stripping the gurus - Brahma Kumaris Info

MAKE IT BETTER 495
I had been trying to figure out the difference between a [socalled]
cult and a religion—and had decided it was only two
things: a matter of time and conformity (Sherrill, 2000).
All religions, except perhaps the very earliest and most primitive,
begin as new religious movements. That is, they begin
as movements based on spiritual innovation usually in a
state of high oppositional tension with prevailing religious
practices. Often, they are begun by charismatic religious entrepreneurs
(Zablocki, 1998).
Conversely:
In its first thousand years, the [Catholic] Church grew from
a tiny, underground [so-called] cult into a vast, multinational
power (Aarons and Loftus, 1998).
Similarly:
Like many groups that were formerly enfantes terribles, Scientology,
if it continues in its current clean-up campaign,
may one day become one of the world’s most respected
groups or Churches (Cooper, 1971).
Indeed, as Scientology’s John Travolta once put it (in Gould,
1998): “I’m sure Christianity had some problems too in its first fifty
years.” (Tell that to Lisa McPherson. Oh, you can’t....)
Saturday Night Fever ... or Saturday Night Mass. You decide.
[O]ne asks oneself how much is really known about the founders
and originators of the great classical religions of the
past? How did they really begin? What were the true motives
of their founders?.... Supposing that the world rolls on for a
thousand years ... what then will the mythology of Scientology
look like? And what stories will people be telling of Mr.
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, his teachings and his first disciples?
(Evans, 1973).
In any case, if enough people believe that Jesus Christ (or Da
Savior) is the sole Son of God, given to this world via Virgin/Dildo
Birth and ascended into Glory, it ceases to be “weird,” and the belief
begins to be “inherited” by the children of each parent follower
of that “one true/best guru.” Comparably, as Strelley (1987) noted,
even pathological events and beliefs within Rajneesh’s ashram “all