Cults serve spiritual potpourri to students
Cults are dishing out their spiritual concoctions, and
college students are their best customers
“I think students are real susceptible." says Dick
Beswick of Campus Interfaith Ministry. 'They’re idealistic,
experimenting with values, and in many cases have just
been weaned from the care and support of their family "
Because students are beseiged by so much information
and so many perspectives on life, they are looking for
something or someone to unify their lives, adds Beswick,
who teaches a yearly class on cults "College is a good
place to have your mind blown "
The cults cook up easy, simple answers to life s
questions for students with dis-integrated minds, he says
Students are attracted by the concern — with no apparent
ulterior motive — that cults show Once a person is in the
group, he tends to hang on to the love and acceptance even
if he begins to notice untruth or immorality. Beswick adds
And even with recent publicity about cults such as
Jonestown. Beswick says people are still easily convinced to
join cults For example two years after Congressman Leo
Ryan was gunned down by Jonestown members, Ryan's
daughter joined the Hare Krishnas
Publicity has affected the recipes of cults, however
Beswick says cults have made two key moves being less
visible and suing critics. "They're lying low a bit" but still
actively recruit new members with their transcendental
menus, he says
"Cults want you, or your money, or both "
To cults, Eugene is a good place to pick up new
recruits. Beswick says "Eugene has been a haven for cults
for at least the last ten years "
‘Cults want
you, or your
money, or
both’
Eugene is not alone, says Doug Groothuis. a staff
member of McKenzie Study Center with a bachelor's degree
in philosophy
“We live in a cult-prone society." Groothuis says
“People feel futile in the midst of pluralism the ocean of
differing beliefs and spiritual overchoice."
I he breakdown of the family contributes to the socie
tal hunger that makes people seek a cult diet, he says
adding that people are looking for family-type relationships
that include authority and stability "Cults are like a sur
rogate tamily model in some ways "
Cults mix two major ingredients sociological man
ipulation and theological twists, according to Dean Halver
son of the Spiritual Counterfeits Project in Berkeley. Calif
Theological components include a "false or inadequate
basis of salvation" and a "false basis of authority," Halver
son says
There are three non-theological elements, he adds
First, cults tend to isolate their members from the outside
world by controlling incoming information
Second, an "enslaving organizational structure" is
common, where members are required to turn over all
money to the group If someone wants to leave the group he
has no means to do so
And third, there is usually an "inner circle" in the cult
where leaders will share "deeper teachings' with a member
when they think he is committed enough to stay with the
group For instance Halverson says, a newcomer to
Transcendental Meditation often discovers later the Eastern
religious roots of TM
Both theological ingredients must be in a group s
cookbook to qualify it as a cult, and the others usually are
there in varying degrees, says Halverson
For example, Beswick says est is a "different stripe of
cult but just as deadly The dynamics of their technique and
the end result has a hold on people s minds "
0 ults seek to control their members with a charismatic
leader or an attractive doctrine that originates in the group
says Beswick, adding that questions are viewed by cult
leaders as evidence of evil "There s a no-exit kind of
mentality "
A "powerful experience” is often used in addition to
sleep deprivation, food deprivation and non-stop teaching
to keep members under control, says Beswick "Many of the
cults have some way of inducing an experience which leads
to a very profound hold on members "
Demonic activity is behind some of the more dazzling
experiences, he says. "I don't see any other explanation for
it " Psychological techniques take time to develop, but Guru
Maharaj Ji "seems to zap people almost instantaneously,"
so they taste "secret nectar" and hear "heavenly music "
Spiritual twisting is essential to the cults and many bake
their doctrines in an oven of Eastern thought
"They deny salvation by faith and radically mis-interpret
or usurp the authority of the Bible," says Groothuis
Beswick adds When you deviate from the basic
position that the Bible in its entirety is inspired by God it's
fairly easy to come up with almost anything "
I n cults, experience is exalted over doctrine with the
leaders experience enthroned as the authority, says
Beswick "Christianity always contains a real union of the
Holy Spirit and the Bible Christianity takes the burden of
interpretation off of one particular man or group andplaces
it on each Christian “
Cults main thrust is "the idea of secret, hidden know
ledge, disclosed only upon initiation,” says Beswick "The
Bible is there for anyone to read
Cults usually mix the Bible with other sources Halver
son says “Any group that is going to find credibility in the
United States is going to use the Bible as at least one
source "
Using Christian terms may make a cult easier to swallow
even if the heart of the group is anti-biblical, says Groothuis
“There are cults that are clearly Eastern while some are a
mixed bag often with a Christian residue "
Eastern influence is quite common to cults especially
the concept of all is one, and each person is a god who
needs the secret of divinity revealed to him, according to
Beswick
There is no right or wrong if "all is one says Groothuis
"Ultimately they say that any right/wrong distinction is an
illusion " Charles Manson thought if he was god he could do
anything says Groothuis
Traditional Christianity says God is a moral being and
right and wrong are determined in reference to him Beswick
says, reciting, "Woe unto those who call good evil and evil,
good "
Cults also discount the historic Christian view of Jesus
as fully God and fully man, according to Groothuis All cults
will re-define the person and work of Jesus
Both Beswick and Groothuis say the proliferation of
cults do not detract from the truth of Christianity
"All of this can't be explained on purely psychological
terms but reflects spiritual realities People should evaluate
the actions of atl groups." says Beswick
Groothuis says the Bible itself warns against false
teachers and "plurality of error doesn't invalidate what is
right
"Go to the documents themselves Realize the claims
Christianity makes Go to them with an open heart "
Story by Ron Hunt
Graphic by Mai DeRongt
‘Do I look like
Jim Jones?’
Thomas Brown
‘UJe're not a cult.'
$aus Brotherhood
Cult is not a nice word
It conjures up images of lifeless bodies
near an empty Kool-Aid vat, glassy eyes,
zombie-like behavior, kidnapping by de
programmers and the anguish of parents
cut off from their children
And it's a word now being used to
describe the Christ Brotherhood com
mune in Eugene, a religious group that
made national news this week when state
officials took custody of 15 commune
children and charged brotherhood
member Thomas Brown with sexual child
abuse
“Do I look like Jim Jones?" asks
Brown, a self-described elder of the
group, with a snort of disgust. “How
about Hitler? That's just ridiculous.
We re as far from being a cult as you can
get"
“It's absurd to try to to categorize us as
a cult," agifees Bob, another member of
the group. Members go by their first
names only.
But former members of Christ Broth
erhood and two University experts on
religious movements say it's not Brown s
appearance but his beliefs that justify the
label “cult .”
“I definitely think they're a cult,” says
Doug Groothius, a staff member of
McKenzie Study Center and the teacher
of a SEARCH class on worldviews
Groothius and others point to the
group's lifestyle and religious beliefs to
back up the categorization of the group
as a cult.
The group integrates its counter-cul
ture lifestyle with the New Testament
gospels and several gnostic (a combina
tion of Christianity with Greek and
Oriental philosophies) gospels.
"The gospel is the fulfillment of the
flower child,” Bob says. "Christ was the
ultimate flower child.”
“Jesus is a hippie role model for
them,” says Groothius. "They're Jesus
Continued on Page 12
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