MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2023 - PILGRIMS AND CULTS

 MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2023, THANKSGIVING WEEK AND CULTS

American Thanksgiving has its roots in the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock.

Legend and Lore sometimes blind us. It wasn’t an easy life at the colony.

From Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrims_(Plymouth_Colony))

“The core of the group was brought together around 1605 when they quit the Church of England to form Separatist congregations in Nottinghamshire, England, led by John Robinson, Richard Clyfton, and John Smyth. Their congregations held Brownist beliefs—that true churches were voluntary democratic congregations, not whole Christian nations—as taught by Robert Browne, John Greenwood, and Henry Barrowe. As Separatists, they held that their differences with the Church of England were irreconcilable and that their worship should be independent of the trappings, traditions, and organization of a central church.

The Separatist movement was controversial. Under the Act of Uniformity 1559, it was illegal not to attend official Church of England services, with a fine of one shilling (about $24 today) for each missed Sunday and holy day. The penalties included imprisonment and larger fines for conducting unofficial services. The Seditious Sectaries Act 1592 was explicitly aimed at outlawing the Brownists. Under this policy, London Underground Church members were repeatedly imprisoned from 1566, and then Robert Browne and his followers were imprisoned in Norfolk during the 1580s. Henry Barrow, John Greenwood, and John Penry were executed for sedition 1593. Browne had taken his followers into exile in Middelburg, and Penry urged the London Separatists to emigrate to escape persecution, so after his death, they went to Amsterdam.”

*****

The term “CULT” is frequently used to describe such groups. Again, from Wikipedia:

“Cult is a term, in most contexts pejorative, for a relatively small group that is typically led by a charismatic and self-appointed leader who excessively controls its members, requiring unwavering devotion to a set of beliefs and practices that are considered deviant.“

*****

Are you so fervent in your religious views to separate yourself from modern society?

There have been many such ‘sects’ over the years. The Branch Davidians in 1993 might be one of the better known.  

The Jonestown massacre was a mass murder-suicide of the Peoples Temple cult in 1978. The cult leader, Jim Jones, ordered the deaths of over 900 members of the Peoples Temple at Jonestown, Guyana. (The people drank Kool-Aid spiked with poison). 

*****

What would it take to get you to join such a group?  

According to Teen Vogue, as they looked at cults:

“According to experts like professor and psychologist Steve Eichel, up to 10,000 cults still exist today in the United States. Most exist under the radar and rarely draw national attention. The universally agreed upon definition of a cult is a group or movement with shared belief systems and a charismatic leader that seeks to isolate their members from the rest of society through psychological manipulation and pressure strategies.:

*****

WOW - “up to 10,000 cults” (and that publication is from March 2023) in the United States. Doing an inferior mathematical analysis - with fifty states and 10,000 cults suggests an average of 200 cults per state. (The probability of a populous state like Texas having more than 200 and a smaller populous state like South Dakota having less would work against my math). 

I worship in a small group (about thirty people). Is it a “cult”? Years ago, in Winona, Minnesota, we worshiped with a group that met at the Red Cross facility and had about 50 people. Was that a “cult”? 

In terms of Christian cults (and there are many Islamic and other cults), they might focus on a particular verse or verses. Christian groups usually accept the Bible as the foundation of their doctrine and faith - but you can focus on specific aspects - like “You must be Born Again” (John 3:3) or “Nevertheless she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.” (1 Timothy 2:15) - Oh my, I’m a woman. I can’t be saved without having children. 

Another similar verse is 1 Corinthians 14:34: “ Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says.”

Does that mean that a particular church is a cult if it allows women to speak (or to preside over services?) 

That battle exists today - some Christian groups do not let women speak or lead (like there are no women priests in the Catholic Church and some conservative churches).  

Should I be kicked aside if I have a different view of some scriptures? What about “speaking in tongues?” Should that be allowed? Are those who do so in a cult?  

*****

If they were around today, would the Pilgrims be allowed freedom to worship in the United States? And, could the Branch Davidians be allowed to exist?  

Could a group that thinks warfare is wrong and refuses to pay taxes that will be used to fund warfare (Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard, National Guard) be prosecuted because they believe that warfare is wrong?  

Probably, my viewpoints are ever so slightly different from some other people - can we “agree to disagree?”. I have cousins (whom I haven’t seen for 40+ years) who are Jehovah’s Witnesses. Can I be friends with them? Can I attend the wedding of some of them?

Can I LOVE THEM?

I profess LOVE WINS - does that mean I have to LOVE those in cults? Can I accept my cousins who believe differently?

Or, do those in Cults buy (build?) a ship, call it the “new Mayflower,” and sail off to some island (like Yunaska Island) in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska?” [By the way, Yunaska is an uninhabited island. It has a land area of 66.834 square miles ]

****

Boy - I’m glad I’m not in charge!!!

What if the Branch Davidians moved to Yunaska? Would they have been persecuted? 

LOVE WINS

LOVE TRANSFORMS

KAREN ANNE WHITE, ©, NOVEMBER 20, 2023