2. What is a cult?
• Generally, it is a group that is unorthodox,
esoteric, and has a devotion to a person, object,
or a set of new ideas.
• A small religious group that is not part of a
larger and more accepted religion and that has
beliefs regarded as extreme or dangerous
3. What is the difference between
Religion and Cults?
RELIGION VS. CULTS
8. • Disenchanted with conventional religious
establishments.
• Intellectually confused over religious and/or
philosophical issues.
• Sometimes disenchanted with society as a whole.
• Has a need for encouragement and support.
• Emotionally needful.
• Needs a sense of purpose.
• Financially needy.
12. The People’s Temple
• When Jim Jones (1931-1978) started his
little church in Indiana, United States, during
the late 1950's, no one ever knew it was
going to end up being the largest mass-
suicide in modern history.
13.
14. Aum Shinrikyo
• Aum Shinrikyo was a Japanese religious
group created by Shoko Asahara. Its name
means “Religion of Truth”
• Asahara declared himself the “Christ” and
Japan’s one and only enlightened being.
15.
16. Order of the Solar Temple
• The Order of the Solar Temple was a secret
society based on the myth of the continuing
existence of the Knights Templar. The Order
was founded in 1984 by Joseph Di Mambro
and Luc Jouret in Geneva, Switzerland.
17.
18. Scientology
• The Church of Scientology has been described as a
money-hungry commercial enterprise that exploits
the status of religion to enjoy tax benefits. The
history of Scientology is tainted with stories of fraud,
intimidation, financial devastation, and criminal
activities leading to the deaths of those trying to
escape the religion.
19.
20. Heaven’s Gate
• Heaven’s Gate was a small cult with founders
who claimed to have arrived to earth in a
UFO from another dimension.
21.
22. “Beliefs have the power to
create and the power to
destroy”
Tony Robbins