© Nafis Abman/Pexals
Before I got involved in studying
Critical Social Justice like I do now, I mostly studied the psychology of religion. I took particular interest in the more authoritarian and cultish elements that can spring up within otherwise more reasonable faith traditions. Cult indoctrinations, in particular, tend to follow very predictable stages. First, there is initiation; then there is indoctrination; and then there is reprogramming. These three phases are distinct and must be understood on their own terms.
I. Cult Initiation
One thing I learned through all that study is that most fundamentalist religious (in the colloquial, not technical sense) and cult conversions, especially in adults, occur by using doctrine to resolve some core emotional vulnerability. That is, cult doctrine, and I include extreme fundamentalist interpretations of religious doctrines as cultish, exists to resolve a particularly powerful emotional vulnerability in an
unhealthy way (this adds another layer of defense for responsible faith, which does so in a
healthy way to the degree that it does the same things).
Comment: What a disgusting story. It sounds like these two got off with rather light sentences, all things considered.
See also: