• confluence@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I worked as a pastor and professor for a global, evangelical television ministry/college. They knowingly conceal scholarship on the Bible and punish their pastors for asking any questions that undermine their most closely held traditions (including anti-evolution, mental illness is supernatural, etc.). They tell their US viewers that they can’t call themselves Christians if they don’t vote Republican, while still enjoying tax-exempt status. They use pseudohistorians to inspire Christian Nationalism over their network, and are one of the largest propaganda networks for the Religious Right. A U.S. Capitol police commander told me his men were fighting people who were wearing the network’s brand.

        • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          I feel like there are minimum two definitions of cult, that being a high controll group like say jones town and to a lesser but still damaging extent seventh day adventists for example and just a smaller religious grouping.

            • HardlightCereal@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              The BITE classification was invented in order to justify hatred of small religions, by taking a word that already had a meaning (cult) and attaching a second, pejorative meaning to it. It’s like if I write a fantasy novel with a species of evil creatures called jews. Jew is already a word, and it’s a horrific act of religious persecution to take a pre-existing word for marginalised religions and spin it into an unrelated negative.

              • confluence@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                Yes, because controlling a group’s behavior, information access, thoughts, and emotions is completely acceptable. Autonomy be damned.

                • HardlightCereal@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  I didn’t justify the abusive behaviours described by the BITE model. In fact I was very clear that I disliked those behaviours, and their association with an important religious term. You should work on your reading comprehension so you can stop seeing enemies everywhere.

                  • confluence@lemmy.world
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                    1 year ago

                    I apologize for misunderstanding. Can you provide a source or reasoning why you think the BITE classification itself was intended to make “cult” a bad word?

      • confluence@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        To them, it means if you’re depressed, schizophrenic, or otherwise incapable of controlling your emotions or perceptions, you’re being either possessed or “oppressed” by demon spirits.