The Power Of Cults

:This article gives a general cultural account of "cult". For its usage in the original sense of "veneration" or "religious practice", see Cult (religious practice). For its use in a scientific, sociological context see New Religious Movement For other uses, see Cult (disambiguation).

Cult pejoratively refers to a group whose beliefs or practices could be considered strange or sinister.OED, citing American Journal of Sociology 85 (1980), p. 1377: "Cults..., like other deviant social movements, tend to recruit people with a grievance, people who suffer from some variety of deprivation." The term was originally used to denote a system of ritual practices. The narrower, derogatory sense of the word is a product of the 20th century, especially since the 1980s, and is a result of the anti-cult movement, which uses the term in reference to groups seen as authoritarian, exploitative and possibly dangerous.

The popular, derogatory sense of the term has no currency in academic studies of religions, where "cults" are subsumed under the neutral label of "new religious movement", while academic sociology has partly adopted the popular meaning of the term.Richardson, 1993Lewis, 2004

The Branch Davidian Seventh Day Adventists (also known as "The Branch") are a Protestant sect that originated in 1955 from a schism in the Davidian Seventh Day Adventists ("Davidians"), a reform movement that began within the Seventh-day Adventist Church ("Adventists") around 1930. The majority of those who accepted the reform message have been disfellowshipped (excommunicated) due to many in the Adventist leadership rejecting it.

From its inception in 1930, the reform movement inherited Adventism's apocalypticism, in that they believed themselves to be living in a time when Bible prophecies of a final divine judgment were coming to pass as a prelude to Christ's second coming. The name "Branch Davidian" is most widely known for the 1993 siege on their property near Waco, Texas, by the ATF and the FBI, which resulted in the deaths of 82http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=64mkTaGV4o4C&dq=the+branch+davidians+of+waco&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=SkrS6bMT28&sig=dZJYvV6wIlyKiVqMdHFw-_xs7CE&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result The Branch Davidians of Waco. of the followers of David Koresh (formerly known as Vernon Howell).

There is an ongoing controversy concerning whether or not David Koresh and his followers truly represented the reform movement that had been in existence for over 60 years at the time of the siege, and whether or not they had a right to use the name and property of the church. Though his followers numbered around 140 at the time of the siege, only about 20 of them and their children were associated with the church before he drew them away to follow his unique teachings and practices. A much greater number of the loosely organized church rejected his claims.

By the time of the siege, Koresh had encouraged his followers to think of themselves as "students of the Seven Seals" rather than as "Branch Davidians." During the standoff one of his followers publicly announced that he wanted them to thereafter be identified by the name "Koreshians"."Mr. Ricks negotiator said today that Ms. Schroeder had told him that members of the sect, a renegade offshoot of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, henceforth wanted to be known as Koreshians." By Robert Reinhold, Published: March 15, 1993 New York Times added. Other of his followers said they didn't want to use that new name, and the vast majority of the media continued to use the name "Branch Davidian," in spite of protests from other church members who didn't leave the church to join Koresh's distinct offshoot. The Seventh Day Adventist Church with world headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, was able to persuade the media to not use its name in conjunction with the Branch Davidians because they had not long before trademarked their name, despite the fact that the Branch Davidians had legally used the words "Seventh Day Adventists" in their name for decades before the Adventists had trademarked the name. Protests against the use of the name "Davidian" for Koresh and his followers were also raised by the Davidian groups who were not affiliated with the Branch, but also to no avail.

Due to overwhelming evidence that Koresh's teachings and practices were grossly divergent from those of the historic Branch Davidians, and that there are significant facts that his group was actually a separate and distinct association, this article addresses the church's identity independent of his teachings and the events of the 1993 siege. Those matters are addressed in the articles David Koresh and the Waco Siege.

The Soldiers of Heaven or Jund As-Samaa (), also known as Supporters of the Mahdi is an armed Iraqi Shi'a messianic sect led by Ahmed Hassani al-Yemeni, who reportedly died in fighting in Basra, Iraq on 18 January 2008.Fighters for Shiite Messiah Clash with Najaf Security, 250 Dead Over 60 Dead in Baghdad, Kirkuk Violence, Informed Comment, Juan Cole

The group is a destructive cult, believing that spreading chaos will hasten the return of the 12th Imam.."US-Iraqi Forces Kill 250 Militants in Najaf", The Age, 29 January 2007Cult plotted attack on Shiite clerics, Iraqis say - CNN January 29, 2007

The Order of the Solar Temple also known as Ordre du Temple Solaire (OTS) in French, and the International Chivalric Organization of the Solar Tradition or simply as The Solar Temple was a secret society based upon the modern myth of the continuing existence of the Knights Templar (see Origins of the Solar Temple below). OTS was started by Joseph Di Mambro and Luc Jouret in 1984 in Geneva as lOrdre International Chevaleresque de Tradition Solaire (OICTS) and renamed Ordre du Temple Solaire.

Some historians allege that the Solar Temple originates with French author Jacques Breyer who established a Sovereign Order of the Solar Temple in 1952. In 1968, a schismatic order was renamed the Renewed Order of the Solar Temple'' (ROTS) under the leadership of French right-wing political activist Julien Origas. Some reports have claimed that Origas was a Nazi SS member during World War II.