Do People Have A Cult To Gain Their Identity?

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to completely lose your identity? People who are a part of a cult face this every day. Whether they are born into it or join it on their own, they are isolated and alone. Their identity becomes the cult; it defines who they are. There are many different types of cults, ranging from religious to political to marketing. Each has characteristics that define what and who they are but are all difficult to fit into one particular category. Many stem from or are developed from religions or a mix of religions, but are all distinctively different. Most revolve around power, sex, and money. The leaders mold the behavior of their followers to get these things from them. This can be seen through the manipulation
Jones was neglected as a child so he turned to the church for love and acceptance. When he was old enough to open a church of his own he did so with the best intentions in mind and at heart. He opened his church in Indianapolis, Indiana but later moved to California. The People’s Temple cult lasted from 1955-1978. At this time there were issues with racism and segregation of all kinds. Jones church was open to all races, sexes, and ages, which was not common in this era. This helped to attract a greater number of followers than it otherwise would have. It also caused an uproar in the community; this is when Jones moved his church to California, one of the more culturally diverse states at the time. Here he gained even more followers, his church becoming very big and popular. All of the members had complete faith in their leader and their church. As the church diversified and grew, Jones, who was thought to have become a drug addict, began to grow more and more paranoid.“In 1974, the Peoples Temple leased land in Guyana, where the group would flee media scrutiny in the United States and set up an agricultural commune” (Rolling Stone 2017). The move to Guyana in South America was Jone’s final attempt at avoiding persecution from the American
Jones, seeing no future without persecution, ordered all of his members to consume a poison laced drink. Those that resisted him were either forced to drink the poison or were shot. Free-will was not something that the members this cult knew anymore.The congressman and Jones himself died along with everyone else. One of the few survivors of this tragedy, Tim Carter, says, “It...has always been harder to talk about the aftermath...then the tragedy itself. I understand the phrase, ‘death by a thousand cuts’” (Carter 2010). Carter lost his whole family in this tragedy. He was only barely able to escape with his life. The ways of the cult were all Carter had known for so long. Instead of being his own person, he was only one part of this horrible group. He, along with all the other followers that died in this tragedy, lost his identity. The People’s Temple will forever be the part of his past that shapes his future. It is not something he will ever be able to escape. This mass suicide is just one example of the extreme nature of all hypocritical