Take your pick . . .

According to Cults in Our Midst, an estimated 20 million people have joined cults over the past two decades. Presently, 3,000 - 5,000 destructive cults, which exercise extraordinary control methods, exist in America, with 2 to 5 million Americans actively involved at any one time. An estimated 30 million members comprise the more benign groups, which have fewer controlling methods and are often religious. An estimated 60 million are in occultism, groups espousing interest in secret and esoteric topics, including techniques to alter consciousness, channeling, magic books, formulas. This type also includes Satanism.*

But not all cults are religious. According to the same book, a cult is a group of people that forms around a person claiming a special mission or knowledge. The self-appointed leader will share this knowledge with those who relinquish their decision-making to him or her.

Here is a brief list of different kinds of cults and what their focus is:

• political, consisting of terrorists and racists
• psychotherapy, offering personal transformation
• occult, Satanism, and groups offering secret doctrines and techniques
• commercial, offering expensive seminars and promises of wealth
• New Age, involving astrology and channeling
• one-on-one, with single individuals assert power over another
• Bible-based, with rigid requirements
• eastern, teaching altered states of consciousness
• UFO

-- Janis Hutchinson

* According to cult authorities, occultism may or may not be classified as a cult, depending on its structure and psychological dynamics (Recovery From Cults, p. 5).