fandomhigh | World Religions, Wednesday, 2nd Period [11/29]

Jesse looks smug. He's sitting at his desk, feet up, coffee mug in hand, and a grin on his face that says he knows something you don't know.

At every desk is a handout, and a cup of kool aid.

Jesse waits for everyone to sign in before lazily beginning his lecture from his comfortable, but not particularly formal, position.

"Cults. If you ain't heard of them, you've been livin' under a rock your whole life. Christianity, Hare Krishnas, Scientology, the People's Temple, the Branch Davidians, and whatever group you want to name from your own ~~canon~~ home. Every religion starts as a cult in the eyes of outsiders. Catholicism still has the term built into its structure for veneration of their various saints.

"In Germany, Scientology is regarded as a dangerous cult and suppressed. Most Christians would be pissed at you for telling them they're part of a cult.

"The dictionary defines 'cult' without much emotional bias: 'Formal religious veneration' and 'A system of religious beliefs and ritual; also: its body of adherents,' but also 'A religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also: its body of adherents.'

"When does a religion pass out of 'cult' and into accepted practice? When there's a big enough percentage of the population who believes the same way? There's a helluva lotta Mormons, but that don't help many people's opinion of them. Same goes for Scientologists.

"Go ahead and give those handouts a good read, then I want y'all to get together and talk about what makes a cult. Do you know something from home that you think fits the definition? What about the coffee worshippers we got around here? Or me? How about I start a group followin' me? I can tell y'all I've met God and I know what he wants. I'm also gonna tell ya that my cult ain't doin' shit that he wants, will you follow me now?

"Why do you think people choose cults over the traditions they grew up with?

"Last thing I want from you is to choose a cult and give me a brief ~~and entirely handwavable~~ essay about what makes them a cult and what you think attracts people to it."

He waved a hand at them. "Enjoy the kool aid."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Talk about cults, come up with ideas, complain about the essay.

"Scientology isn't a cult, it's a hoax." Billy said.

"People'll tell you the same thing about voodoo or Satanist or charismatic Christians. The German government classifies Scientology as a dangerous cult. Tell me why they can't be both?"

"Didn't L. Ron Hubbard outright say as much? `If I wanted to be rich I'd just start a religion.`"

"What's your point? The common wisdom is that Scientology started as a bet among science fiction writers. That hasn't stopped it from moving forward in rite and ritual, from changing and ruling people's lives, from giving believers a spiritual path to follow.

"Christians claim divine inspiration for translation from Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic, and that they can still count the translation of a translation as the literal word of God because of God's hand in the work. Lots of sceptics would call that a hoax.

"How do you know God's hand wasn't in Hubbard?"

Jesse was having fun as Devil's advocate, since his thoughts on God fell nowhere near what he was saying.

"Well, my knowledge on the actual docterine of Scientology might be spotty but I'm pretty sure God doesn't actually figure into it one way or the other. though I'm sure that's not what you mean."

"We've covered more than one 'religion' in this class that doesn't have a 'god' as a central figure," Jesse said, trying to be patient.

One might note that he has virtually zero patience for willful stupidity.

"Like I said, probably not what you meant. My point is that, Scientology, as far as I know Hubbard didn't make much of a secret of his real intentions." He frowned. "On the other hand if that's true and there's still people who believe the docterine, then it's possible he was on to something whether he knew it or not....or they're all just nuts, stupid, or in on it."

"There's enough Scientologists that you can prolly get a 'yes' for all of those maybes."

Billy snickered. "Makes me wonder how many founders of these religions, really intended to start a new religion."

"A cult picketed my house once. But it turned out the guy was only in it for the money, an' we got him extradited to the Brits," Zero said.

Jesse grinned at that. "I'm tellin' ya. If anyone tells you you'll find God by givin' them all your money, the best thing to give 'em is a boot to the soft parts."

Zero scowled in remembrance. "Actually, they told us our house was a holy tectonic rapture pinnacle, an' we were delayin' the rapture. Also, 'Punkers go home' despite the fact that we were home. I'm not sure what their goal was, but their leader seduced m'gran."

Jesse skipped over the part about seducing her gran. He had... grandmother issues.

"And this is the part where we look at how many cults go nowhere 'cause most of the people in them are fu- really damned stupid."

"You're not wrong," Zero agreed.

World Religions, Wednesday, 2nd Period [11/29]

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