Why people remain in cultlike religious communities

[Won2blv]

I am a disfellowshipped Jehovah's Witness. JW's are really strict to sticking to the shunning of a member. But I have one friend who always takes my calls and never makes me feel like I'm a bother for reaching out. He is an emotionally intelligent person, but he is book stupid. He asked me, "Does it matter what we believe" and I said yes. He was like, "Does it really matter?" And then it dawned on me, there has always been this debate between humans concerning what was more important, what you say or what you do. Naturally, most of us agree that what you do is overall more powerful of a testimony as to what kind of human you are, compared to the shit we all talk. But what you say doesn't always need to be backed up by doing anything. Take for instance a theist saying you needed to prove why God doesn't exist. An atheist makes no claim to an existing God, therefore they do not need to provide any proof. And then you have the situation where there are creationist sitting on the Texas board of education and they are demanding creationism be taught and evolution to be banned. And this matters because states outsources school books to Texas and the textbooks must pass the School Boards standards.

My friend knows that if there is a loving God, he wouldn't kill him for talking to an old friend over the phone instead of letting the paranoia that Jehovah is displeased get in his head, but he doesn't understand how people's delusional beliefs affect real world policies. He has a huge friend circle, a beautiful family, and a successful business. Add to that how he was born and raised to believe there was nothing you could do to change the world around you so he has no reason to educate himself on worldly matters. He loves his kids, but does he ever worry about what his inaction to help prevent climate change from becoming a catastrophic nightmare for our kids?

Let me give you one other example. I go to the LDS Church on sundays. There is an elderly missionary couple stationed there. The brother is a retired podiatrist, with all the accolades, and a well accomplished and well traveled wise man overall. I learn something new from him every time I see him. But the other day before the services began, he says that president biden is the most corrupt president ever. I try to stay from partisan politics because I believe they're both corrupted by big money, but come on! Trump was way more flippant with ethics than any modern day president. But this guy is with the high up social circle and they're practically fucking drones!

[Angrboda]

We're all apes with egos. If nothing else has come of religion it is to remind us to be humble and that everybody has a place.

[The Grand Nudger]

Apparently, what we believe matters at least enough to shun you. Your friend isn't book dumb, and he doesn't strike me as emotionally intelligent (at least in this telling). He's not suffering from any grand or complicated malaise about his inability to change the world. He just doesn't see you right in front of him. Do you matter? But...do you really matter?

[Jehanne]

Cults are an addiction, a mental and emotional one, as opposed to a chemical one; that's why people fall into and remain in cults.

[arewethereyet]

For a person not born onto a cult, and therefore not knowing anything else, one of the things about cults grabbing onto people is that they tend to be masters at figuring out what a person is looking for/missing in their life. That's what draws them in. That void is filled until and going back to the 'without' is enough to keep some people in a cult even when the need is no longer met and the cult's need is what becomes of utmost importance.

[Fake Messiah]

Why do people remain in cultlike religious communities? Maybe you could ask yourself that considering that you go to LDS Church every Sunday.

What puzzles me is why do religious people get offended when you tell them that they are in a cult? Like even JWs find it to be an offensive term.

[Rev. Rye]

And, also, especially after becoming a Last Podcast on the Left fan, another huge factor is the sunk cost fallacy. Because, sometimes, when the cults start getting weird, and cult members start developing doubts, people still end up staying in the cult because they've already sunk too much into the cult (case in point: if you're in Scientology, by the time you learn about Xenu, you've spent over a quarter million dollars into the cult.) Or, if the cults emphasise separation from the rest of the world, odds are, the cult has, at the very minimum, retained your entire social circle, so say goodbye to everyone you know. If they're more extreme, they probably own literally all your worldly possessions.