Dear anti-cult community,

I am Marc Perkel, founder and "First One" of the Church of Reality. We are a new religion (almost 7 years old) based on believing in everything that is real. One of the things that is important to us is that we never want to become a cult And - as you know if we did - we'd not know it ourselves.

So - I invite you all to scrutinize us and evaluate our "cult potential" and see if you can find anything that we need to fix or improve in order to make us more cult proof.

[www.churchofreality.org]

Love to get some feedback on this, especially the idea of religions inviting external auditing by anti-cult groups.

Here are some simple guidelines and criteria you can check for yourself.

[www.culteducation.com]

[www.culteducation.com]

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rrmoderator
Here are some simple guidelines and criteria you can check for yourself.

[www.culteducation.com]

[www.culteducation.com]

Well, of course I think we are totally clean. After all, I'm the cult leader. Good list though. I'm going to link to it.

I personally don't think you're a cult, or really a religion.
More like a philosophical society.
I have found several more links to free-thought, free speech societies on the web, so I this seems to be a growing movement, which is a good thing.

It appears from a recent rejected post that the person posting for the so-called "Church of Reality" is here to promote that group.

This board is not to be used in this way.

The message board is not here for advertising, promotional efforts or preaching/proselytizing.

someone told me about a parade that happens every April Fool day in their city.

It is sponsored by something called The First Church of the Last Laugh.

The mission is to be ridiculous in public. Anyone can join.

One parade participant decided to be stupid in public by looking for Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.

And there's no way, anyone can make a mistake or do it wrong in relation to anyone else.

My informant said two signs stood out:

'Use a God, go to Jail' and, 'God Bless us and No One Else'

It cannot ever become a cult because:

* You know what you're in for if you get involved

* You can join when you want and leave when you want

*Complete respect for anyone who chooses not to participate or who has
to leave early

*No secrets

*And there's no way, anyone can make a mistake or do it wrong in relation to anyone else.

This is genuine play. Everyone secretly knows it is a game--and also knows where and when to exit the play scene and return to every day life.

The Parade is bizarre, but is not a cult because all participants understand that eventually it has to end . They've all agreed on when it must end and resume their outside lives.

Unlike the parade, cults are like Roach Motels. Once you check in, you cannot check out.

The questing mind that brought you to a cult is, after you join the cult, no longer praised but instead you're pressured to replace your questing mind with an indoctrinated mind.

In more sophisticated cults, your questing mind is domesticated. You think you're free but the cult still owns your inner life. In this case, you learn never to apply questing mind to the cult, to its leader's pretensions, or what the leader did with his life before he started the group. You learn not to apply your questing mind to where the money goes or why some people suddenly stop coming to meetings and everyone pretends they never existed.

Just as domestic dogs are taught never to piss or drop turds in the house, the really sophisticated cults teach you never to apply critical thinking to the group--but you're allowed, sometimes even encouraged to apply your skepticism and intellectual sophistication to topics outside the group--especially in relation anything or anyone the group percieves as a threat.

In some cases, people may be subtly taught to pretend to be skeptical about the group and guru, profess to be not quite convinced. But--if any really effective challenge is made to the guru or group, these 'domesticated skeptics' will suddenly get quite defensive of the group. But they're valuable because they make it seem one can be a devotee and not be dumb.

The fact is, their social and intellectual sophistication have been domesticated--house broken--to serve the group's agenda.

The minute someone uses their intellect and skepticism and actually does the equivalent of pissing in the house--they'll get the equivalent (or worse) of a biff on the snout with a rolled up newspaper.

If you were expertly trained by a group to have your intellect and skepticism housebroken, you'll feel free and very sophisticated, but you're still on a leash--the leash is quite a long one, but its still a leash.

In such a case you turn off your questing mind in relation to the group, like the house-broken dog, and know to find the dog-door when you apply your critical thinking skills to anything not directly related to the group.

You are trained to forget there is a decent life outside the group and made to feel that outside life is dull, dangerous or inferior.

Or, you may operate in this outside life like a secret agent--you may hold down a well paying job, but secretly feel your real life is to serve the group. This secrecy may be quite thrilling.

You're taught to forget where the exit signs are, so you lose ability to imagine leaving the cult situation. The thrill of feeling special and the equivalent thrill of despising an inferior world may hide what you've actually lost.

Many cults are crazy making because you're made to hope and believe you can someday 'get it right' when, there is something in the material that makes proficiency impossible, or the leader has an unconscious hang up and feels threatened when you shows signs of progress and will either punish you or try to confuse you if you DO show signs of progress.

That's what it's like in the Science of Identity Foundation, Jagad Guru's group. Exactly.
I couldn't be housetrained.:lol:
That's also what it's like in the cult of AA.
I've checked out Church of Reality, and it doesn't seem like a cult to me.