We all remember the Jim Jones tragedy, which resulted from a deadly combination - a charismatic leader who knew how to influence and control people, and weak willed followers who couldn't discriminate between fact and fiction.
In the cramped confines of a cult, rationality goes out the window. The authority, which in many cases is a compelling leader, has convinced his or her flock that anyone outside of their group, or of another religion, or a different political party is destined for hell and is the enemy. The cult members will reinforce this feeling of isolationism by ostracizing or condemning any followers who do not agree wholeheartedly with the leader, including, perhaps, agreeing with the leader's instructions of killing their perceived enemies as in the case of religious wars, or maybe even killing themselves as in the case of Jim Jones.
These are the first two warning signs that your organization may be in danger of becoming a cult; charismatic leadership (salesmanship), and followers who are complacent, over-trusting, and with desperate needs regarding spirituality.
Since the weak willed followers are easily brainwashed into believing that they are special and favorites of God, and the only ones granted salvation, they will insist violently that they alone have found the truth and that everyone outside their group is confused and therefore dangerous to the group. This is why a cult never recognizes itself as a cult, insisting that it is a legitimate religion.
These are the third and fourth warning signs; exclusivity regarding salvation; and exclusive understanding of truth and what's right.
A cult will never encourage followers to find out anything for themselves, for example, to inquire within for answers through meditation and prayer. The cult will always insist that the followers only believe the recommended dogma as prescribed in their books or talks, and warn against any kind of open-minded inquiry. An open-minded inquiry would be counterproductive to the brainwashing techniques used to indoctrinate the followers with systems of belief. It would be dangerous to the cult's authority to encourage followers to come to their own conclusions instead of buckling under to the rhetoric of the leadership. This discouragement of thinking for oneself is usually accomplished by instilling great guilt into the cult members by convincing them that any questioning of the divine knowledge of the leader, or of the cult's holy book for example, would be blasphemy; that their God is so great that humankind should never try to out-guess God's authority.
The fifth warning sign is forbidding followers to think for themselves.
In order to finance the cult, the followers are led to believe that unless they give generously and raise funds for the cult, even if this means raising funds dishonestly, they are sinners only looking out for themselves and not for the good of the organization. The leader usually leads an opulent lifestyle, dismissing any complaints about this as a misunderstanding about the messengers of God and how God's blessings shouldn't be denied, while out of the other side of the mouth comes the edict to either give all to the church and remain in poverty, or to gain as much wealth as possible . . . and give it all to the church!
The sixth warning sign is an organization that is more interested in money for itself than generosity and compassion for those less fortunate.
So that a cult can expand, the tactics for enlisting new members will be forceful. Rather than simply answering questions when asked about their beliefs, they will seek out and violently proselytize every chance they get, wearing their beliefs on their sleeves and making their faith the topic of conversation at all times and in every manner of discourse.
Hard line proselytizing and antagonistic, belligerent evangelizing is the seventh warning sign.
In conclusion, the psychological signs to look for in a cult are close-mindedness, violence against and isolation from those who do not agree with its ideals, self-righteousness, intolerance, judgmentalism, and hatred.
The signs of a legitimate religion would be the opposite: Open-mindedness, peace, an embracing of other faiths and religions, tolerance, consideration of other opinions and points of view, non-disparaging of other's beliefs, and compassion.
The world is presently a violent place, and has been since the beginning of humankind. Perhaps when all of our religions become less cult-like, this will finally change.
E. Raymond Rock of Fort Myers, Florida is cofounder and principal teacher at the Southwest Florida Insight Center, www.SouthwestFloridaInsightCenter.com. His twenty-nine years of meditation experience has taken him across four continents, including two stopovers in Thailand where he practiced in the remote northeast forests as an ordained Theravada Buddhist monk. His book, A Year to Enlightenment (Career Press/New Page Books) is now available at major bookstores and online retailers. Visit http://www.AYearToEnlightenment.com