Is modern day GOP nothing more than a Cult?

[Toots]

Right-wingers seem to have taken on all the qualities of a Cult Have the Moonies finally succeeded? Maybe I am missing something but to me the mindless followers exhibit cult behavior. Any experts here on cult phenomena?

[brainshrub]

1. No.

I know some Libs who are just as weird as Cons. It's politics, and like everything else it can be taken to far.

To label the GOP as a cult is to belittle the whole political process. Let's face it...sometimes they GOP makes good points.

[Toots]

2. Let's face it sometimes Rev. Moon makes good points!!

:crazy:

[Bill McBlueState]

3. cult is a vague word

To most people, it just means "a religious group I don't agree with." So you'll hear Baptists calling the Catholic church a cult, and Catholics calling the Southern Baptist Convention a cult, and they both think Mormons are a cult.

So naturally some Democrats are going to think the Republicans are a cult.

[Toots]

5. What Webster's says

Cult: to turn,dwell,care for ~ a system of religious worship or ritual ~ devoted attachment to or extravagant admiration for, a person, principle etc.

[barbaraann]

4. From Cults 101:

Characteristics of a Destructive Cult

Authoritarian pyramid structure with authority at the top

Charismatic or messianic leader(s) (Messianic meaning they either say they are God OR that they alone can interpret the scriptures the way God intended.....the leaders are self-appointed.

Deception in recruitment and/or fund raising

Isolation from society -- not necessarily physical isolation like on some compound in Waco, but this can be psychological isolation -- the rest of the world is not saved, not Christian, not transformed (whatever) -- the only valid source of feedback and information is the group

Use of mind control techniques (we use Dr. Robert Jay Lifton's criteria from chapter 22 of his book Thought Reform & the Psychology of Totalism to compare whether the eight psychological and social methods he lists are present in the group at question)


http://www.csj.org/studyindex/studycult/study_whatisdescult.htm

[metisnation]

6. In IL we have a "church" called willowcreek and they are RW

and a lot of people say its a cult anyone know someone who goes there? I do ask me anything.

[kysrsoze]

7. Is that the huge church in South Barrington/Hoffman Estates?

I knew people from that church where I worked a few years ago. They were like a bunch of Ned Flanders'. Cultish? Ehhhh. They sure were straight-edge. They kind of kept their own little clique and I don't think they drank at all.

What have people said about it?

[patricia92243]

8. Not yet - but if they keep on going the way they are now, they soon will b

[liberalmuse]

9. Many Republicans have the cult mentality...

because they have a lot of fundamentalist Christians among them. My mom, a fundie, doesn't bother to read the news. She votes for whomever her pastor or those tv preachers tell her to vote for. I know a lot of Republicans who think George Bush is 'chosen by god', and also, they like him for the very fact that he comes across as a pathetic dumb guy, who lacks the charisma and intelligence of Clinton, but he has a 'good heart' (in the words of my mother).

[Iverson]

10. no central charismatic figure

I have always understood cults to need a central charismatic figure. Also, cult implies being out of the mainstream. Republicans are mainstream.

They are more like a religion with unquestioning faith in dogma.