Sects (22 May 2004)
This may happen to you:
You meet somebody, really a friendly person. But after a while, this person will try to convince you that something is missing from your personality. If you want to achieve anything in life, you must allow him (or her) to help you cure the weakness in your character.
Well, if you don't think much of yourself, the chances are great you'll let this person. And from that moment on you will be sucked deeper and deeper into what is commonly known as a sect.
Of course, the sect has some rules that you must obey unconditionally. You may not even doubt them. Rules like:
- the only one allowed to change the rules is the leader
- all bonds with non-believers must be severed
- your possessions belong to the sect
- everything the leader tells you must be done
Sects can be as dangerous as drugs, or maybe even more so:
danger to the individual:
Since all bonds with non-believers are severed, they feel they cannot return to the rest of the world. In this way they are prevented from leaving the sect, even if they wanted to.
danger to society:
Since the members have no individual responsibility and the leader is obeyed unconditionally, sects can be abused for terrorist activities. Examples are not hard to find: El Qaida and Aum Shinrikyo, just to mention two.
One final thought: you may wonder if the defense against sects must primarily come from repression by the state. In my view the best defense is to educate people and inform them thoroughly about the dangers of sects.
