One of the most human needs is the desire to seek God. This is proved by the fact that throughout the history of mankind there has not been a single culture devoid of the concept of a higher mind that created the world and guides everything that happens in it. People always aspired to it, but they chose different paths for this, sometimes taking them in a completely different direction.
Dangerous frivolity
The long decades of total atheism and theomachism, raised to the level of state policy, have been replaced today by the freedom to profess any religion and become a follower of any of the cults common in our time. A natural interest in questions of the spiritual life has grown into a fashion that is sometimes followed without going into the essence of the teachings offered by newly-minted preachers and "teachers."
The currently observed superficial passion for spirituality is fraught with considerable dangers, since faith is that area of \u200b\u200blife that requires knowledge of its laws, and, undoubtedly, falsethe belief that any religion is better than atheism often leads to very sad consequences. It is this frivolous attitude to matters of faith that religious groups called sects use to recruit new members into their ranks.
The meaning of the term "sect"
Before starting a conversation about them, it would be appropriate to clarify the very meaning of this term and explain what religious structures it refers to. The very word "sect" is one-root and similar in meaning to such a verb as "cut off", that is, to separate a part from the whole. This is no coincidence, since it refers precisely to groups that have separated from the main world religions, which are commonly considered to be Christianity, Buddhism and Islam.
Signs of a sect
Today there are several thousand different sects in the world, but all of them are united by common features, to some extent inherent in each of them. Usually, researchers of this social phenomenon put in the first place their characteristic religious advertising - a kind of marketing that allows them to impose their teachings, like a kind of market product, on the maximum number of potential consumers. By the way, the technologies used in this are directly borrowed from the world of commerce.
Further, the signs of a sect include the aggressive nature of involving new adherents into their ranks, common to most of them, in which methods of psychological pressure are widely used. This is especially true for totalitarian sects, which will be discussed below.
Lying as a method of recruitment and systeminternal hierarchy
Also a very significant feature inherent in sects is the so-called dual doctrine - the practice in which recruiters, wanting to lure another proselyte (newly converted member), hide from him not only the true history of the organization and its leaders, but even distort, making more attractive the very essence of their teachings.
An important feature is the strict hierarchy on the basis of which the entire internal structure of education is built. Usually a sect member must go through several levels of initiation, each of which brings him closer to the knowledge of the promised Truth. According to the level at which he is at the moment, his status is determined.
Claims to infallibility and mind control
Of course, each sect declares its absolute infallibility and the superiority of its own leader over all others, including the founders of the world's leading religions. The teaching of each of them claims that it is an expression of the Highest Truth and is not subject to criticism. Anyone questioning this is usually referred to as "bipedal".
Considering the most characteristic signs of a sect, one cannot lose sight of such a technique used by them as programming the consciousness of their members. The fact is that people with an unstable psyche, lack of solid moral criteria and spiritual knowledge usually become sectarians. As a rule, they are easily suggestible, so they easily give up personal freedom and are ready to follow the instructions of their "teachers".
Total control over the "bearers of truth"
A characteristic feature of most sects is the claim to the spiritual chosenness of its members. They are usually instilled with the idea that only they, being the bearers of the same Highest Truth, must be saved, and all the rest who do not share their views are doomed to perish.
And finally, the above signs of a sect would be incomplete if not to mention the total control over the lives of sectarians, carried out by their spiritual leaders. From now on, her entire way of life is consistent with the rules established once and for all. Is it necessary to say that they reflect only the interests of the sect and its leaders? This also includes exorbitant monetary claims, as a result of which ordinary members of the sect often doom themselves and their families to a miserable existence.
Classification of Russian sects
Cults and sects in Russia can be conditionally divided into several groups. The first of them includes those that have a fairly long history in our country. These are Pentecostals, Adventists and Baptists. This also includes Lutherans, as separated from the main Christian direction.
Historically, their members were representatives of such ethnic groups as Lithuanians, Poles and Germans. However, as a result of active recruitment of new members, many former members of Orthodox communities have become proselytes in recent years.
The Newly Appeared Possessors of Higher Truths
The next fairly large group consists ofpseudo-Christian totalitarian sects. These include structures that call themselves the "New Apostolic Church", the "Church of Christ", the "Family" and so on. Taking advantage of the lack of religious awareness of their adherents, all of them, referring to the Holy Scriptures, snatch from it tendentiously selected quotations, which they use out of context to prove the positions they put forward.
They are also followed by a very extensive list of sects declaring their exclusive possession of the "new revelation". The most famous of them are the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Mother of God Center, the Mormons and the notorious Aum Shinrikyo sect. The latter also includes signs of a totalitarian, extremist and even terrorist sect. Created in 1987 by Japan's Shoko Asahara, it became infamous for its gas attack on the Tokyo subway.
Occult and satanic sects
In recent decades, sects belonging to the so-called New Age movement have penetrated Russia from Western Europe and America. All of them have a pronounced occult character and rely on the development of the paranormal properties of a person. Their adherents are, as a rule, people who consider themselves to be psychics and sorcerers, and who are also followers of numerous Eastern cults.
However, among the variety of religious movements and directions that make up sects in Russia today, the most odious are those that practice various satanic cults. Their savage nature and pronouncedfocus on youth puts these organizations in a number of the most dangerous for society. The cult of violence, sexual promiscuity and denial of moral principles promoted in them awakens the basest instincts in the still fragile minds of young people and pushes them not only to break with society, but sometimes to crime.
A sect that came from America
Today, one of the most numerous sects in Russia is a branch of an international religious organization that calls itself Jehovah's Witnesses. It is headquartered in New York and has over eight million members. This pseudo-Christian sect, which denies the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, first appeared in Russia at the end of the 19th century, but was officially registered only in 1913.
In Soviet times, when there was a struggle with any manifestations of religiosity, members of the Jehovah's Witnesses sect were subjected to general persecution. They even suffered an even worse fate than ordinary believers: in the period from 1949 to 1951, thousands of its adherents and members of their families were forcibly deported to Siberia, Kazakhstan and the Far East.
In the post-perestroika period, like many other sects in Russia, this organization repeatedly registered with local authorities. Having received a temporary right to exist, it then lost it, going underground. Despite the fact that even today it is not legalized, its members in our country are, according to experts, at least one hundred and seventy thousand people.
BabySouth Korean preacher
Another example of foreign and essentially alien religious teachings penetrating our country is the Unification Church sect. It appeared in 1954 in Seoul, and its founder was the South Korean religious figure and preacher Sun Myung Moon. His teaching is a wild mixture of separately taken positions of Christianity, Buddhism, shamanism, occultism and many more religions and cults. It is known to the general public as munism.
In our country, the ideas of this doctrine first appeared in the seventies, but, for obvious reasons, did not become widespread. The Korean preacher received freedom of action in the USSR only at the beginning of perestroika and, having visited Moscow in 1991, he was even received by M. S. Gorbachev. Since that time, the "Unification Church" has received official status with us.
Its founder hoped, as it turned out, in vain, that the post-Soviet space would become fertile ground for the dissemination of his ideas. However, practice has shown that even in the most successful years for him, the number of adherents of the sect did not exceed six thousand people. On the scale of Russia, this undoubtedly indicates its extreme unpopularity.
Sectarianism is a universal evil
Both totalitarian sects and other religious movements that preach pseudo-Christian ideas have always been ardent opponents of the Orthodox Church, whose spiritual traditions clearly expose their deceit. Historical experience shows that societies affected by sectarianism inevitably degrade and lag behind inits development. Where sectarian propaganda succeeds, no progress is possible in any area of life.
Spreading information that opens people's eyes to the harmful consequences that participation in these organizations entails, and assisting their activities, plays a big role in resisting evil. Sectarianism is a global evil, so every world religion is interested in fighting it. A sect that has separated from it is always an attempt to wrest its followers out of the sphere of professed spiritual values, and therefore, no matter what religion it is, the problem is relevant for everyone.
