Curious Mammal

Besides being interesting fodder for the 24 hour news cycle, why are we so intrigued with American born cults? An opposing culture within our society, cults obviously stand out in our communities, but what is really at issue here, and what does it say not about them, but about us? The major values and tenets of our CULTure are the ideas of self-reliance, liberty, freedom, equality, and individualism. We all know the American dream or some story related to it. We see it in our daily news, our sports, our politics. These values, supposedly shaped our nation at its outset, breaking free from tyranny and oppression. It shaped our industrial base and our "wild west". It shapes our entrepreneurship today and is a major force in our daily lives and decision-making. It is the philosophical underpinning on which this nation views itself as savior, not foe. Progress drives this nation forward. In the case of cults, within America, why don't these ideals apply to them? If we s...

The legacy of the Scientific Revolution has had a tremendous impact on our culture, perhaps even greater than that of Europe. In creating a national identity out of the ideals of the Enlightenment we deemed ourselves the bearers of those ideals. Our founders, early historians, and others shaped public opinion and sentiment to convince ourselves of our own self-righteousness. Our declarations and constitutions reflect the desire to put the ideals of the Enlightenment into action; in order to form a cohesive union we needed to convince ourselves of our connection, even among many different religions, cultures, and backgrounds. To date, the ideas of progress, liberty and equality, both more in conflict that in cooperation, and those of self-reliance, and innovation have led us to believe in another absolutism. The ideals and ideas of the Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution, respectively, have taken the place of the absolute belief in God and religion, we have traded the beliefs of the...