Are You in a Cult? Are you sure?
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Niccolò Machiavelli is one of history’s most politically influential strategists. His manifesto The Prince is one of his most well-known publications.
Machiavelli lays out a plan for dominating and controlling others in his manifesto: “Never gain by force what may be won by deception.”
Cult leaders who employ this tactic are the most successful. If you’re from the south, you were almost certainly exposed to some version of Judeo-Christian faith as a child and have likely maintained it as an adult. When was the last time you gave your hard-earned money to some random person in a robe who happened to memorize a book that was published thousands of years ago?
What happens to all that free untaxed money? Does it go into restoring Jesus’ tomb or Muhammed’s mausoleum?
Or does it feed into a cult leader’s opulent lifestyle? Those who wear the cloth do so to hide; those who speak kindly do so to manipulate the emotions of others; those who preach about God do so to appear as good in the eyes of others. And those who believe in the cloth, the kind words, and the preaching will also believe the same person when he or she tells them they are sinners and are going to hell. They do all this in remembrance of the true meaning of religion: extort money from others and suppress independent thought, so they never free themselves from self-imposed guilt and will continue to spin the wheel of religious racketeering.
Only in America can you commercialize faith so freely.
What does the word ‘cult’ mean anyway? Cult is a broad term that can refer to nearly anything, including religion, politics, fraternities and sororities, and even your own family. Cults are made up of people like you and me who attempt to reach or maintain a similar goal or objective among other like-minded individuals. I know what you’re thinking. That…
