[Updated Sep 9, 2024.] This is a word of caution about how the thinking in this series might affect you concerning the former times of existing groups. The pasts of groups should not be judged by the standards presented in the Cult Myths series or by any modern anti-cultists. Certainly, violent persecution was always dangerous or destructive, but the impacts of words were not fully understood before the modern age of psychiatry, sociology and anti-cultists. Even up to this point understanding has been imperfect and mankind is still learning. More understanding may still yet be coming. Former Times Some groups, in their innocence, may have thought it appropriate to openly speak out against other groups, even with signage and shouting. Until that was identified as a means of provocation, it was not seen as such by outside groups. In those days unoffended groups saw it only as striking out for lack of self-control, while affected groups likely thought of it as contradicting their own mess...

[Updated Aug 30, 2024.] Persecution is an unfortunate part of life in this world. No matter what you believe, how you behave, or how you look, there are people who will harass you and try to stop you from living your own life or sharing your ideas. All because they believe themselves to have the authority to be the arbiters of what is acceptable to look like, behave or believe. They may even try to kill anyone whose beliefs or teachings they do not like. Persecution Let us look at the definition of persecution we will be considering here. Persecution is the purposeful neglect, oppression or violence committed toward someone whom one considers different than themself. It is a crude and selfish behavior that arises from the failure to recognize the autonomy of other people while simultaneously assuming one’s own superior authority to condemn them. It is not simply words spoken from a platform identifying bad actors and bad behaviors. It includes intent to affect the lives of those with ...

Every single day anti-cultists, politicians, corporations, religions and the media attempt to blur the lines of what is or is not dangerous by exaggerating harmless things as dangerous and downplaying dangerous things as harmless. To help you learn to distinguish these things for yourself, we will begin examining traits of dangerous cults in order to have a foundation from which to examine false claims about how to identify a dangerous or destructive cult*. How to Identify a Danger That a trait of some group disturbs you, such as their wearing robes or speaking in a way you find strange or handing out leaflets, is nothing to be worried about. If they do not actually damage the person, they cannot be dangerous or destructive by any measure, and are more than likely completely harmless in such practices. Though strange or militaristic uniforms and impenetrable forms of speech can be surface-level indicators of something deeper deserving investigation. But those things alone are not enou...

A whole lot has been written on Stephen Hassan for the Anti-cult Myths Biography series, but as I was approaching wrap-up, suddenly other things kept getting in the way that were considerably more important. Even other material to publish seemed more important over the past two years. The “what the ‘Faithful and Discreet Slave’ is Not” article was Herculean in its effort, but I was able to get it done in a few weeks. Whereas the biography of Stephen Hassan has been holding up my ability to address anti-cult arguments for the past two years, despite my being just short of the finish line almost the whole time. Then, when I sat down and analyzed the importance of biologies of anti-cult personalities, I realized that Jehovah does not make anything about the entire history of any one person unless it teaches a lesson. Every word in the Bible has purpose. So the lesson, I realized, is that knowing about the people who came up with the ideas countered or supported in this series is wholely u...

Evolutionists have embarked on a new old theory that is sure to take them over old territory in a new way so that hope springs anew from well worn ground. It is sure to inspire a whole new generation to tread through their parents’ mistakes with the same misplaced zeal, rejuvenating their enthusiasm for the mausoleum of arguments of times long past. They declare it a “sweeping new law of nature!” How bold. What is it? That the more complex patterns get, the more complex the patterns that result, boldly called the “ law of increasing functional information. ” Isn’t that a bold title? Inspiring! The theory does not just say that “evolving systems, biological and non-biological, always form from numerous interacting building blocks like atoms or cells, and that processes exist - such as cellular mutation - that generate many different configurations. Evolution occurs ... when these various configurations are subject to selection for useful functions,” but it also says that it is all due t...