When you think of the word ‘cult’, what immediately comes to mind for most of us are things like hooded velvet robes, secretive gatherings and doomsday prophesies. Then there’s the charismatic yet nefarious leader brainwashing followers, maybe a forced orgie or two, a spot of mass suicide. Generally not good stuff.

Psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton outlines three primary characteristics of destructive cults: a charismatic leader, coercive persuasion tactics, and exploitation of members. Well, that pretty much sums up NXIVM and the Order of the Solar Temple.

It’s pretty well established that there are a lot of bad cults. But are there any good ones? 

CHAPTERS:

• 00:00 Management cult at Rod’s first job
• 07:01 Scientology: A Cult or Not?
• 10:23 10 warning signs of being in a cult
• 14:14 Order of the Solar Temple 
• 18:51 NXIVM: Were you a Nazi in a former life?
• 24:16 Cognitive dissonance and why do people join cults? 
• 31:23 Female Empowerment in New Religious Movements  
• 34:55 Ma Anand Sheela and Osho
• 40:04 Defining Cults: Destructive or Benign
• 44:17 The Wholesome Verdict on Cults
• 48:26 What’s next on The Wholesome Show

SOURCES:

• Benign Cults vs Negative Cults
• Rajneesh movement - Wikipedia
• How Scientologists Founded the Pancake Parlour