4 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 3, 2012
So some groups that no longer have a living
founder (or founding prophet) sometimes
continue to be described as cults, generally with
the implication that they are harmful in some
ways. Scholar and journalist Rachael Kohn
notes that the term cult is most often used with
reference to groups with a dominant leader who
has emerged from obscurity with a syncretistic
array of ideas that are claimed to be unique.
However, she describes Scientology (whose
original leader departed his earthly manifestation
in 1986) as an example of a “larger, more
organized” cult. Scientology provides “an outer
circle of less committed followers with some of
the ‘low level’ teachings or products,” while
maintaining “highly protected upper levels of
experience and teaching for those prepared to be
obedient to the organization’s dictates and to pay
considerable sums of money for the stream of
courses they offer.”11
Scientology seizes upon the lack of a living
founder to claim that it “shares none of the
characteristics of a cult.” Spokeswoman
Virginia Stewart claims, “We do not have a
messianic leader … our members are urged to
think for themselves and are not subject to
‘coercive persuasion or mind control.’”12 Some
critics beg to differ and perhaps point to the
control of the organization by the founding
leader’s successor. They would certainly allege
that Scientology has been a pioneer in the types
of allegedly harmful psychological practices
attributed to cults.13 Scientology has been
popularly characterized as a cult throughout its
short history and understands full well the utility
of being recharacterized and recategorized as a
religion.14 The Church of Scientology
11 Rachael Kohn, “Cults and the New Age in Australia,” in Many
Religions, All Australians: Religious Settlement, Identity and
Cultural Diversity, edited by Gary Bouma (Adelaide: Christian
Research Association, 1996), pp. 151–152.
12 Michael Bachelard, “Scientologists Threaten to Sue Cult Victim
Group,” The Age, 10 July 2011. Retrieved from
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/scientologists-threaten-to-sue-
cult-victim-group-20110709-1h85b.html#ixzz1ReSLl2op
13 See Kevin Victor Anderson, “Report of the Board of Inquiry into
Scientology,” (Melbourne: State of Victoria, 1965).
14 Scientology has long campaigned to achieve legal recognition as
a religion and consequently social respectability. See Stephen
Mutch, “Scientologists in Australia,” in The Encyclopedia of
Religion in Australia, edited by James Jupp (Cambridge University
Press, 2009), pp. 561–563.
International has explicitly acknowledged the
material benefits sought:
Government officials regularly must
determine whether a particular group is
religious and therefore qualifies for
some privilege accorded only to
religious organizations. This privilege
may be a special zoning variance,
exemption from taxes, the authorization
to perform marriages, or in some
localities just the simple right to provide
spiritual healing to the ill or distressed.15
People talk about commercial cults, therapy
cults, and political cults (even “one-on-one”
cults!) but at the heart of groups most
convincingly described as cults is an element of
blind obedience by a group of followers to the
instructions of a leader (reinforced by
social/psychological manipulation) because of a
belief that the leader has access to some
supernatural power or knowledge beyond the
ken of others, or is in communication with
supernatural forces.
It is the suspension of independent thought
among disciples and their obedience to the
commands of the leader (precisely because the
leader supposedly has this otherworldly access)
that constitutes the core element of a cult, and
which attracts calls for governmental
interventions when these commands are seen to
be detrimental to the individuals concerned or to
the wider community. This pejorative
connotation is mostly inherent in the label cult
when it is applied contemporaneously to groups.
I am yet to have my attention directed favorably
to a good cult, although some countercultists use
the word to describe some possibly benign
groups on the basis of theological differences.
So there is usually, sociologically and
increasingly in the policy sphere, seen to be a
religious element to a cultic group. This seems
implicit in another Macquarie Dictionary
definition, which describes a cult as “a particular
system of religious worship, especially with
15 Church of Scientology International, Scientology: Theology &
Practice of a Contemporary Religion (Los Angeles: Bridge
Publications Inc, 1998), p. 9.
So some groups that no longer have a living
founder (or founding prophet) sometimes
continue to be described as cults, generally with
the implication that they are harmful in some
ways. Scholar and journalist Rachael Kohn
notes that the term cult is most often used with
reference to groups with a dominant leader who
has emerged from obscurity with a syncretistic
array of ideas that are claimed to be unique.
However, she describes Scientology (whose
original leader departed his earthly manifestation
in 1986) as an example of a “larger, more
organized” cult. Scientology provides “an outer
circle of less committed followers with some of
the ‘low level’ teachings or products,” while
maintaining “highly protected upper levels of
experience and teaching for those prepared to be
obedient to the organization’s dictates and to pay
considerable sums of money for the stream of
courses they offer.”11
Scientology seizes upon the lack of a living
founder to claim that it “shares none of the
characteristics of a cult.” Spokeswoman
Virginia Stewart claims, “We do not have a
messianic leader … our members are urged to
think for themselves and are not subject to
‘coercive persuasion or mind control.’”12 Some
critics beg to differ and perhaps point to the
control of the organization by the founding
leader’s successor. They would certainly allege
that Scientology has been a pioneer in the types
of allegedly harmful psychological practices
attributed to cults.13 Scientology has been
popularly characterized as a cult throughout its
short history and understands full well the utility
of being recharacterized and recategorized as a
religion.14 The Church of Scientology
11 Rachael Kohn, “Cults and the New Age in Australia,” in Many
Religions, All Australians: Religious Settlement, Identity and
Cultural Diversity, edited by Gary Bouma (Adelaide: Christian
Research Association, 1996), pp. 151–152.
12 Michael Bachelard, “Scientologists Threaten to Sue Cult Victim
Group,” The Age, 10 July 2011. Retrieved from
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/scientologists-threaten-to-sue-
cult-victim-group-20110709-1h85b.html#ixzz1ReSLl2op
13 See Kevin Victor Anderson, “Report of the Board of Inquiry into
Scientology,” (Melbourne: State of Victoria, 1965).
14 Scientology has long campaigned to achieve legal recognition as
a religion and consequently social respectability. See Stephen
Mutch, “Scientologists in Australia,” in The Encyclopedia of
Religion in Australia, edited by James Jupp (Cambridge University
Press, 2009), pp. 561–563.
International has explicitly acknowledged the
material benefits sought:
Government officials regularly must
determine whether a particular group is
religious and therefore qualifies for
some privilege accorded only to
religious organizations. This privilege
may be a special zoning variance,
exemption from taxes, the authorization
to perform marriages, or in some
localities just the simple right to provide
spiritual healing to the ill or distressed.15
People talk about commercial cults, therapy
cults, and political cults (even “one-on-one”
cults!) but at the heart of groups most
convincingly described as cults is an element of
blind obedience by a group of followers to the
instructions of a leader (reinforced by
social/psychological manipulation) because of a
belief that the leader has access to some
supernatural power or knowledge beyond the
ken of others, or is in communication with
supernatural forces.
It is the suspension of independent thought
among disciples and their obedience to the
commands of the leader (precisely because the
leader supposedly has this otherworldly access)
that constitutes the core element of a cult, and
which attracts calls for governmental
interventions when these commands are seen to
be detrimental to the individuals concerned or to
the wider community. This pejorative
connotation is mostly inherent in the label cult
when it is applied contemporaneously to groups.
I am yet to have my attention directed favorably
to a good cult, although some countercultists use
the word to describe some possibly benign
groups on the basis of theological differences.
So there is usually, sociologically and
increasingly in the policy sphere, seen to be a
religious element to a cultic group. This seems
implicit in another Macquarie Dictionary
definition, which describes a cult as “a particular
system of religious worship, especially with
15 Church of Scientology International, Scientology: Theology &
Practice of a Contemporary Religion (Los Angeles: Bridge
Publications Inc, 1998), p. 9.
