"Valerie, the only difference between you and a pit bull is the pit bull doesn't wear lipstick."

Will Teal
(former USPS mailhandler)

This website is not affiliated with the Church of Scientology. It is  designed for commentary and criticism within the limits of Free Speech.

 

 

 

  
   

What is a Cult?

 


Checklist of Cult Characteristics

 

 

  
   

 

Mind-Manipulating Groups:
Are you or a Family Member a Victim?


The following statements, compiled by Dr. Michael Langone, editor of Cultic Studies Journal, often characterize manipulative groups.

Comparing these statements to the group with which you or a family member is involved may help you determine if this involvement is cause for concern.

Place a checkmark beside all items that characterize the group in question. If you check many of these items, and particularly if you check most of them, you might consider examining the group more closely. Keep in mind that this checklist is meant to stimulate thought, not "diagnose" groups.

We suggest that you check all characteristics that apply to your or your loved one's group, then print this browser page for future reference. You may find that your assessment changes over time, with further reading and  research.

 

  


Check List

The group is focused on a leader to whom members seem to display excessively zealous, unquestioning commitment.

The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members.

The group is preoccupied with making money.

Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished.  

Mind-numbing techniques (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, debilitating work routines) are used to suppress doubts about the group and its leader(s).

The leadership dictates sometimes in great detail how members should think, act, and feel (for example: members must get permission from leaders to date, change jobs,  get married; leaders may prescribe what types of  clothes to wear, where to live, how to discipline children, and so forth).

The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s), and members (for example: the leader is considered the Messiah or an avatar; the group and/or the leader has a special mission to save humanity).

The group has a polarized us- versus-them mentality, which causes conflict with the wider society.

The group's leader is not accountable to any authorities (as are, for example, military commanders and ministers, priests, monks, and rabbis of  mainstream denominations).

The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify means that members would have considered unethical before joining the group (for example: collecting money for bogus charities).

The leadership induces guilt feelings in members in order to control them.

Members' subservience to the group causes them to cut ties with family and friends, and to give up personal goals and activities that were of interest before joining the group.

Members are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group.

Members are encouraged or required to live and/or socialize only with other group members

 

  

 

  

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