How do you start a cult/religion?

Question

I can understand how followers can get swept along with it once you have a certain number of followers, but how does a cult leader get his first follower?

Answer 1

Find a group of people that are dark and "not out going" (normally like today's goths of Emo kids) then you asert your self, as a leader amoung them. Most of them dress and act that way to be accepted by some one. Accept them. Then you do lots of stuff with them, start a buzz about it get members to spread the word make it so not every one can get in at the start. So that it is all the more important to get in. At the begging you have to set ground rules for you and your new "friends" so that there is no power strugle.


I have not done this, but this is how you would go about doing it, but do not do this for violence, world domonation sure, but no one needs to get hurt.

Answer 2

Everyone needs to be part of something. Give these people something to believe in, something they can't seem to find in nowadays society. You need to be very charismatic. Trap the first one (generally from the opposite sex) by making them fall in love with you, once she gives you her total devotion, get her to spread the message for you. The more followers you have, the easier it is to get more. Keep it vague, the more you say, the less it's believable. Get others to talk about you, it makes you more powerful. Good luck.

What's a cult? It just means not enough people to make a minority.
Robert Altman

If a group stays around long enough, it tends to lose its cult aspects. Religious cults tend toward mainstream religions.
Keith Henson

Through "deprogramming" or cult intervention the only issues that are addressed focus upon the specific group and group involvement. The subject of such an intervention subsequently may leave the group and go on with their life reassuming their own basic individual values and beliefs.
Rick Ross

Answer 3

You just do.
Mine is Christian Fundamentalism, with the emphasis more on Fun than Mental, wana join.
I am working on a dummed down bible with Jesus and his Mates rather than Dissiples, and will be applying to the Government for 25 million to start a faith school in a Portacabin behind Tesco when I have fiorged enough signatures, I figured Christianity is a safer basis than Islam ......

Answer 4

well you start off with a bloody good explanation...of god, the solar system and our place in it. you answer questions, the most profound of course is" why are we here" and you answer it, succinctly and with passion and you believe it, above everything youve been told.

and then you tell a few folks, and they tell their friends, hey, you want to hear this guy, he's raving ******* mad, but wow, you ve gotta hear this..

and thats how it starts, 130 thousands words later, its a story, its a belief, its a new understanding of an age old question, and its absoutley plausible, and all the pieces fit...its a script. and its a story.

and because its your ideas, your considerations your perceptions, questions will always have answers, only the unknowing go ooh and errrmmm? the answer is always forthcoming...and you start to to develop the principles of your ideology, and word spreads...

which is how you find yourself at a party in 1998 giving a lecture to 20 people...which is great... (believe me it is) but a few days later im hearig this stuff from different sources... and i realsied my words have implications, they alter they way people think about their lives, their place in the puzzle. its a big responsibility, to found a way of life, to offer an ideology to the world.

i certainly dont want anyone to glock and load to defend my faith, nor spill anyones blood in my name, because of something which i say, which they interpret differently.

which is why im not a cultist, i may have an answser, i may have insight and understanding, but im not a control freak, (oh i am, but its internal, no, im a control freak..but over many years ive learned to control it.

i am a strong willed person, and i can debate, theorise and philosphise, but i cant make anyone believe, all i ever did was tell a story... it sits here on my desk, and ive made a few tentaive attempts at finding a publisher..but its going to rock the foundations of the world as we know it. it exposes lies, half truths and blatant misdirection... and who am i to do that to the world... its so bloody unstable at the moment, i dont want to rock the boat... i know im wafling but its 2 30 am here, way past bedtime..

truth is, anyone can start a cult... its when you start getting popular the authorities put you under surveillance, the eventually get their act together and question you, before crucifying you to the press... no change there then... (you cant get the wood these days, teh environmentalists would go mad..another tree... well how many trees do you need? ..HOW MANY...cant you make them out of recyced materials?)

what is a cult. its nothing more than a group f people with commonly held beliefs and ideology... government is a cult.. and so are teh KKK... and the jehovas witnesses... (the list is long indeed) even macdonalds is a cult...

and its only a problem when its at odds with everyone else, and it tries to reinforce its position with agression and violence. and the authorities stamp on it...HARD.

so, personally, i know what i know, so do a few of my friends... im not one for publicity or the limelight, all i have are ideas, and a philosophy for life, i tell a story based on life, thru 50 year old eyes, from what i know, what i can prove, and of the course the rest is conjecture... i can led you to enlightenment ,and i can shine light ont he pages of understanding.. and then, well its all out of my hands... and thats not going to happen.

in parting, we, 'the people' are good people. its our governemnt which are corrupt, our spiritual guidance is pitting man against man, for what? possessions and wealth, position and power...

but i am as one voice in the wilderness..lost amongst the shouts and cries of men in their ivory towers as they with pecuniary advantage would thwart my actions, and supress my thoughts, my observations and my conclusions...

and knowing all this, would you want to start a cult? e mail me...

Answer 5

Most "cult" leaders have a personality that just draws people in. Look at Charles Manson... he had to stop letting most people visit him in prison because it just caused more people to follow him.

Answer 6

Look up Scientology... a cult dedicated to making money off the weak-minded.

Answer 7

advertise. tell your friends and family about the cult/religion you want to start. then, your friends and family will tell other people. but the fastest way in my opinion is to advertise like right here. you can ask people if they want to join your cult/religion on yahoo!answers but you'll have to explain what it is first.

Answer 8

By offering false hope, involve lots of of sex, and money, you might might try and tell people it's all in the name of God as they hand over their hard earned money to you, and then you've got it made.

Answer 9

Kidnap your first follower.

Answer 10

They find someone who seems to feel the same, someone who will listen intently and let them lead the way.