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myimmortal18 12-12-2005 01:22 AM

The Catholic Church: A Cult in Mainstream Society
 
When one hears of a cult, one thinks of organizations such as the Church of Scientology, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and small fanatical groups such as the Assembly of God. According to Robert J. Lofton, author of Letters to an Elder, there are two kinds of cults; those that use mind-control, and those that do not. Lofton describes eight characteristics of destructive mind-control cults, saying, “If any group exercises all eight of these control elements, they are, in fact a destructive mind control cult”.

Lofton’s characteristics are ‘Environmental Control’, ‘Mystical Manipulation’, ‘Demand for Purity’, ‘Cult of Confession’, ‘Sacred Science’, ‘Loading the Language’, ‘Doctrine over Person’, and ‘Dispensing of Existence’. These eight characteristics are found not only in the organizations mentioned earlier, but also in more mainstream organizations. The Roman Catholic Church exhibits all eight characteristics very strongly, making it fit the profile of a destructive mind-control cult.

Lofton’s first characteristic, ‘Environmental Control’, refers to the manner in which the cult keeps its members from becoming disillusioned about the cult though outside sources or ex-members. Members “can be physically separated from society or they can be warned to stay away from media that might provoke critical thinking.” In 1934, the Catholic Church formed “The Legion of Decency…to combat immoral movies”. The Legion of Decency rated movies, periodicals, and other such materials and set the standard for Catholics across the world. The Legion condemned such movies as “Jesus Christ” for blasphemy and heresy, as well as recommending against many other movies of questionable nature. The Legion controlled the environment of Catholics and isolated them from media that was critical of the Church or was deemed inappropriate for viewing by Catholics.

The second characteristic of destructive mind-control cults is ‘Mystical Manipulation’. “Leaders [of the cult] become mediators for God… the cult and its beliefs become the only true path to salvation”. By providing the only way for members to reach salvation, the cult becomes a necessary and inescapable part of the member’s life. In the Catholic Church, the Pope is said to be in contact with God, and to have a greater measure of communication with him than the other members of the Church. On a local level, each priest is the congregation’s connection to God. The individual priests, teach their congregations ‘the way to salvation’ based on what they themselves have learned from the teachings of the Pope, Archbishops, and Bishops. Members believe that to hear God’s word, they must attend church, and listen to their priests.

Third on Lofton’s list, ‘Demand for Purity’ “Calls for the radical separation of pure and impure or good and evil within an environment and within oneself. The world is depicted as black and white, with little room for making personal decisions. One's conduct is modeled after the ideology of the group as taught in its literature”. By portraying the world as either evil or good, the cult is able to more easily influence the members by telling them which category thing fall into. Catholicism is rife with cut and dry distinctions that fit this characteristic. The Ten Commandments and the Seven Deadly Sins, for example, are very clear guidelines for good Catholic behavior. Every Catholic is expected to follow the Ten Commandments and not commit any of the Seven Deadly Sins. These rules for behavior are found in the Bible and are an important part of the teachings of all Catholic priests. By making the definition of immoral or un-Catholic behavior so cut and dry, the Church not only makes moral decisions simpler, but also makes the priests duty at confession much easier.

Fourth on Lofton’s list of characteristics is the ‘Cult of Confession’, which states that in a destructive mind-control cult “Serious sins (as defined by the organization) are to be confessed immediately. Members are to be reported if found behaving contrary. The confession process often has its own structure”. If a member of the Catholic Church commits a ‘sin’, he or she is required to come to confession with a priest and be absolved of their ‘sin’ through penance. The ‘sins’ are defined by the Ten Commandments and by the Seven Deadly Sins. Catholics are told that if they have un-confessed sins at the time of their death, they will not go to heaven. The Cult of Confession allows the Catholic Church to mold its members into what they consider model members of Catholic society.

Lofton’s fifth characteristic is ‘Sacred Science’, in which the cult instills the belief that “the ideology is too ‘sacred’ to be called into question, and reverence is demanded for the leadership. It claims absolute truth with no contradictions”. In the Catholic Church, the Bible, the Ten Commandments, The Seven Deadly Sins, the Creed, and many other behavior control systems are far too ‘sacred’ to be questioned. The Pope is the closest person to God, and commands the respect and honor of all members of the church. He is believed to be infallible when speaking ex cathedra (from his official position). Members of the church are conditioned never to doubt the Bible, the Pope, and even his subordinates the archbishops, bishops, and priests. To doubt one of these is to doubt the entire Church and that would be heresy, a crime previously punishable by death.

The sixth characteristic is called ‘Loading the Language’, which consists of “functional member vocabulary [becoming] simplified with the use of thought terminating clichés, expressions or words designed to end the controversy or conversation…they tend to stop discussion or prevent further consideration. There is always some simple cliché or slogan to answer a complex issue or difficult question”. When a member or a religious of the Catholic Church is confronted by a question or a disbeliever who confounds them or comes to the boundary of their knowledge or faith, they fall back on the cliché that ‘that is one of the Great Mysteries’, or a matter of faith. There are seven Great Mysteries of Faith, and the Catholics claim that if you take these seven things on faith, all of the rest of their religious beliefs are logical. Catholics commonly fall back on these Mysteries as a way of ending controversial conversations or cutting off lines of questioning that may lead to a flaw in their arguments.

Seventh in Lofton’s list is ‘Doctrine over Person’, in which “Human experience is subordinated to doctrine, no matter how profound or contradictory such experiences seem to be…Common sense perceptions are disregarded if they are hostile to the ideology”. The tenets of the cult supersede any and all contrary experience or thought, no matter how obvious the experience or thought may be. The New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia states that “To submit one's understanding to a doctrine supposed to be Divine and guaranteed to be infallible is undoubtedly more consistent than to accept prevailing postulates of science, or national doctrines, or a passing public opinion”. The Catholics believe that trusting the Pope as an infallible source is a better idea than trusting in the scientific knowledge that is currently accepted as fact. To Catholics, because the Pope is considered infallible he will never be wrong while scientific knowledge is changing constantly, so is very likely to frequently be wrong.

Lofton’s eighth characteristic is ‘Dispensing of Existence’, in which “the organization decides who will perish in the final battle of good over evil”. The Catholic Church teaches that some will go to heaven and some will go to hell. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven”. The Catholic Church has specific rules outlined in the Catechism which describe who will be granted entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven, who will spend some time in Purgatory before moving to Heaven, and who will languish in Hell for eternity.

The Catholic Church, having satisfied all eight characteristics, is, according to Robert J. Lofton, classifiable as a destructive mind-control cult. However, one must step back and take a good hard look at these characteristics, because they describe nearly all Christian denominations, as well as other mainstream religions. When a church or religious group attains a certain membership, it passes into the mainstream and society stops seeing it as a cult. The Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormon Church are good examples. As they have grown in size and membership, the world has begun to view them less as cults and more as conventional religions. One should consider wisely before assuming that just because 190,000,000 people belong to a religion, it is not a cult.

Specforces 12-12-2005 01:25 AM

RE: The Catholic Church: A Cult in Mainstream Society
 
Good second post, you bring up many valid points.

MalReynolds 12-12-2005 01:28 AM

RE: The Catholic Church: A Cult in Mainstream Society
 
Gonna have to bust you. Found the paper after a google search, and unless this is your own work, please provide a link.

Mal

http://www.oppapers.com/term-papers/32235.html

sk8r_daniel 12-12-2005 03:54 AM

He already said it isn't his own work...who cares anyways its a forum. I've thought that way towards all organised religions for a couple years now. I believe that God is a higher collective thought pattern of some type that knows all....because it is all, in what form if any he is in I have no idea and probably won't know but it'd be cool to find out. I'm too lazy to write a book describing my beliefs on here....but i really like those points. The Catholic Church has taken reason and what Jesus taught and warped it so they can control everything. Organised religion warped my mind for 16 or more years...and likely still is, every once in a while I realise something through reasoning, logic, and innate moral beliefs, about organised religion that is quite life-changing. It makes me wonder how many people are under the spell. Don't get me wrong, Jesus was an awesome guy who did alot of great things, but people are misinterpreting his words and taking everything in the bible literally and not using their own innate morals to reason things through.....people....start thinking for yourselves!!!...ok i need to stop. peace out. p.s - the world frustrates me sometimes.

Tasselfoot 12-12-2005 09:05 AM

As much as I'd want to agree with this, we at FFR CT try and stay away from religious debates, as they almost always lead to flaming. I'll leave it unlocked, for now. Finally... you really should cite things when you post them and/or give some form of your own commentary. We care about your personal opinion, not just on an article you post.

Neonatrias 12-12-2005 09:46 AM

Alrighty...First off, I'd like to point out a few things about myself, so you know where I'm coming from. I was raised as a Catholic, but a few years ago decided to begin following my own beliefs rather than associating with an organized religion.

First, off, I'd like to point out that this:

Quote:

Members of the church are conditioned never to doubt the Bible, the Pope, and even his subordinates the archbishops, bishops, and priests. To doubt one of these is to doubt the entire Church and that would be heresy, a crime previously punishable by death.
Isn't necessarily true. It may be held as a common belief, but in truth, Catholics are encouraged to question their faith in some places. This is especially true in Catholic schools like the one I'm in right now. Catholics aren't quite as bound to the religious system as some people might think.

Second:

Quote:

Catholics commonly fall back on these Mysteries as a way of ending controversial conversations or cutting off lines of questioning that may lead to a flaw in their arguments.
I have to disagree. This might be true in a fundamentalist viewpoint, but from a Catholic encouraged to interpret teachings, you'll usually get some sort of remotely solid reasoning. Most people in Catholicism won't fall back on the teaching; rather, they'll simply tell you that it's what they believe because it's what they feel. While this isn't true in all cases, I think it generally holds.

Quote:

The New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia states that “To submit one's understanding to a doctrine supposed to be Divine and guaranteed to be infallible is undoubtedly more consistent than to accept prevailing postulates of science, or national doctrines, or a passing public opinion”.
The further I read into this, the more I figured this was descriptive of fundamentalist Catholics. These are the types of people who read everything from the Bible literally and will cut off the hand that made them sin. Now, to be honest, most Catholics have accepted the fact that science is pretty solid. There's no questions about how things work. Catholicism, from what I've been told anyway, strives to explain why things happen rather than how.

Quote:

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven”.
This part is really, really specific. This says to me that it's most definitely written in terms of a fundamentalist viewpoint. Not all Catholics devoutly follow everything outlined in the Bible. The Catholic church doesn't know on what basis an almighty might judge what the term of "in God's grace and friendship" might mean. Morality may be the deciding factor...Or, perhaps the fundamentalists are right. The standpoint of most practicing Catholics is that they don't know what is going to happen after death, but they do have faith that God will save them from the damnation of Hell.

Finally...

Quote:

The Catholic Church, having satisfied all eight characteristics, is, according to Robert J. Lofton, classifiable as a destructive mind-control cult.
I think whoever wrote this should have applied these facts to all organized religion in general. It's certainly not limited solely to the Catholic Church; and, even still, this essay describes the fundamentalist Catholics.

My fingers hurt. This is all.

GuidoHunter 12-12-2005 07:19 PM

Neon was kind enough to pick out only a few places of many where the essay was completely wrong.

If you really want me to go through it, I will, but it'd take a bit of time. Plus, I'm sure chardish could do a much better job. But, our little boy's in Italy right now, and if anyone's still ignorant enough of the Church today to actually believe this garbage, I'll be happy to be informative.

--Guido

http://andy.mikee385.com

FoJaR 12-12-2005 08:18 PM

oh, and another thing:

# A system or community of religious worship and ritual.
# The formal means of expressing religious reverence; religious ceremony and ritual.

are both definitions of a "cult", according to dictionary.com

there is also:

A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader.

but that is more of a contemporary derivation, as cult has taken on a very negative connotation.

elalcalde 12-14-2005 12:15 PM

The difference between a cult and a religion is who is in power. It's that simple. If the ufo-behind-the-comet guy were in power, that would be a "religion," and not a "cult." As it turned out, the Roman Emperor converted to Christianity, so Christianity stopped being a "cult" and became a "religion." The difference is only one of name, so that the ruling party can give themselves legitimacy and alienate other cults.

That's not a judgement of any religion, it's just a fact. The OP and the guy he quoted are right. They're not necessarily right for the right reasons (so they don't get any credit :P), and they might have made their argument overly-complicated, but the plain and simple truth is that Islam, Judaism, and Christianity (among all the others) are just big cults which have been approved by leading classes.

As for me, personally, I'm with sk8r daniel. Thinking for yourself = good.


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