Caruthers 1 Caruthers 5 Alice Caruthers Dr. Danita Berg COM 1101 September 25, 2022 Semester Paper While the cause of my brother's behavior may be much deeper than the church he belongs to, this particular church exhibits cult-like tendencies because a significant time commitment is expected from its member. Most of its members joined during a very vulnerable time in their lives. The church is involved in every aspect of your life, from work to your family and everything in between. My brother's church has cult-like tendencies because every member must devote a significant amount of time to its activities and practices. From the 1930s, cults emerged as the object of sociological study from the perspective of studying religious behaviors. In the 1940s, the Christian anti-cult movement started to oppose some sects and new religious movements, terming them "cults" due to their unorthodox beliefs. In the 1970s, the secular anti-cult movement resisted specific groups in reaction to acts of violence committed by group members. These groups, primarily called cults, practiced mind control of their members and linked to strange religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Thus, cults remain exploitative, weird groups with uncommon beliefs. Word of Faith Fellowship, located in Spindale, North Carolina, and Remnant Fellowship, located in Brentwood, Tennessee, are some renowned religious-based cults in the United States. The former started in 1979 when Jane Whaley and Sam Whaley converted a former steakhouse into a chapel, while the latter began in 1999 courtesy of its founder, the late Gwen Shamblin. As of 2021, my brother started showing strange behaviors that were out of character for him. In the previous years, I had not noticed strange behaviors from him. We always came to each other for everything and had practically no secrets between us. However, I was shocked after noticing some devastating behaviors such as isolating himself from our family members, seeking validation from the church elders, crossing biblical boundaries of behavior, and emphasizing special doctrines outside the scripture. I found that what started as a staunch Christian had developed into something darker, emerging far from our original upbringing. After a few months, my brother stopped visiting our church and fully embraced his new church. In this new church, he would spend most of his time in church and would return home during late hours even on non service days. On one of the Sundays, the church had convinced my brother to stop pursuing a law degree and instead go into theology, to my surprise he agreed. He went on to switch to a different university and even quit his job per the church’s request. Most of his friends and family who knew him were shocked by the uncommon changes in his personality. Previously, he had an ever extraordinarily extroverted personality, but now he was a complete introvert toward anyone outside of the church. While growing up, I.

1. Caruthers 1
Caruthers 5
Alice Caruthers
Dr. Danita Berg
COM 1101
September 25, 2022
Semester Paper
While the cause of my brother's behavior may be much
deeper than the church he belongs to, this particular church
exhibits cult-like tendencies because a significant time
commitment is expected from its member. Most of its members
joined during a very vulnerable time in their lives. The church
is involved in every aspect of your life, from work to your
family and everything in between.
My brother's church has cult-like tendencies because every
member must devote a significant amount of time to its
activities and practices. From the 1930s, cults emerged as the
object of sociological study from the perspective of studying
religious behaviors. In the 1940s, the Christian anti-cult
movement started to oppose some sects and new religious
movements, terming them "cults" due to their unorthodox
beliefs. In the 1970s, the secular anti-cult movement resisted
specific groups in reaction to acts of violence committed by
group members. These groups, primarily called cults, practiced
mind control of their members and linked to strange religious,
spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Thus, cults remain
exploitative, weird groups with uncommon beliefs. Word of
Faith Fellowship, located in Spindale, North Carolina, and
Remnant Fellowship, located in Brentwood, Tennessee, are
some renowned religious-based cults in the United States. The
former started in 1979 when Jane Whaley and Sam Whaley
converted a former steakhouse into a chapel, while the latter
began in 1999 courtesy of its founder, the late Gwen Shamblin.
As of 2021, my brother started showing strange behaviors

2. that were out of character for him. In the previous years, I had
not noticed strange behaviors from him. We always came to
each other for everything and had practically no secrets between
us. However, I was shocked after noticing some devastating
behaviors such as isolating himself from our family members,
seeking validation from the church elders, crossing biblical
boundaries of behavior, and emphasizing special doctrines
outside the scripture. I found that what started as a staunch
Christian had developed into something darker, emerging far
from our original upbringing. After a few months, my brother
stopped visiting our church and fully embraced his new church.
In this new church, he would spend most of his time in church
and would return home during late hours even on non service
days. On one of the Sundays, the church had convinced my
brother to stop pursuing a law degree and instead go into
theology, to my surprise he agreed. He went on to switch to a
different university and even quit his job per the church’s
request. Most of his friends and family who knew him were
shocked by the uncommon changes in his personality.
Previously, he had an ever extraordinarily extroverted
personality, but now he was a complete introvert toward anyone
outside of the church. While growing up, I believed my brother
may be called to preach one day but I could never picture him
immersing this far deep into the religious rabbit hole. He
acquired a markedly charismatic vocabulary of "spiritual
warfare" and claimed to be directly communicating with God.
The goal of this charisma is to show people how to convert their
admiration into a connection with God (Abby p.12). He revealed
that after this new found perspective came into play, he was
able to see the true nature of our mother. One that was not very
kind.
Additionally, most of their members joined during a very
vulnerable time in their lives. For instance, several members
joined the church during the COVID-19 crisis after losing their
jobs and were desperate for money and a good life. From the
general perspective, cults target youth groups (college

3. students), mainly the unemployed and those from low-income
families looking for hard-life solutions (Rodia p.9). This target
group is always stressed, depressed, emotionally vulnerable,
lacking family connections, or living in adverse socioeconomic
settings. New college students are prime examples of targets
because they are building their identities and are significantly
separated from family members. The recruitment techniques
tend to entice the hopeless youths while preparing them to
convert their religious faith (Schwartz & Kaslow p.19). The
main cults' psychological practices to recruit members are love-
bombing (cults flood the targets with affection, flattery, and
validation), isolation, and control. However, joining cults
significantly affects the victims' families and friends in the
outside world. These impacts include struggling with multiple
emotions after a loved one joins a cult group and the damage to
family intimacy.
Apart from the reasons linked to religion-related cults, my
brother's strange shift in behavior appears to result from
potential mental health conditions. Thus, his religious beliefs
and practices are strongly associated with hysteria, neurosis,
and psychotic delusions. For instance, his strange declarations
about faith in God resulting from watching religion-based
episodes of his favorite TV series implies a significant 'mass
hysteria.' Likewise, psychotic delusions make my brother have
an unshakeable belief in implausible and bizarre beliefs
regarding his childhood, such as a claim that he was treated
unfairly by our mother although her entire world revolved
around supporting him and his goals. As a result of this
potential mental condition, my brother believes that everyone is
against him and refuses to see other sides to the story if they
aren’t from the church. Likewise, depression seems to be
disturbing my brother. For instance, he is not interested in other
social and economic activities despite bringing pleasure but is
focused on religion. He cannot admit that he has a problem and
does not want people to know about it. Since I have noticed that
he has started to miss out on life, this is a sign of silent

4. depression.
Finally, this church has cult-like tendencies because the
church is involved in every aspect of your life, from work to
your family and anything else. My brother's church is a high-
demand setting with a high level of control and influence over
its members (Dubrow-Marshall & Dubrow-Marshall p.398). For
instance, my brother has a religious devotion to this church. He
has gone so far as to turn him life upside down for these people
as well as isolate himself for at least 7 months for unknown
reasons, but one can only assume it has something to do with
the church. This devotion signifies how this cult-like church has
taken over his free will through manipulation into a belief that
all these practices are what make one a staunch believer.
After joining this church with cult tendencies, my brother
changed his life to comply with church rules and wants. Despite
people reaching out to him about the potential damage his
estranged behavior has caused, he didn’t waver. Since he joined
the church, his entire life has changed to be that of a blind
follower rather than the freethinking leader he once was.
Thus, while the cause of my brother's behavior may be
much deeper than the church he belongs to, this particular
church has cult-like tendencies. The high devotion to church
activities and instant shift of behaviors demonstrate how the
church has controlled his life and taken over his free will. As
illustrated, cult groups are exploitative, strange groups with
uncommon beliefs that target the most vulnerable groups, such
as college students and other unemployed young people living
in marginalized areas experiencing social and economic crises.
The recruitment strategies of members to join the cults are
always tactful to resist.
Works Cited
Dubrow-Marshall, R.P., and L. Dubrow-Marshall. “Cults and
Mental Health.”
Encyclopedia of Mental Health, 2016, pp. 393–401.,

5. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-397045-9.00153-1.
Ellin, Abby. “Religion Journal; Seeing Overeating as a Sin, and
God as the Diet Coach.”
The New York Times, The New York Times, 29 May
2004, https://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/29/us/religion-journal-
seeing-overeating-as-a-sin-and-god-as-the-diet-coach.html.
Rodia, Tina. “Is It a Cult, or a New Religious Movement?”
Penn Today, 29 Aug. 2019,
penntoday.upenn.edu/news/it-cult-or-new-religious-movement.
Schwartz, Lita Linzer, and Florence W. Kaslow. “Religious
Cults, the Individual and the Family.”
Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, vol. 5, no. 2,
1979, pp. 15–26., https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-
0606.1979.tb01263.x.
[Type here]
Guided Study Assignment – Introduction to
Databases[footnoteRef:1] [1: Adapted from an assignment by
Karen C. Davis of Miami University submitted for faculty use
to the Teradata University Network.]
Student Name:
< Replace this text with your name >
Instructions

6. Watch the Introduction to Databases video (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-k-h0GuFmE ) by
Dr. Jennifer Widom of Stanford University and respond to the
items in Part 1. Feel free to pause the video to respond to the
items and re-watch segments as necessary. Alternatively, you
may prefer to view the presentation once through and then again
to complete the assignment. The presentation is 13 minutes
long.
Note that this presentation is part of a database course for
computer science students at Stanford University. When Dr.
Widom states ‘in this course we will cover’ or that ‘we will
cover’ a given topic in greater detail later in the course, she is
referring to her course, not ours.
To complete the Guided Study Assignment Worksheet, you
should type your responses below. Feel free to expand the size
of the various cells of each table to accommodate your response
(just keep typing, the cell will expand).
Part 2 will require you to do some additional investigation and
prediction.
Point Values
The sections of this assignment are scored as follows:
Part I: Terminology
1-4. Definitions 30%
Part II: Investigation
1 (a-3). Calculations 10%
2. Software systems, apps, etc. 10%
2. Data Table 10%
3. Features Analysis Table 40%
TOTAL 100%
Part 1: Terminology
In your own words, define/describe what each of these terms
means in a database context. Do not attempt to copy specific
sentences from the video word for word. Examples to support

7. definitions and descriptions are welcome, but are insufficient on
their own. You should establish that you understand the
significance of each term.
1. Database Functionality:
a. Massive
b. Persistent
c. Safe
d. Multi-user
e. Convenient
f. Efficient
g. Reliable
2. database concepts:

8. a. data model
b. schema vs. data
3. purpose of languages associated with a database:
a. data definition language
b. data manipulation language
c. query language
4. database-related jobs:
a. DBMS implementer

9. b. designer
c. application developer
d. database administrator
Part 2: Investigation
In this question, you’ll need to look up some information and do
some computations. You may use a calculator or Excel for the
calculations in (d) and (e).
1. How many megabytes (MB) in
a. a gigabyte (GB)?
b. a terabyte (TB)?
c. a petabyte (PB)?
An uncompressed, high quality photograph is about 5MB. An
audio book requires about 30MB per hour.
The audiobook of
The Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling is about 27
hours long.
Fill in the table below using

10. The Order of the Phoenix as an example of the size of
an audio book and the 5MB uncompressed high quality photo as
an example of a typical photo.
d. How many photos can be stored in a GB/TB/PB?
e. How many audio books can be stored in a GB/TB/PB?
GB
TB
PB
(d) Photos
(e) Audio Books
2. In the video, Dr. Widom states that you have probably used a
database in the last hour. She is essentially speculating that
most students use a database in every waking hour without even
realizing it. Think about the last 24/48/72 hours or the last
week... what software systems, apps, or embedded
hardware/software systems have you used? Narrow it down to
those that use some form of stored data. List as many as you
can think of, but you should list at least 3 for the next part of
the assignment.
Software systems, apps, embedded hardware/software systems
used/accessed in the last 24 hours:
1.
2.

11. 3.
4.
5.
6.
a. Choose three of them to analyze and fill in the top row of the
table below (1)-(3).
b.
Predict what data they store in the second row.
c.
Predict what kinds of queries or requests for data are
made by the system in the third row. We’re not looking for a
specific SQL query or command. It’s important here to have a
specific system/database in mind (a), with specific types of data
(b). Think about the system (a) and the data (b) and various
users (or applications) that access that data. For example, as
an online bank customer, what kinds of data queries/requests
might I want to know about my account with that bank? As an
HR manager in a large company, what kinds of data (b) might
be interesting to retain about employees in an employee
database (a) and what kinds of data queries/request might be
common on that data? OK, now that you’ve been given two
examples (an online banking example and an employee database
example),
you may use ONE of these examples in your table

12. below but not BOTH. Please develop at least two additional,
different examples. A Banking example and an Employee
Database example should NOT both appear in your table below.
Data Table
(a)
Systems (sites/apps) Accessed
(1)
(2)
(3)
(b)
Types of data stored
(c)
Kinds of data queries/ requests
3. Using the systems identified as (1)-(3) in the previous
question, fill in the table below
evaluating which features you think the database

13. supports
and why? Some cells may be blank,
but
only if the feature is not relevant to the example
system
. Your analysis offered within the table should be
specific to each feature in the first column.
Features Analysis Table
(1)
(2)
(3)
Massive
Persistent

14. Safe
Multi-User
Convenient
Efficient
Reliable

15. 2019-12-06
Detailed Focus & Organization Plan
Audience: Educators
Example: The coronavirus forced millions of students and
teachers to switch to remote learning
in the second half of 2020 and continuing into this year.
Because students needed to work from
home, teachers completely reoriented their lesson plans and
ways of teaching for remote
learning. Teachers found it more difficult to teach and students
struggled to learn.
Develop an introduction. Why would your audience be
interested in this topic? How can you
use your ethos to draw them in? Why is this topic relevant now?
As a student who has experienced the struggle with online
learning (ethos), I have experienced
how college students have become frustrated with their
educators’ lack of understanding about

16. how to teach online. Millions of students continue to struggle to
learn right now because they
are stuck at home, not getting the help they need with their
school work. As time passes,
students might give up on school.
What are you going to argue about this issue? Students (topic)
are struggling to learn with
online schooling (point of significance); more needs to be done
to make sure students are
getting the help they need to be successful (argument—stance).
Ordering your points/claims/appeals:
1. Claim: Many teachers do not have the experience, help, and
knowledge they need to
successfully teach their students remotely.
Appeals being used: Ideal, premise, or principle: A school
should do everything possible to help
their students succeed in academics and help students learn.
More training should be offered
to help educators understand how online learning is different
from classroom learning.
Cause and effect: Because of COVID, schools throughout the
U.S. and worldwide have switched
to online learning. It has proved difficult for teachers to quickly
change their lesson plans to
accommodate an online classroom, so students are struggling to
learn.
• Research (shared authority): Interview with teacher Berk

17. Smith, who stated that he
was not prepared to teach online, although has received more
training and is
becoming more comfortable with the new processes.
2. Students feel that school is more difficult and they’re doing
worse since the switch to
online schooling.
Works Cited
Kelly, Rhea. “Survey Reveals Students Struggling with
Academics During Pandemic.” Campus
Technology. 9 Feb. 2021.
https://campustechnology.com/articles/2021/02/09/survey-
reveals-students-
struggling-with-academics-during-pandemic.aspx
Appeals being used:
Establishing a connection between persons and actions or the
lack of connection (pathos):
Teachers should be empathetic that students who traditionally
do well in school are struggling
with online learning.
(Research used: logos): “As students adjust to the realities of
college life during a pandemic, the
majority (71 percent) are having trouble staying focused on
their coursework, according to a fall 2020
survey. More than half of students (52 percent) said they are

18. struggling to complete coursework, and 40
percent found it challenging to attend their classes. The survey,
conducted by Hobsons and Hanover
Research, polled more than 1,000 two- and four-year college
students across the United States,
representing a variety of background and ages. Fifty-three
percent are attending school fully online; 44
percent in a hybrid environment; and 3 percent in person.”
(Kelly)
Describe consequences: When students feel they are
unsuccessful in school, they might drop
out because of the discouragement.
3. Claim: Students struggling to learn online is affecting them
emotionally as well.
Appeals being used: Use a story, example, or narrative
(interview: pathos): My sister is
struggling to understand the concepts her teachers are trying to
teach her. She is usually
academically successful and considered “gifted” and is
depressed because she’s not doing well
with online lessons.
• Research (logos): In an article written by Dana Goldstein, a
New York Times
bestselling author and journalist, he wrote about how the rate of
absenteeism is
much higher now than when classes were held in-person.
• Refutation: Some students might like the freedom of online
schooling and could be

19. performing better. However, online schooling is not for
everyone and teachers must
prepare for the changes if online school is mandated.
Conclusion:
Call to action: Ask your educational institution for training to
understand the differences
between online and classroom teaching. Reach out to students
through different methods to
make sure they are understanding the materials.
http://www.hobsons.com/
https://www.hanoverresearch.com/
https://www.hanoverresearch.com/Audience: EducatorsOrdering
your points/claims/appeals:Appeals being used:Conclusion:
Caruthers 1
Caruthers 2
Alice Caruthers
Dr. Danita Berg
COM 1101 – Composition and Rhetoric [2022 Fall 1]
September 22, 2022
Thesis:
While the cause of my brother’s behavior may be much deeper
than the church he belongs to, this particular church exhibits
cult like tendencies because a significant time commitment is
expected from its member, most of their members joined during

20. a very vulnerable time in their lives, and the church is involved
in every aspect of your life, from work all the way to your
family and everything in between.
Paragraph #1:
First, this particular church has cult like tendencies because a
significant time commitment is expected from its member.
*Going to talk about the history of cults/what they are*
In this paragraph I plan to list a few religious based cults that
exhibit different levels of extreme behaviors. The main cults I
will be discussing are Word of Faith Fellowship located in
Spindale, North Carolina and Remnant Fellowship located in
Brentwood, Tennessee as well as a few others including the
church that my brother is affiliated with (although I haven’t
decided if I want to name drop the church in question instead, I
might use its initials whenever I refer it to).
Paragraph #1.2:
*Discussing the beginning of my brother’s strange behavior*
Here I will give a brief backstory on his original behavior and
when it started to change along with the different behaviors.
Paragraph #2:
Additionally, most of their members joined during a very
vulnerable time in their lives.
*Examples of the types of people are targeted by cults and their
psychological state at the time*
This paragraph will focus mainly on the cults’ practices of

21. seeking out vulnerable individuals and their mental state during
their recruitment, time in the cult, and after they leave the cult.
I will also throw in how joining affects the victims’ family and
friends in the outside world.
Paragraph #2.2:
*Discussing other possible reason for my brother’s behavior ex.
depression*
This paragraph will focus on reasons outside of religion-based
cults that may have caused my brother’s strange shift in
behavior as well as also giving a breakdown of what depression
is and how you can identify it.
Paragraph #3:
Finally, this particular church has cult like tendencies because
the church is involved in every aspect of your life, from work
all the way to your family and everything in between
*Plan to discuss how a cult ultimately takes over the person’s
life and free will*
I plan to give examples of how cults tend to turn people against
those who are not affiliated with the cult, manipulate people
into believing that the things they are doing are not evil but
instead are things that must be done in the name of Lord.
Paragraph #3.2:
*Discussing how my brother changed his entire life plan to
align with what the church wanted*
Concluding Paragraph:
Thus, while the cause of my brother’s behavior may be much

22. deeper than the church he belongs to, this particular church has
cult like tendencies.
*Restating claims made in the paper and concluding everything*