| .:WHY DO PEOPLE LEAVE CULTS?
Why do people leave cults? Why are
some willing to seek help from counter-cult ministries
while others reject any form of help from ex-members
or religious associates? Why is it common for ex-cult members to react defensively to any form of criticism of the group they left? Why do members remain loyal to the ideals of the group in spite of suffering mental and emotional abuse from cult leadership? To answer these questions, we must study the three types of people who leave cults:
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Those who leave on their
own and make a permanent break from the cult group.
These are the people who are considered “disassociated”
or “apostate” by their acquaintances in the
religion. They are viewed as untouchable because
they took a stand against the “God appointed”
leadership of the cult. Although people in this
group may have exited the cult over doctrinal disagreements,
many leave due to one or more bad experiences within
the group. If they left over their experience and
not over doctrinal disagreements, they may turn
to a similar cult group (often one that splintered
off of the main group). Others who leave based on
personal experience become skeptical of anything
“religious.” Having been turned off
to “religion” by the physical and emotional
control they experienced from cult leadership, many
give up on the idea of “God” altogether
and become skeptics and agnostics. Others who drop
out of the cult may retain a belief in God, but
isolate themselves from religious association for
fear of being scammed in another cult. Unfortunately,
only a small minority of those who officially leave
cults have truly been born again by the Spirit of
God and have found true freedom, not in a religion,
but in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Thus, we advocate using sensitivity when discussing
spiritual topics and asking leading questions to
help the former cultist re-evaluate cult doctrine
and policies.
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Those who drop out without
officially leaving. These are considered
“inactive.” The reasons
for their “inactive” status can vary
from minimal disillusionment to complete denial
of the cult’s beliefs and practices. In the
latter case, their failure to make a permanent break
from the cult group may stem from a fear of being
rejected and shunned by their friends and family
members in the cult and a desire to convince others
in the cult to join them in leaving. Those with
only minimal disillusionment may carry doubts about
the religion or feel they are unable to live up
to its demands, but they may not have seen enough
evidence against the religion to convince them to
officially exit the cult. In many cases where inactivity
is due solely to the member’s inability to
live up the standards of the cult, any criticism
of the cult may illicit a strong, defensive response
on the part of the inactive member because he or
she may still embrace the cult’s authority
in his or her life.
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Those who broke the
rules and were expelled from the group.
Former members who were “excommunicated”
or “disfellowshipped” against their
will are the least likely to seek help from counter-cult
ministries. Since most of the people who were ousted
from the group due to performance failure still
accept the cult’s authority over their lives
and believe the cult is the only true source for
obtaining God’s approval, many will either
react by working to get back into the cult (get
“reinstated”), or give up on trying
to be worthy altogether and turn to drugs, sex,
alcohol and the party scene for emotional support.
Feeling rejected by “God” due to the
cult’s rejection of them, they often think
that they might as well “live it up”
since they only have a few years on earth before
God will permanently destroy them along with the
rest of the wicked of mankind. While both types
of people who are expelled against their will are
often sensitive to criticism of the cult, you will
find those who chose not to turn to worldly lifestyles
but work hard to get accepted back into the cult,
most sensitive to anything negative or critical
of the cult. They may go so far as to avoid all
contact with other ex-cult members in an attempt
to keep “pure” of “apostate”
(anti-cult) thinking, and they may view all attempts
to rescue them from the cult as attacks of Satan
who would seek to destroy their confidence in the
cult, God’s “true religion” in
their minds.
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