I usually think Dr. Laura is right, and I get why she does her show the way she does.
She had a caller at the start of the of the final half-hour today who said her family (the one she was raised in, not the one she has now with her husband) was leaving her out of family functions since she left their "elitist" religion.
Dr. Laura turned it around on her and called her elitist and suggested (insisted) that she had been hurtful towards her family.
Perhaps there was some information on Dr. Laura's computer screen that she wasn't sharing with her listeners, but the impression I got as a listener was that it was entirely possible that this woman had left one of the many cults that exist. By "cult" I'm not addressing theology, but sociology. Not all cults live in gated compounds, stockpile weapons in anticipation with of a battle with the government, and commit mass suicide or set dates for the end of the world.
There ARE actual cults out there who shun those who leave their group, even if those people still keep most of the same theological beliefs, practices, morals, etc. It gets so bad that family members are strongly encouraged to shun other family members who leave the group. That could have been what was going on with this woman.
It's good that Dr. Laura gets people think about what they might have done wrong and how they can accept or fix things, but in this case it sounded like she was scolding someone who could have been making a very healthy decision to leave a cult.
Cults are a very real problem and highly intelligent people can be slowly absorbed into one (in her case, she grew up with this group). In some cases, a person's entire life gets wrapped up in the same tightly contolled monolithic group - their family, their job, their friends, even their possessions (home, car, etc.) and leaving becomes very difficult because it means having to start an entirely new life.
I'm glad that I knew enough about cults and how they work to avoid being recruited into one. I was approached no less than five times by the same cult in a short span of time. It got to the point that I could someone was a member before they reached the end of the first sentence of their pitch.
Anyway, this was one instance where I thought Dr. Laura could have been way off.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
3 comments:
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So .. are you anti-religion? I believe this is the 2nd time you've gone on about "cults" and I'm still not sure your definition isn't so broad as to include every organized religion out there. Churches are generally elitist organizations ... The Jews are God's chosen people, Baptists will tell me I'll burn in hell with Satan if I don't convert to their church, any Christian sect "knows" it is only through Him that we can be saved (thus damning anyone who doesn't believe in Jesus, like the vast majority of Asia). That's how churches go.
ReplyDeleteSo what "cult" are you referring to specifically, out there trying to recruit you? Is there a specific "cult" you have in mind when you refer to a "tightly controlled monolithic group" or are you throwing rocks haphazardly?
Just curious, you know ... must be aware of all those "cults" trying to get my family and possessions away from me - also, just in case I'm already involved in one, it'd be nice to know, so I can start shunning all outsiders.
Mrs. B. Roth... thanks for commenting.
ReplyDeleteInteresting about the Baptists - I'm sure there are some Baptists who believe that, but unless I'm mistaken I think the official position of the various Baptist organizations that is that anyone who has Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior is saved/Christian, even if they aren't a Baptist. That's pretty much what most Christian churches believe (not all).
As for only through Him... well, that is based on their reading of the Bible... there are passages where that seems to be clearly stated... "Nobody comes to the Father but by me" - that sort of thing.
Of course each religious group thinks they are right – at least in a society where you are free to choose your association and religion. There may be some individuals who don’t believe their religious group is right or don't have any amount of certainty about it, and they are members of that group for other reasons. Some religious groups are exclusive - in the sense that other groups are not only mistaken in their beliefs or practices, but they are going to suffer or miss out because of it - and some aren’t exclusive.
I’m certainly not against religion in general from a civic perspective. Like marriage, I believe it helps society in several ways, including strengthening family ties, encouraging morality, encouraging charity, and fostering community and friendships. Most religions discourage selfishness. But just like if someone marries the wrong person, someone who “marries” the wrong religion will ultimately suffer (if my beliefs are correct).
Most people would consider me a religious person. I’m a follower of Christ, I attend church, I pray, I read and study the Bible, etc. If the beliefs I have accepted are right, then beliefs that are in conflict with those are wrong. People are and should be free to believe them, though. And like I said, religion in general is good for society (especially theistic religion, or any form that makes a distinction between good and evil).
As for cults – do you deny that there are cults out there? Nobody wants that word applied to their group, of course, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t cults.
The cult I referenced was the L.A. Church of Christ. This was in the early 90s, so things may have changed. But there was time when the L.A. Church of Christ, the Boston Church of Christ, the International Church of Christ (whatever it was calling itself at the time) - used tactics that were cultlike. It discouraged any interaction with outsiders except for active proselytizing, which was often done in a stealth manner, such as “Hey, want to join us to shoot some pool in the Student Center?” Their actual purpose was to invite me to a Bible study. Now, I have no problem with proselytizing, or Bible studies, but these folks were not being up front about what they were doing, and would do their best to cut off your contact with any friends and family that were not members of their church – and I’m not talking because those people would encourage you to do things that are sinful. It was to make their members more dependent on the leadership of the group. They would tell students which classes to take. They would tell them where to live and with whom. They would tell them where to work. Soon, a person's life was entirely dependent on the group.
I've experianced a similar reaction to DL. Sometimes she is right on, and sometimes I think she must have different info than what we hear OR she's just way off base.
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