To Proplog2:
: Although I don't like the way the word "cult" is used to discount small religious groups
I agree that the word is often used improperly, and simply to label some group by a nasty term just because they don't go along with the mainstream. However, as long as a user of the term defines it clearly, it's proper to apply it to certain groups. When I use the term, I do so in the sense that Steven Hassan does -- a controlling religious group that uses subtle and overt methods to control the thinking and behavior of adherents, methods that most people find unacceptable when they're explained clearly and illustrated with real-life examples. The "Solar People's Temple" (or whatever it was called) that committed mass suicide a few years ago is a "cult" by almost everyone's definition. JWs are more than a borderline cult by Hassan's definition.
: I do agree that JW's have produced a lot of "crap" over the years & always with "reasons".
Which is precisely what other cults do. Cult leaders would have no followers unless they gave "reasons". The problem with cults (using Hassan's definition) is that they often use methods other than simple logical argumentation to convince people to join -- methods that bypass reason and appeal to emotions, but give the appearance of sticking to reason. They also usually use emotionally coercive techniques to prevent followers from leaving. For JWs this includes the very real threat of disfellowshipping, disassociation and labeling the quitter as an undesirable, all with the very real threat of shunning as a knife to the throat.
: I don't believe JW's are dangerous
That depends on what you mean by "dangerous". Dangerous to people who never were JWs? No. Dangerous to other JWs and ex-JWs? Definitely! They're dangerous in this way because all it takes is a declaration by a committee of three untrained, often unscrupulous men to cause a person to lose his or her entire lifelong group of family and friends. Do you not agree?
: & a hot-bed of child molesters.
I agree that they're not a hotbed, because I believe that the occurrence of molestation is only a bit higher than in society in general. However, they provide an environment where molesters can thrive better than in groups where reporting molesters to the authorities does not carry an implication of severe damage to the image of the "Holy Organization" or an implied threat of shunning those who report. There are examples on the silentlambs website (and plenty more who have not written of their experiences) where JWs who simply reported molestation to secular authorities were DF'd. In how many other groups can a person be excommunicated and shunned for reporting a crime to authorities?
: But of course movements and countermovements attract a wide spectrum of temperaments and the truth usually is somewhere in the middle.
True, but without specifics this general statement is not terribly instructive.
: If we are to believe that a person named Jesus really said the words at Matthew 10:32-39 then he was the founder of a cult called "Christianity".
Bingo!
: I personally don't believe he said those words.
I have no idea. But someone thought them up, and they became part and parcel of the Christian cults.
AlanF
