Cults have a strange fascination for some people. They are like a closed world, into which outsiders get little or no insight. It causes a stir all the more when certain cult members or the entire group end up in the news.
Sometimes that’s what happens when pop culture addresses this phenomenon. Most recently, this happened on a larger scale in 2019 with the film “Once upon a time in Hollywood” by Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino, which deals with the murders of the Manson Family. Even if people become known to the public that they are members of a religious community, this causes a stir depending on the level of awareness – a well-known example is Tom Cruise and Scientology.
Another tragic cause for concern is crime. As rare as this happens on a large scale, the pictures and videos that go around the world afterwards are all the more frightening. 30 years ago, around 80 people, including 21 children, died in Waco, Texas, in a 51-day drama. They had followed religious leader David Koresh. Sometimes the members of a religious community also become victims, as in March, when a dropout from Jehovah’s Witnesses killed seven people in a shooting spree in Hamburg (more information here).
Not every religious community is a sect
At the same time, the term sect has rather negative connotations, not every religious community is a sect. A sect is usually a denomination that has split off from a large group. Early Christians used this term to label other religious groups and practices that did not fit their own beliefs – hence cults had early negative connotations. For example, Protestantism was also initially considered a sect before it became established. A sect is anything that is “somehow ‘different’, definitely ‘evil’ and therefore extremely ‘dangerous’,” said the sociologist of religion Gerald Willms of ARD. Today, therefore, the term “new religious movements” is used in the academic sense.
In 1998, the state also dealt with new religious communities in a commission of inquiry, speaking in its final report of “so-called sects and psycho-groups”. The concept of sect is rejected because “only a small part of the groupings that have hitherto been summarized under the term ‘sect’ are problematic”.
However, some groups are actually dangerous, some even endangering life. This photo series also shows this.
Sources: ARD, Evangelical Central Office for Questions of World View, Religious studies media and information service