Warning, there are some sexually explicit scenes in here. This is another example of a 1970s/80s cult in addition to the Jim Jones "Suicide Cult."
Published on Jul 10, 2009
After a highly unconventional childhood in Children of God, a cult that mixed religion with sex, filmmaker Noah Thomson escaped to begin a normal life. But after experiencing years of sexual abuse and neglect, Thomson and other former members of the organization may never know what "normal" is. The documentary follows Thomson as he searches for others who have tried to start a new life outside the cult - and searches for answers about his own lost childhood.
A cult is defined as a group of people with religious beliefs and practices deemed as sinister or strange. Whenever we hear about them, we automatically think they are evil, their members nothing more than gullible people. Regardless of what we feel, their existence is a reality. The following 5 cults made headlines not just because of their strange beliefs but because they shocked and caused grief and death to thousands of people. These are five of the worst cults to ever exist.
5. Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God
4. Grail Movement Cult Originally started in the late 40s, the Grail Movement was established by the followers of Oskar Ernst Bernhardt, also known as Abd-ru-shin. Their core belief follows the principles of his book "In the Light: The Grail Message", and currently, there are over 10,000 members.
3. Children of God
2. Heavens Gate IN 1997 acting on an anonymous tip, police entered a hilltop mansion in California and found 39 dead people inside. This was the case that shaped people's notion of modern day doomsday cults – The Heaven's Gate.
1. Jonestown/ The Peoples Temple It was a promised Utopia for members of The People's Temple of the Disciples of Christ or commonly, the People's Temple. But instead, their commune in Jonestown became a living hell for its many members and would leave the world shocked.
"Jonestown" was the informal name for the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project formed by the Peoples Temple, an American religious organization under the leadership of Jim Jones, in northwestern Guyana. It became internationally notorious when on November 18, 1978, 918 people died in the settlement, at the nearby airstrip in Port Kaituma, and in Georgetown, Guyana's capital city. The name of the settlement became synonymous with the incidents at those locations.
A total of 909 Temple members died in Jonestown, all but two from apparent cyanide poisoning, in an event termed "revolutionary suicide" by Jones and some members on an audio tape of the event and in prior discussions. The poisonings in Jonestown followed the murder of five others by Temple members at Port Kaituma, including United States Congressman Leo Ryan. Four other Temple members died in Georgetown at Jones' command.
To a certain extent, the actions in Jonestown were viewed as a mass suicide; some sources, including Jonestown survivors, regard the event as a mass murder.[1][2] It was the largest such event in modern history and resulted in the largest single loss of American civilian life in a deliberate act until the events of September 11, 2001. Questions for discussion:
How does this video illustrate the concepts from the chapter on religious communities? Charismatic leaders? Founded religions? Why do you think people would be attracted to join a suicide cult?
Warning, there are some sexually explicit scenes in here. This is another example of a 1970s/80s cult in addition to the Jim Jones "Suicide Cult."
Published on Jul 10, 2009
After a highly unconventional childhood in Children of God, a cult that mixed religion with sex, filmmaker Noah Thomson escaped to begin a normal life. But after experiencing years of sexual abuse and neglect, Thomson and other former members of the organization may never know what "normal" is. The documentary follows Thomson as he searches for others who have tried to start a new life outside the cult - and searches for answers about his own lost childhood.
