Sects in the USA

What’s a sect ?

First definition

• Def
• Eglise = secte (suivant cette def) but people refuse this because of the negative way sects are considered

What it became

• Explication ( = cult)
• Connotation négative
• Ce que ça évoque aux gens

Caracteristics

• Strong hierarchy : cult of the dirigeants
• Social rupture : denial of non-members relationship
• Adepts give a part of their money to the sect
• Easy to join : sects target people mentally weak (after somebody’s death, divorce, etc…)
• Difficult to quit : other adepts and dirigeants will use everything to keep you inside the sect (blackmail, harassment, any other way)

Sects based on religions

• Every religions can be at the origin of a sect
• Different interpretation of the religious texts : literal interpretations, mix several texts
• Headquarters don’t consider them as a branch of the religion

Branch Davidians - David Koresh

• Schism in the Davidian Seventh-Day Adventists : conflict between David Koresh and George Roden, the son of the leader of the Davidian Seventh-Day Adventists
• Divine Judgement : prepare the Christ’s Coming
• Polygamy : Koresh declared it was allowed

• Allowed him take teenagers as wives : 140 women were chosen for him, 60 as “queens” and 80 as simple partner

• Fight : they stack weapons in a compound “Mount Carmel” ⬄ origin of the Siege of Waco
• Siege of Waco : 51 days, 86 deaths

Manson Family - Charles Manson

• Founded The Family in the 1960’s (between 30 and 50 members, mostly young women)
• Manson is considered as the reincarnation of the Christ
• Family was based in Spahn’s Ranch : George Spahn allow them to use it in exchange of having sex with Family’s women
• Beliefs built on Bible and the Beatles’ White Album : the Helter Skelter, an apocalyptic war arising from racial tension between blacks and whites, was approaching. Black people would dominate whites, and kill them. Least, blacks would not be able to lead the world, and Manson would be a kind of saver and the new leader of the world.

Heaven’s Gate - Marshall Applewhite & Bonnie Nettles

• Beliefs : Planet Earth was about to be “recycled” ; the only chance to survive is to leave it immediately. The human body is only a vehicle for the soul. To be eligible for membership in the Next Level, humans have to give-up all human-like characteristics : family, friends, sexuality, individuality, jobs, money, possessions
• Thought an alien spaceship was hidden behind the Comet Hale-Boop, where aliens and Jesus were waiting for them. They had to renounce to their flesh body to join them

Children of God - David Brandt Berg

• Litteral interpretation of the Bible : call to love of the Christ is understood in the sexual way

Scientology is considered as a religion in the USA

...