One of the most characteristic needs of man is the desire to seek God. This is proved by the fact that throughout the history of mankind there has not been a single culture devoid of the concept of a higher mind that created the world and leads everything that happens in it. People always aspired to him, but the paths for this were different, sometimes leading them away in a completely different direction.
Dangerous frivolity
The long decades of total atheism and anti-rebellion, elevated to the level of state policy, have now been replaced by freedom to profess any religion and become a follower of any of the cults common in our time. The natural interest in matters of spiritual life has grown into a fashion that is sometimes followed, without going into the essence of the teachings offered by the newly arrived preachers and “teachers”.
The currently observed superficial enthusiasm for spirituality is fraught with considerable dangers, since faith is that area of life that requires knowledge of its laws, and, of course, the false belief that any religion is better than atheism often leads to very sad consequences. It is precisely this frivolous attitude to the questions of faith that religious groups called sects use to attract new members to their ranks.
The meaning of the term "sect"
Before we start talking about them, it would be appropriate to clarify the very meaning of this term and to clarify which religious structures are designated by it. The word "sect" itself is one-root and similar in meaning to a verb such as "cut off", that is, to separate a part from the whole. This is no coincidence, since it means precisely groups that have separated from the main world religions, which are considered Christianity, Buddhism and Islam.
Sect signs
Today in the world there are several thousand different sects, but all of them are united by common signs, to one degree or another inherent in each of them. Usually, researchers of this social phenomenon put in the first place their characteristic religious advertising - a kind of marketing that allows you to impose your teaching, like a market product, on the maximum number of potential consumers. By the way, the technologies used for this are a direct borrowing from the world of commerce.
Further, the signs of the sect include the aggressive nature of the involvement of new adherents in their ranks, common to most of them, in which methods of psychological pressure are widely used. This is especially true for totalitarian sects, which will be discussed below.
Lies as a way to recruit and a system of internal hierarchy
Also a very significant feature inherent in sects is the so-called double teaching - a practice in which recruiters, wanting to lure another proselyte (a new member), hide from him not only the true history of the organization and its leaders, but even distort it, making it more attractive, itself the essence of their teachings.
An important feature is a strict hierarchy, on the basis of which the entire internal structure of education is built. Usually, a sect member must go through several levels of initiation, each of which brings him closer to the knowledge of the promised Truth. By what stage he is at the moment, his status is determined.
Claims for infallibility and control over consciousness
Of course, each sect declares its absolute infallibility and superiority of its own leader over all others, including the founders of the leading world religions. The teaching of each of them claims to be an expression of the Highest Truth and is not subject to criticism. All those who call it into question are usually referred to as "bipedal animals."
Considering the most characteristic signs of a sect, one should not lose sight of such a technique used by them as programming the consciousness of their members. The fact is that sectarians usually become people with an unstable psyche, lack of firm moral criteria and spiritual knowledge. As a rule, they are easily suggestible, therefore they easily give up personal freedom and are ready to carry out the attitudes of their “teachers”.
Total control over the “carriers of truth”
A characteristic feature of most sects is a claim to the spiritual selectivity of its members. They usually get the idea that only they, being the carriers of the same Highest Truth, must be saved, and all the others, who do not share their views, are doomed to death.
And finally, the above signs of the sect would be incomplete if we did not mention the total control over the life of the sectarians exercised by their spiritual leaders. Her whole way of life is now consistent with once and for all established rules. Needless to say, they reflect only the interests of the sect and its leaders? Exorbitant monetary claims can also be attributed to this, as a result of which ordinary sect members often doom themselves and their families to a miserable existence.
Classification of Russian sects
Cults and sects in Russia can be divided into several groups. The first of them includes those that have a fairly long history in our country. These are Pentecostals, Adventists and Baptists. Lutherans are also included here as having separated from the main Christian trend.
Historically, their members were representatives of ethnic groups such as Lithuanians, Poles, and Germans. However, as a result of active efforts to attract new members to their ranks, in recent years many former members of Orthodox communities have become proselytes.
Newfound owners of higher truths
The next fairly large group consists of pseudo-Christian totalitarian sects. These include structures that call themselves the “New Apostolic Church,” “The Church of Christ,” “The Family,” and so on. Taking advantage of the insufficient religious awareness of their adherents, all of them, referring to the Holy Scriptures, grab tendentiously selected quotes from it, which, out of context, they are used to prove their propositions.
They are also followed by a very extensive list of sects declaring their exclusive possession of the “new revelation”. The most famous of them are Jehovah's Witnesses, the Mother of God Center, Mormons and the notorious sect Aum Shinrikyo. The latter also includes signs of a totalitarian, extremist, and even terrorist sect. Created in 1987 by the Japanese Shoko Asahara, she gained notoriety for her gas attack in the Tokyo subway.
Occult and Satanic sects
In recent decades, sects belonging to the so-called New Age movement have infiltrated Russia from Western Europe and America. All of them have a pronounced occult character and rely on the development of paranormal human properties. Their adherents are, as a rule, people who consider themselves to be psychics and sorcerers, as well as followers of numerous eastern cults.
However, among the variety of religious movements and trends that make up sects in Russia today, the most odious are those that practice various satanic cults. Their savage character and a pronounced orientation towards youth puts these organizations among the most dangerous for society. The cult of violence, sexual licentiousness and the denial of moral principles propagated in them awakens the most base instincts in the still fragile consciousness of young people and pushes them not only to break with society, but sometimes to crime.
A sect that came from America
Today, one of the largest sects in Russia is the branch of an international religious organization that calls itself Jehovah's Witnesses. Its headquarters is located in New York, and the total number of members exceeds eight million people. This pseudo-Christian and denying doctrine of the Holy Trinity sect first appeared in Russia at the end of the 19th century, but was officially registered only in 1913.
In Soviet times, when there was a struggle against any manifestations of religiosity, members of the Jehovah's Witnesses sect were subjected to universal persecution. They even suffered an even worse fate than ordinary believers: from 1949 to 1951, thousands of her followers and their families were forcibly deported to Siberia, Kazakhstan and the Far East.
In the post-perestroika period, like many other sects in Russia, this organization was repeatedly registered with local authorities. Obtaining a temporary right to exist, she then lost it, going underground. Despite the fact that today it is not legalized, its members in our country are, according to experts, at least one hundred and seventy thousand people.
The brainchild of a South Korean preacher
Another example of the penetration into our country of foreign and essentially foreign religious teachings is the sect “Unification Church”. She appeared in 1954 in Seoul, and its founder was South Korean religious leader and preacher Moon Song Myung. His teaching is a wild mixture of individual provisions of Christianity, Buddhism, shamanism, occultism and many more religions and cults. In the general public, it is known as munism.
In our country, the ideas of this teaching first appeared in the seventies, but, for obvious reasons, did not receive distribution. The Korean preacher received freedom of action in the USSR only at the beginning of perestroika and, having visited Moscow in 1991, was even accepted by M. S. Gorbachev. Since that time, the "Unification Church" has received our official status.
Its founder, as it turned out, hoped in vain that the post-Soviet space would become fertile ground for the dissemination of his ideas. However, practice has shown that even in the most successful years for him, the number of adherents of the sect did not exceed six thousand people. On the scale of Russia, this undoubtedly testifies to its extreme unpopularity.
Sectarianism is universal evil
Both totalitarian sects and other religious movements preaching pseudo-Christian ideas have always been ardent opponents of the Orthodox Church, whose spiritual traditions clearly denounce their deceit. Historical experience shows that societies affected by sectarianism inevitably degrade and lag behind in their development. Where sectarian propaganda succeeds, progress is impossible in any areas of life.
A large role in countering evil is played by the dissemination of information that opens people's eyes to the harmful consequences that participation in these organizations entails and the promotion of their activities. Sectarianism is a global evil, therefore, every world religion is interested in fighting it. A sect that has separated from it is always an attempt to tear its followers out of the sphere of professed spiritual values, and therefore, regardless of what kind of religion we are talking about, the problem is urgent for everyone.