over the group. Manson hoped his friend Terry Melcher would produce his music, but Melcher rejected him. Soon after this rejection, Melcher moved out of Los Angeles and Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate moved into his old home. While initially Manson thought that the first crimes would be committed bytAfrican-Americans against whites, after his music career failed to take off he blamed the rich people. He told his followers that they would have to begin HeltertSkelter themselves, committing savage crimes in upscaletneighborhoods in an attempt totshow the African-Americans how the violence should be carried out. On August 8, 1969, five of Manson’s followers drove to Melcher’s old house and killed the five people inside— including pregnant actress Sharon Tate. The next night, another group of his followers drove around the wealthy parts of Los Angeles and randomly chose to kill the LaBiancas, using their blood to write “Helter Skelter” on the walls.
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