Setting the altar

The polite academic attempt to introduce the term “New Religious Movement” has largely lost ground in the public sphere. Canadaland Commons, for example, releasing their most recent season on — whatever we’re talking about — chose the punchier and more communicative term: CULTS. When people witness bad behaviour in a spiritual group they want to employ a hard, derogatory word to make their opinions on the behaviour known. This human urge is hard to control. Our desire to communicate our value assessments surely accounts for much of the needless, constant and wonderful expansion in our vocabulary.

Continue reading “beginning to think about cults” →