Signs of a sect, how does a sect differ from a religion and how to leave a sect?

Many sects that operate around the world can be very dangerous to society. Freedom in choosing religion has led to the fact that every year there are no fewer sects, and their power is only growing stronger. This means that sooner or later, every person can encounter a sect and feel its consequences.

What is the difference between a sect and a religion?

In order to understand the principle of sectarianism, who the sectarians are and what they do, it is necessary to grasp the very difference between religion and sect. The line between them is very thin, and without a concept of the operating principle it is difficult to distinguish lies from truth. The difference between a sect and a religion:

Religion is much older than sectarianism; sects are young groups, the oldest no more than two hundred years old. Such pseudo-religious movements are formed by breaking away from the general faith, or at the whim of some person.
The basis of religion is the worship of God, the creator of everything in this world, or deities, and it can be based on a higher goal, such as enlightenment in Buddhism. At the heart of the sect's religion, the main roles are played by their leaders, who compare themselves almost to God.
The goal of any religion is not to enslave a person and drag him under its wing. Everyone seeks the path to God on their own, and decides to believe or not. In sects, complete control over a person is exercised; each of its members lives according to the rules and is constrained by certain obligations.

Presence of an infallible guru and tenets of teaching

If in religion God is something unearthly, sometimes embodied in people or animals, and sometimes appearing to people to convey truths, then the sect has a total spiritual leader.

God loves all people, punishes for serious sins, but can forgive even this. To forgive, you need to repent, pray, correct your behavior, and live with the benefit of others. With sectarian gurus everything is different. This requires submission, renunciation of family, loved ones, and previous interests.

One could argue that in Orthodox monasteries there are also hermits who have renounced worldly connections and benefits. However, the difference is significant - before becoming a monk, you need to go through several stages, just try yourself in the role of a worker at the monastery. People are literally lured into a sect and their will is suppressed in a short time.

In addition, religious activity in general brings good, monks are not forced to go from house to house, recruiting people into their organization for the sake of profit. Excursions to famous monasteries give a feeling of awe and reverence. It is not for nothing that many pilgrimage trips around the country are made every year. The same cannot be said about sects.

What types of sects are there?

Considering the fact that there are more and more sects, it is difficult even for specialists to classify such groups. The signs of the sect began to differ significantly from each other, in order to lure people they come up with ever newer and more sophisticated methods. Criteria that characterize the types of sects:

The principle of separating sexts is based on charismatic and hierarchical directions. In charismatic, there is one leader, he easily stands out among the crowd. In the hierarchical one there is a group of leaders, a ladder of main puppeteers.
In sects there can be both a totalitarian regime and imaginary freedom. The principle is the same, the only difference is the length of the string on which the puppet is sewn.
Sects are divided according to those religions whose dogmas were taken as a basis. There are followers of Christianity, Islam, and so on, and there are also representatives of a new faith.

Religious sects

Christian sects are reshaping them in their own way and calling into question the entire Christian faith. They create their own divine revelations and claim that their leader's writings are the voice of God himself. Such writings are not only considered sacred, but also have an authority greater than the Bible itself. The signs of a Christian sect are that the divine face of the person of Christ is completely denied. Sectarians do not believe in his virgin birth, life without sin and miraculous resurrection.

Totalitarian sects

Such groups are characterized by an authoritarian method and human rights are severely limited. Totalitarian sects are a real danger not only to health, but also to human life. The signs of a totalitarian sect are easy to see under the guise of religion.

there is a leader, who is also a mediator between God and people;
young organization;
the internal opacity of the sect;
your own thoughts are not allowed, only those that the leader commands;
deception, concealment of information;
sectarians are not allowed to communicate with family and friends;
books, newspapers, TV, radio, Internet are prohibited;
put psychological pressure on people;
the belief that the world outside the sect is evil;
committing crimes (terrorism, mass suicides).

Sexual sects

Cults built on both religion and lust are carried out in groups of this orientation. By buying into yet another path to salvation, which is truly true, people's brains become dull. As a rule, most sexual sects are created by a certain person with the sole purpose of satisfying their desires. Orgies in sects are a constant and inalienable phenomenon.

Occult sects

Mystical experiences, which form the basis of the doctrine, are the main concept of the sect. The signs of an occult sect distinguish it from religious sects of other directions:

A leader must have the gift of a prophet. Moreover, what is said in the Bible, the prophetic writings in it, have nothing to do with the prophecy of occult sects.
The date of the end of the world is often used in occult sects to whip up mood and, in general, all sectarians have an eschatological mood.
Only mystical insights are taken into account in such sects. Rational thinking and logic are secondary for the occultist.

Commercial sects

When discussing what sects exist, it is difficult to imagine that there is a place for sectarianism in commerce. If we conduct an analysis, then such activities as network marketing can be safely classified as commercial cults. All network marketing is built on a pyramid, which can only be controlled by the tip of the iceberg. The more methods using manipulative means included in any one particular company, the closer it is to sectarianism.

The more successful the company and the more widespread it is, the more likely it is that it is a cult. Main features:

there is a saving idea of a miracle product;
a myth was created about his unusual appearance;
buyers are convinced that by purchasing, they will become the elite, the chosen ones.

Satanic sects

One of the wildest and most criminal groups, even against the backdrop of totalitarian ones. In ancient times, the cult of Satan was kept secret; in the modern world, Satanism is no longer hidden so zealously. This is worship of the highest form of evil and is perceived more like black magic. The pseudo-religion that has shackled destructive sects is not only based on the worship of the devil, all Christian virtues are considered vices there.

Satanists fight in the eternal struggle of light and darkness. Moreover, they fight on the dark side, sincerely believing that in the end only it will win. The cult of Satan existed even in the pre-Christian period. In this sect it was fashionable at all times to make terrible sacrifices, often of babies. It is dangerous for the lives of not only sect members, but society.

Aggressive proselytism

Sectarians strive not only to convert others to their faith (this is the concept of proselytism, which is the main feature of a sect), but to apply persistence bordering on aggression. At the first stage, the “recruit” is convinced by the “carrot” method, saying how chosen, necessary, and previously unappreciated by anyone he is.

Subsequently, community members collect incriminating evidence against the adept, signatures on the donation of material goods, or act with threats to honor, dignity, health, life (different levers in different societies) in the event of his departure.

In addition, in such organizations there is an imposition of one’s own faith and cult. Everything that is excellent is severely condemned. With the help of skillful manipulation on the part of the members, the inspired person abandons his principles and believes in the only correct religion.

How to recognize a sect?

Most groups try to effectively disguise their activities. Exposing a sect is not an easy matter, but using key characteristics, it will be easier to do it:

Propaganda and attracting more and more supporters, along with annoying calls and letters, should alert any person. The offer is often made to attend free seminars, psychological trainings and hides luring into a sect.
The newcomer is surrounded with special attention and the connection does not stop even for a day, so as not to leave him time to think.
No one will tell newcomers the truth about the true goals of the sect. In order to become an enlightened person, you need to take a higher place in the hierarchy.
Sects exist on donations. Having reached a certain stage, the participant will need to make contributions.
Religion in sects is undeniable, the leader talks about this, and all the facts from his life point only to his connection with the Almighty. The leader's orders are not discussed.
To penetrate the spirit of the sect, a new participant is given a large amount of information in the form of books, booklets, and films. He attends meetings where “miracles” are always demonstrated.
The sect is constantly taught that only its thinking is correct, and the sect members represent the elite with incredible knowledge and urge the sectarians to have pity on other people and tell the truth.
An ordinary person is literally torn out of his family and usual social circle, establishing constant control over him. By adjusting it to the life of the sect, they are encouraged to act actively.
The signs of a sect are hidden in insignia. For this purpose, tattoos are applied, pendants and brooches are worn, and a special hairstyle is done.

Ex-cultists and their health

In some destructive religious organizations, after leaving the cult, even with a favorable environment in the family and the help of specialists, a person feels like a stranger in society.

Thus, American psychologists, having examined a large group of ex-cultists (who were difficult to “take out” from the cult), found in 52% of them the “floating” syndrome, nightmares – 40%, amnesia (memory disorder) – 21%. , hallucinations and mania – 14%, inability to break the “obsessive mental rhythms” of monotonous singing ritually imposed in the sect – 35%, outbursts of rage – 14%, tendencies towards suicide or self-destruction – 21%.

According to statistics, 88% of ex-cultists viewed their groups as harmful or very harmful (51%).

In order to attract people into their activities, sects use various media channels to advertise their “ultimate truth.” According to converts, real friendships and family relationships are formed there, and the search for truth for each person ends there. Withdrawal into the system of these sects from the real problems of modern life can be considered as one of the options for psychological protection from the “cold secular and cruel world.”

How do they recruit into sects?

Considering the fact that there is a lot of information about the dangers of sects, people still fall into the traps they have set. How does such professional recruitment happen and how do people end up in sects? The truth is that cult leaders have captivating charisma, plus they are professionals in the manipulation of consciousness. Even ordinary preachers are taught the art of persuasion in sects.

Preachers choose those who are prone to suggestion. It all starts with agitation and familiarization with the rules. A little later it will follow that the person will be convinced to limit communication with the outside world. How to avoid joining a cult? A person who is confident and firmly on the ground will never fall into a sect, but there is no person for whom everything is always good, which means that anyone can fall into the clutches of a sect:

remember, a little girl or a dear old lady can turn out to be a sectarian;
you need to be vigilant when suddenly offering help just like that;
remember that “normal” people also get there, and anyone at risk;
if someone you know has ended up in a sect, do not go there with him, even out of curiosity;
Don't be susceptible to flattery.

Double teaching

A sect often has a “double bottom”. At the advertising stage, not everything is said about the sect leader, the rules, and living conditions in their society. At first, the recruited adept sees a beautiful picture and hears only about future improvements in his life. Only later does it become clear that the leader may have been previously convicted of crimes or simply does not believe in what he is inspiring to others. And all this was created only for his own enrichment.

At first, nothing is required from the newly elected person - except participation in the life of society, studying the principles of their faith and morals. Only later does it become clear that in order to continue existing in the sect, you need to pay with something (everything you can) and give up your previous life. Usually, by this point, the adherent has already become involved in the sect in every sense: psychologically, possibly medicinally, and could also be subjected to physical violence.

How to understand that a person has joined a sect?

There are a number of signs that help determine that a person has joined a religious group. Thanks to the fact that modern sects have begun to work using sophisticated methods, such people are visible.

a person suddenly disappears for several hours;
he now has appropriate literature, sacred music sounds;
many different new friends appeared;
he began to blame someone for the sinfulness of life;
began to educate those around him;
became withdrawn.

Mental violence against a person

Damage to the health and personality of a person in a cult is caused as a result of hidden mental violence and manipulation of a person’s consciousness under the guise of sermons, ceremonies, rituals, as a result of massive suggestions in states of artificially altered consciousness, up to deep hypnosis and self-hypnosis, resulting from the use of certain psychotechnical methods during “ services”, rituals, initiations, meditations.

Specialists and doctors who observed, for example, former Scientologists, diagnosed their condition as “post-traumatic stress disorder.” Psychiatrists came to believe that Hubbard had inverted the treatment processes used to relieve obsessive-compulsive disorders, thereby artificially driving clients into syndromes of these conditions, which in turn led to a range of mental disorders. Former members reported a high rate of mental illness caused by so-called "chronic fatigue syndrome" - a lack of desire and energy. However, so far no in-depth scientific research has been carried out on these reports, says F.V. Kondratiev.

Psychosomatic symptoms (headaches, back pain, asthma, skin disorders, sleep disorders, nightmares, digestive disorders, sexual problems) become constant companions of former adherents of totalitarian cults and sects.

Problems with decision making, delayed psychological development, loss of psychological strength, guilt, fear, loss of trust, fear of intimacy and commitment. There are facts indicating that many made desperate attempts to regain freedom, but fears and persecution from the cult embedded in the subconscious drove people to mental disorders and even suicide.

How to get a person out of a sect?

Religious groups are business as usual. Those at the top make a lot of money from this. If a person has already been dragged into it, getting him out of the sect is a very difficult task. When taking the first steps in a sect, a person is in a state of euphoria and does not care at all about how to leave the sect. There he can feel his own uniqueness and significance. The only way is communication with the family and a competent psychologist. It would be nice to find a person who managed to get out of there; he knows better than anyone how to fight the sect.

Religious Marketing or Religious Advertising

The sect's propaganda is usually very persistent. Advertising calls for adherence to supposedly universal human values (hospitality, mutual assistance, good nature, group cohesion, etc.). Propaganda materials (leaflets, posters, etc.) promise benefits that everyone needs, but not everyone has enough:

Love;
happiness;
material well-being;
respect and acceptance of others.

The most dangerous sects in the world

There are a huge number of sects operating on the planet. All of them are more or less dangerous, but when we are talking not only about clouding of consciousness and extortion of money, but also terrorism, mass suicide, child molestation and human sacrifice, it becomes scary. The most dangerous sects in the world have been or are engaged in this activity.

The most famous sects:

The “Church of Scientology”
is cobbled together from a variety of distorted ideas from the scientific and religious fields. This is an example of a truly dangerous totalitarian sect, which has been engaged in murder and terrorism for many years. The sect's preachers sell drugs and weapons and force their women to earn money for the sect through prostitution.
The Unification Church
is one of the richest and most influential totalitarian sects in the world. The sect spends more than one billion dollars a year on recruiting new supporters. The sect has distorted and distorted the entire Christian culture, forcing people to beg, trade and steal.
The Ku Klux Klan
is a dangerous terrorist organization. Its members are racists who fight “with their own methods” against blacks, Jews and even Catholics.
The Movement for the Restoration of God's Ten Commandments
is a totalitarian sect that promotes the belief that the apocalypse is near. The group was organized by a former prostitute and “in its own way” honors and interprets God’s commandments. On the supposed day of the apocalypse, 500 sectarians burn themselves alive in a church.
"Aum Shinrikyo"
- the sect is suspected of murder and fraud. After such accusations, cultists released poisonous gas at one of the subway stations in Japan. The sect leader was immediately arrested, and hostages, firearms, chemical weapons, and explosives were found in his house.
“Children of God”
- in this sect they rape children and this is considered normal. Members of the sect themselves bring their children, who are then forced into prostitution.
“Order of the Solar Temple”
- a sect based on the belief that a person’s existence begins only after his death. Mass suicides are its characteristic feature. The suicides bequeath their money to the leaders of the sect.
“Branch of David”
is a sect of a totalitarian regime, the leader of the sect has the right to have sex with any woman in the group, pedophilia is widespread in the sect.

“Totalitarian sect” and its “adherents”

Over the past decades, domestic and foreign researchers have been actively studying the phenomenon of so-called destructive cults. In our country, the term “totalitarian sect” is now more widespread and more often used. The name is often used - asocial (destructive) cult.

Taking into account other definitions of the terms “sect” and “cult” offered in various dictionaries, scientific studies and textbooks, we can give the following version.

The term “sect” comes from the Latin “secta” - way of thinking, school, teaching, party. In everyday language, the concept of “sect” over time became increasingly associated with the verb secare - to separate, cut off. Thus, an understanding of a sect arose as a special religious society or group, closed in its own interests (including cultic ones), separated from the traditional church or traditional religion.

An adept is a zealous follower, an adherent of a cult, initiated into the teachings and secrets of the cult. Adherents are usually called “sectarians” in common parlance.

In the book “Dangerous totalitarian forms of religious sects”, the authors (Priest Andrey Khvylya-Olinter, S.A. Lukyanov) reveal the concept of a totalitarian sect as follows: “A totalitarian sect is an authoritarian hierarchical destructive organization (religious, political, educational, commercial), or a movement that practices deceptive recruitment and mind control to keep its adherents submissive to a doctrine and a leader who purposefully deceives and binds them to himself, taking advantage of their ignorance and inexperience and cultivating in them a state of ignorance and unnatural illegal dependence.”

The works of Metropolitan of Leningrad and Ladoga Ioann (Snychev) indicate that spiritual totalitarianism, like political totalitarianism, aims to seize power over people, but only with the help of religious beliefs.

Using the natural spiritual need of a person and his craving for the search for truth, a totalitarian sect wants to enslave not only a person, but also force him to serve himself in the name of God himself.

Psychological manipulation

This is a type of psychological influence, the skillful execution of which leads to hidden arousal in another person of intentions that do not coincide with his actually existing desires.

Suggestion involves the transmission and induction of thoughts, moods, feelings, behavior, autonomic and motor reactions. What is achieved is not the consent of the partner, but the acceptance of information based on a ready-made conclusion. Trust in the suggestor and his authority are of decisive importance. Unlike persuasion, where the main influence is exerted by rational arguments, suggestion appeals primarily to the emotional side of the human psyche.

The main suggestive tool is the word. To ensure maximum suggestive influence, expressive means of speech are used: rhythm, intonation, stress, pauses, periodic repetition of the same words. And there is also its own music, its own fiction, its own youth slang, the practice of prayer towers (the so-called “24-hour prayer”, which is divided into young people who are obliged to devote one hour, regardless of the time of day, to this prayer).

Suggestibility is defined as “self-regulation of an individual’s activity under the unconscious influence of either the environment, or the position of a group, or an individual subject.”

Spinoza also noted: “People consider themselves free only because they are aware of their actions, but do not know the reasons by which these actions are determined.”

Suggestion is formed on the basis of trust by stimulating the imagination and emotions developed through the mechanisms of infection and imitation.

“Deception, falsification, substitution, all this in the sect serves to pass off the ghostly light of a rotten swamp as the light of Truth,” writes professor of the Moscow Theological Academy A.I. Osipov. — Narrowness and limitations are presented as exclusivity and exclusivity. A surrogate cocktail of fragments of different creeds - for the completeness and breadth of the “creed” of the sect. Intolerance towards other religions (and other sects as well) is seen as a sign of the purity of the sect. Proud self-confidence and conceit are a sign of truth and “God’s chosenness.” Worshiping the leader as God is presented as worshiping God's messenger. Demonic obsessions and self-hypnosis are presented as “divine revelations.”

Destructive physical and mental changes among sect members are considered as a “transmutation” of the body and an “expansion of consciousness.” Refusal of critical thinking is interpreted as the best way to directly comprehend the truth. Suppression of personality and strict control over the behavior of sect members is presented as caring for its members. The break with the family, with the social environment is declared as a desire to get rid of the environment mired in sins, which interferes with the “spiritual growth of the elect.”

Are Baptists sectarians or not?

Baptists are a Protestant sect. The organization is widespread throughout the world, in particular in Russia and Ukraine.

They refuse such basic sacraments of the church as communion and baptism. Baptism is performed in adulthood, and they call priests presbyters.

Members of the organization do not accept the cross and prayer in front of the icon, and do not believe in the Mother of God and the saints. The Bible is considered a holy book, but it has a different interpretation than that of Christians.

Ardent opponents of alcoholic beverages, they are even forbidden to sit at the same table with people who drink alcohol.