The first problem, encountered by a researcher of sect-related phenomena, there is an attempt to define the word "sect".
It has many social and moral connotations, making, that both statements about this, and research conducted can often lead to misunderstandings.
” Several attempts have been made to finalize this issue. However, they all failed due to diverging views or interests or incorrect assumptions. Various observers, parliamentary committees, research groups or anti-cult organizations – all stuck in fruitless debates or relinquished action against real or imaginary social connections, political and religious.
Religious lobbying is the most harmful in this respect (occurring in almost all Churches). Various religious groups or groups considered as such, representing a certain electorate, they are afraid, that some of their structures are under attack due to fundamentalist deviations. Therefore, they do not cease to interfere in the discussion and fiercely defend the sphere of influence they have won and their own interests., without hesitating to win over some sociologists of religion to his side. In view of such strong pressure from various authorities, the vast majority of politicians – regardless of groups or views – is afraid to alienate voters who are not yet influenced and prefers to announce, that the problem is so complex, that no concrete conclusions could be drawn.
In many small communities, the city authorities, in exchange for political support, favor and accept the activity of a sect in their area and only after a few years, under the pressure of public opinion, sentence it to exile. There is also Lak, that some radical group after coming to power from the first days of its rule supports some national sect, whose numbers are sufficient, that it would be profitable to flatter her – ignoring or knowingly disregarding the fact, that this sect forbids its members from participating in any form of society.
Initially, the term "sect" was used to describe a small group, which has become detached from the larger one, primary, or a group of apprentices led by a master heretic. The meaning of this word, however, can be much broader. Etymology provides us with a few clues. The word "sect" comes from the Latin root sequi, or "to follow". The cult disciple enters the path marked out by the master, which makes him an adept, that is someone, who will achieve the goal (adeptus – ten, who came). He 'follows' the master, and at the same time he cuts himself off from the rest of the people and becomes a follower, that is, disconnected.
Cults are not a new phenomenon. Plato and Aristotle already had their fanatical followers – if they didn't kill each other, it's only because of this, that they fought each other in great philosophical discussions. Even Jesus of Nazareth had previously been initiated in the Essen sect.
A common mistake is not to distinguish a sect from a sectarian or initiatory organization – the error is either unintentional or is the result of a misuse of a church or dogmatic definition. Yet the Chinese Triad has little in common, Soka Gakkai, freemasonry, alchemia, White Brotherhood, New Acropolis or Scientology. A sect accused of quackery will be able to make effective use of the lack of precise discrimination, by deliberately maintaining this state of affairs. She will protest against being compared to the Triad (is the name of the Chinese mafia) or show a significant kinship with Freemasonry, taking care, that this organization is sometimes respected (except in the case of Lodge P2).
Most sects strive for Church status, which further increases the complexity of the problem. Few definitions of this concept have arisen outside of theology. This is due to the history and sociology of sects. Only Max Weber was the first to define the sect, putting it in opposition to the Church. After him Troeltsch, Niebuhr and Wach tried to define the sect even more precisely, however, they never broke with the Manichean dichotomy: Church – industry.
The sects constantly take advantage of the ambiguity that reigns here. Introducing himself as a new religious movement, they successfully transferred the dispute to the plane of religious freedom. French society from 1905 year calls for the separation of Church and State and proclaims the necessity of non-interference in the sphere of faith. The only people, which deal with the phenomenon of sects, there are representatives of the Church and some academia, convinced of the religious nature of this phenomenon.
The sects are perfectly oriented, how much can they gain, taking advantage of the prevailing confusion of concepts. They subsidize some organizations, officially supporting them, and animate – in secret – projects of universities or associations devoted to the study of new religious movements. By doing so, they are seen as objective allies of some ancient religious movements. These in turn – in order to undermine the principle of secular society – they seek recognition of their sectarian allies as purely religious movements.
Sectarian organizations deal with issues today, which are completely unrelated to religion. The Gnostic movements are of the greatest importance in Europe, and pseudoscience supports a multitude of ideologies. Such topics, like previous life or extraterrestrial civilizations, very rarely contain religious overtones. Rather, they belong to the pseudo-rational realm.
It causes, that in trying to define a sect, one should reject the religious factor as a reference system. Research in the field of criminology and ethnopsychiatry will complement the definition of a sect with additional elements. For example, ethnopsychiatry implies the use of terms from secular ethics. Without this postulate, it is impossible to eliminate the contradictions between religious or philosophical minorities and sectarian structures that use manipulation. On the other hand, one should finally stop judging mystical or mythical values in doctrine, which in the case of a sect is only a social alibi. After all, sects are groups, whose practices are completely antisocial, and in some cases even anti-social.
Insofar as religion is a phenomenon that affects the majority of society, on the contrary, the sect – rather, it is seen as a parasite that preys on a social organism. Some groups may be considered sects, even if the ideas they propagate are in line with religious tradition. First of all, the structure of the organization and the way it functions should be analyzed. Next, one has to distinguish between the general concept of a sect and that of a compulsive sect.
A sect is a group that is more or less developing, focused around the leader or related to religious or non-religious ideology. It functions permanently and hidden, but respects the free will and identity of the adept. A feature of the coercive sect (SP) instead, there is the use of coercion and the resulting lack of freedom. This difference is not a permanent feature, depends on the specific case, for the existence of a sect often requires the imposition of absolute discipline on its adepts.
In the face of external pressure from society, seeking normalization and reintegration into them of a sectarian group, it has no other option, how to strengthen your group identity, destroying the personal identity of individual adepts. Increasing the degree of compulsion is inevitable in a cult, to turn a student into a student. The main tool of coercion is mental manipulation.
There is a certain analogy between the system of coercion in the sects and the totalitarian system. However, I do not use the name "totalitarian sect", because the term seems to belong to the realm of politics. Of course, one can also say like Xavier Montcios in his work on totalitarianism, that "in the face of the experience of uprooting and the feeling of uselessness, which has been affecting people since the industrial revolution, the sects suggest the solution of the complete organization of human life. They give it a mystical design, which unfortunately turns into a suicide escape from reality. The sects depersonalize man, uprooting it from everything, even depriving me of fear”.
Techniques involving mental manipulation are also used in advertising and politics. In other words, sectarian mechanisms may exist within regular religious groups or political movements, in which coercion is applied.