5/4/2023 0 Comments Christian death culrs![]() Some believe referring to Trumpism as cultic is unhelpful for furthering conversation and understanding, that it’s intellectually dishonest, and even oversimplifies people’s beliefs regarding Trumpism. Even people who are world-renowned experts in researching cults have written regarding the cultic tendencies of Trumpism. Conservative publications and liberal ones alike have pointed it out.Ī quick Google search for “is Trumpism a cult?” yields nearly 225,000 results. ![]() ![]() The number of thought leaders in sociology, counseling, psychcology, religion and politics who have named the cultic elements within Trumpism is remarkable. At this point it is hardly an original idea. I am not the first to think or suggest that Trumpism shows characteristics of a cult. “I am not the first to think or suggest that Trumpism shows characteristics of a cult.” Group loyalty divides families and causes adherents to cut off lifelong relationships.ĭoes all that sound like a cult to you? Does it also sound like Trumpism? To be sure, conservatism and Trumpism are not the same, and even now that the election has passed, it remains to be seen if a cultural vacuum might exist, or if this cultic trend continues.The leader is not accountable to anyone.Shame is used to keep people loyal and in line, and dissent is ridiculed.The lies and alternate reality are repeated so often and so loudly that mental blocks are put up by followers who double down.The group adopts views that run counter to objective fact and scientific scrutiny.The group maintains a strong us-versus-them mentality.Followers exhibiting unquestioning loyalty to the authoritarian leader.Many have claimed and observed in recent years that the political movement now known as Trumpism exhibits characteristics that serve as identifying markers of a cult. I guess I’ll have to stop taking my kids to that local Christian camp since they’ve embraced the occult, ahem, I mean built a prayer labyrinth.įor all the finger pointing around what practices are a part of “the occult,” many evangelicals seem unable to identify that patterns of behavior now exist in many quarters of American Christendom that closely mirror the behavior of actual cults. Never mind that these practices have been a rich part of Christian worship and practice for millennia. In The Kingdom of the Occult (Thomas Nelson, 2008), the authors write that many churches have “ventured, in some cases, into the realm of the secret hidden things - the world of the occult.” The following sentences rail against prayer stations, labyrinths and chanting. One 600-page tome in my personal library epitomizes this evangelical impulse to name who’s in and who’s out. Now, for a movement that has had its “occult antennae” up for some time, evangelical Christianity is doing a poor job of naming or recognizing the cult-like behavior in its midst.
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