Rough Draft
Caruthers 1
Caruthers 2
Alice Caruthers
Dr. Danita Berg
COM 1101 – Composition and Rhetoric [2022 Fall 1]
September 18, 2022
Thesis:
While the cause of my brother’s behavior may be much deeper than the church he belongs to, this particular church exhibits cult like tendencies because a significant time commitment is expected from its member, most of their members joined during a very vulnerable time in their lives, and the church is involved in every aspect of your life, from work all the way to your family and everything in between.
Dubrow-Marshall, R.P., and L. Dubrow-Marshall. “Cults and Mental Health”. Encyclopedia of Mental Health, 2016, pp. 393–401, 10.1016/b978-0-12-397045-9.00153-1. Accessed 8 June 2022.
In this article, Dubrow-Marshall & Dubrow-Marshall (2016) discusses the relationship between cults and mental health. According to the authors, the topic is not new in literature, and many authors have shared their insights on the relationship between cults and mental health across various disciplines and contexts. This is particularly evident in the last two decades, where research has been done on the psychological and mental health of followers of high-demand or extreme organizations, cults, or sects. Throughout the article, the authors have discussed a wide range of high-demand settings or cults (political, religious, and psychological), all of which share a high degree of control and influence as their main operating principles.
Ellin, Abby. “Seeing Overeating as a Sin, and God as the Diet Coach.” Gale OneFile, 29 May 2004
In this article, Abby (2004) provides insights on how overreacting can be a sin. Abby bases the article's overview on Ms. Shamblin, who believes that if one seeks God, listens to him, and loves him, God will keep them upright and protect them from overeating. According to Ms. Shamblin, all human beings worship something, and her goal is to show people how to convert this admiration into a connection with God. Throughout the article, Abby (2004) provides references from other prominent people who support or disapprove that overreacting is a sin.
Tina Rodia. “Is It a Cult, or a New Religious Movement? | Penn Today.” Penn Today, 29 Aug. 2019
In this article, Rodia (2019) gives her audience a walk through a deep analysis of whether the new pop culture is a cult or a new religious movement. According to Rodia, a Cult refers to a social movement rather than a religious organization and has nothing to do with spirituality. Throughout the article, Roda (2019) incorporates the ideas of other intellectuals. A good example is the case of Ori Tavor, a senior lecturer who believes the distinction between cults and new religions is a question of perspective. Towards the end of her article, Roda (2019) concludes that as long as there is orthodoxy and heterodoxy, there will always be people looking for solutions and leaders who claim to have them. It will mostly depend on time, whether their adherents are parishioners or members of a cult.
Schwartz, L. L., & Kaslow, F. W. (1979). Religious cults, the individual, and the family. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 5(2), 15-26.
In their article, the authors provide insights into the impact of religious cults on people and their families. In the article, the three have expressed their concern about how little attention has been given to the cult phenomenon, including what it is, how members are recruited, what sets vulnerable youth apart from non-vulnerable youth, and how belonging to a cult affects the convert's family (Schwartz & Kaslow, 1979). To provide a picture of the vulnerable youths and the methods employed by cults to entice, recruit, and convert members, the authors employ interviews, clinical observations and existent literature from various fields to collect data. The article aims to advance professional understanding of cults and research into associated family dynamics and therapeutic approaches.
Works Cited
Dubrow-Marshall, R.P., and L. Dubrow-Marshall. “Cults and Mental Health.” Encyclopedia of Mental Health, 2016, pp. 393–401, 10.1016/b978-0-12-397045-9.00153-1. Accessed 8 June 2022.
Ellin, Abby. “Seeing Overeating as a Sin, and God as the Diet Coach.” Gale OneFile, 29 May 2004, go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA117448265&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=03624331&p=HRCA&sw=w&userGroupName=tel_oweb&isGeoAuthType=true. Accessed 18 Sept. 2022.
Rodia, Tina. “Is It a Cult, or a New Religious Movement? | Penn Today.” Penn Today, 29 Aug. 2019, penntoday.upenn.edu/news/it-cult-or-new-religious-movement.
Schwartz, Lita Linzer, and Florence W. Kaslow. “Religious Cults, the Individual and the Family.” Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, vol. 5, no. 2, Apr. 1979, pp. 15–26, 10.1111/j.1752-0606.1979.tb01263.x. Accessed 11 Feb. 2019.