<p>With all this talk of scientology and mormonism and talk of people falling for these cults. I started wondering, how do people fall for these cults? Do you think most people that join cults are of higer intelligence or lower???</p>
<p>something to do with IQ...</p>
<p>No, I mean look at Tom Cruise and Scientology. lol
He is not very bright. Hahahaha</p>
<p>I'd think lower intellegence. Wouldn't someone with an incredibly high IQ have the self-control to think as an individual and not get swept up in cult culture?</p>
<p>ali_mayhem:</p>
<p>Be careful with your use of language. One man's cult is another man's religion.</p>
<p>Im sorry for being insensitive.</p>
<p>But I would think that if you have a higher iq you would be more open to new ideas or cults/religions.But I have heard that most religion extremist don't have a college education.</p>
<p>Its All Bs....</p>
<p>I don't know if I would call mainstream Mormonism a cult, but I guess that's a matter of personal interpretation.</p>
<p>Anyway, I doubt that impressionability directly correlates to intelligence. I think that susceptibility to joining a cult depends upon how much the ideals of the cult appeal to the individual. I doubt that stupid people are more or less likely than smarter people to join cults.</p>
<p>Does that make sense? Eh, not well-worded, but whatever.</p>
<p>shades...scientology is most definitely a cult, not a religion. It was invented by a very greedy sci-fi author. Hmmm. Let's see, you have to PAY to rise up in the Thetan levels, and the "religion" places major emphasis on aliens......</p>
<p>I don't care if it's insensitive. If you're a scientologist, you are automatically designated as less intelligent</p>
<p>I don't think it has anything to do with intelligence; it's all about low self esteem.</p>
<p>I don't think it has that much to do with intelligence. Even the most intelligent people sometimes have the need for the events in their life to be explainable. Cults usually offer something like this. Also cults give their members a feeling like they're part of a family, think Jehovah's Witnesses, and that can also be a powerful motivator. </p>
<p>So I think it just depends on what is happening in a person's life and how impressionable he/she is at that moment.</p>
<p>but sugar_sweet, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Judaism all explain life's events and make one feel like a part of a family.</p>
<p>However, these are real religions.</p>
<p>I DO think it has something to do with intelligence, because if it was only about those things you listed, these people would just become Christians, Muslims, etc. Instead, they join some dumb cult like scientology. How high can your IQ possibly be if you follow a cult started by Ron Hubbard?!</p>
<p>Remember, early Christianity was considered a "cult". Do we say Christians have lower intelligence than others? No. We'd be flamed. </p>
<p>Anybody can get sucked into a cult because they start off as legitimate organizations/religions and then slowly become cult-like. Besides, who decides when something crosses the line between religion and cult.</p>
<p>Some people call my religion a cult, and my IQ is in the genius range. It's all a matter of perception.</p>
<p>Would anyone like to define "cult" and "religion" so we can level the discussion plane?</p>
<p>^ That's the point. You really can't.</p>
<p>So we shouldn't even be having this discussion.</p>
<p>The government has some handy cult checklists.</p>
<p>I think it's quite clear that Scientology is a cult. It's centered around one person, tries to pre-emptively destroy opposition, requires payment to move up spiritually, and is founded on ideas in science fiction books written before the cult was founded. This is all extremely suspicious.</p>
<p>Right, I think the payment thing is by far the biggest <em>CULT</em> warning sign. Real religions require devotion and discipline, not handouts. Yes, Christianity, for example, asks you to tithe, but it doesn't "increase" based on your "spirituality level." It's just a sign of sacrifice.</p>
<p>^ Ah, but they used to. Your sins used to be forgiven based on <em>donations</em> to the church. So was Christianity a cult? If so, when did it cease being a cult?</p>
<p>"It's centered around one person, tries to pre-emptively destroy opposition"</p>
<p>This applies most most major religions</p>
<p>"requires payment to move up spiritually"</p>
<p>Maybe they use this payment for the good of society? In that case, it qualifies as a donation, which isn't that much different from the Catholic "good works" requirement.</p>
<p>"founded on ideas in science fiction books"</p>
<p>And religions are founded on ideas in the Bible, Koran, Torah, etc. </p>
<p>I'm not trying to defend or justify scientology. In fact, I find their practices supremely disgusting, but you should not call the entire belief system a "cult" just because it hasn't been around for thousands of years.</p>