WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTS?
Isolation is the first criterion for a cult, but not the only one. Acult is more than an organization off the beaten path that influencespeople’s values and behavior in unorthodox ways. A cult thrives onsecrecy because those who lead the cult know that society woulddisapprove of what the cult does. Why would society disapprove? Not simply because society is a spoil-sport, but because society, withall its imperfections, has a repugnance for secret and hiddenactivities, activities if, when exposed to open inquiry, would be seenas abusive and exploitative and beyond all bounds of decency.
