The Reasons for the Promulgation of Modern Cults

Cults are widespread, especially in the USA, where there are well over a thousand cults in existence. Any newborn cult can easily find supporters, thanks to the wide use of the Internet. There are several reasons for the rapid spread of cults and their supporters. First, people are not satisfied merely with technological advancements and material life. Modern science has failed to be fulfilling on its own and fails to bring solutions to the questions of life and existence. Parapsychology has advanced and mystical movements originating in the Far East have become popular in order to fill the void left by the failure of science. Wars, such as the Vietnam War, have been the cause of many psychological problems and have caused people to resort to these mystical movements, which are intentionally promoted by Globalism and the New World Order.

Ali Shariati, a sociologist, interprets the spread of Far East oriented and Buddhism influenced movements thus:

“Welfare makes life meaningless and useless. It sweeps away excitement, hopes, expectations, and the future. Turning to the inner world makes people revolt against the material life. Buddha mirrors such a person. He rebels against his life in the paradise of the palace. This is the place where the people in the West have arrived. They revolt against the order of welfare and interest that is wholly material and lacks spirituality. Their destiny is the destiny of those who want to turn their lives into a paradise according to only the material life and the superiority of consumption; the place at which they arrive at last is emptiness, revolt, and the destruction of the consumer lifestyle. This was Buddha’s destiny, just as it is the destiny of the West today. It is for this reason that Buddha is popular in the West.” (History of Religions)

In fact, modern man is searching for his divine origins, as have all human beings up to now. However, people do not wish to believe in a religion that will restrict, train, and discipline them, and therefore they cannot believe in a god that is superior to them. Instead, people are on a dual quest, both for a life that is free and unencumbered, and for relief; this is an unachievable task. The movements that claim to end this quest whisper that in the relativity of full-fledged postmodernism and history every individual belief and thought is correct, and promise relief through certain practices. Thus, people are comforted with the false belief that they will surpass their previous successes and become more powerful by bringing out the “divine” power within; something that to date science has failed to do. People are led to believe that this power is hidden inside them; that they will be able to achieve what the powers of science and technology could not achieve; that they will live both freely and be able to relax mentally and spiritually; and, according to the claim of Buddha, that they will be able to bring paradise down to earth. Thus, people become interested in techniques such as understanding oneself, the uncovering of the “secrets of the soul,” which are thought to be accessible through reflection, extending the scope of the freedom this energy will earn us, succeeding in the rat race, and balance and harmony achieved through methods of yoga and meditation. The interest shown in these techniques and movements, especially by people who earn a good income, is a symptom of this search for unattained happiness, and a desire for something different, fantastic, and original.

Behind the popularity of these mystical cults, which is especially high in Hollywood circles, behind the numerous publications, behind the production of films that lead some innocent Muslims to believe that the West is turning to religion and spirituality, lie globalization and New World Order policies. Globalization, the two bases of which are postmodernism and historicity, and the New World Order not only reject a single religious reality, but also a superhuman religious reality, maintaining instead the subjectivity and relativity of religion and belief. These two systems set forth to bring out the carnal elements inherent in religion and religious belief under the guise of discovering the self and the allegedly hidden powers in the human psyche. In short, they base religion on the human being, as post-renaissance scientism did, but now it is the psyche that is in the foreground rather than pure materialism. This is why some radical Christian circles, especially in America, oppose both Globalism and the New World Order, in the name of Americanism, Christianity, the American family and its traditions. They rightly think that the “new world religion” that globalization is trying to establish attempts to combine all beliefs into a single union, with an emphasis and priority put on Buddhism and Hinduism, the religions which seem most suited to serve this purpose. The fact that the Maharishi movement has recently established a “world government” with 40 ministers seems to have similar motives.