LOVE HAS WON CULT (Amy Carlson)

AMY CARLSON: Love Has Won Cult


Experts who study cults suggest the human need for comfort prompts people to seek out others or things to soothe their fears and anxieties. Research suggests that those element and others have led hundreds of thousands of people to commit to thousands of cults operating around the world.

They provide meaning, purpose and belonging. They offer a clear, confident vision and assert the idiology superiority of the group.

As to the leaders themselves, they typically present themselves as infallible, confident and grandiose. Their charisma draws people in, Hart says. And followers who are craving peace, belonging and security might gain a sense of those things as well as confidence through participation in the group.

The content or ideology at the core of a cult can be religious, or vary beyond that. Some cults are political, others are therapy-based and some focus on self-improvement. while still others assert the need for discipline as a way of reaching divine nirvana.

Generally, “A cult is a group or movement with a shared commitment to a usually extreme ideology that is usually embodied in a charismatic leader. Examples are David Koresh, Charlie Manson, Amy Carlson, and
Marshall Applegate, to name a sparse few.