Cult? |
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Sensational use of a provocative and negative image |
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During the past eighteen months or so, one of the most regularly heard terms used by media people or others seeking to denigrate, dismiss or to harm the work which Our Lady Queen of Peace, House of Prayer in Achill seeks to do, was to describe all those involved as members of “a cult” or a “sect”. |
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| "What is a cult?" | ||
If a group claimed to be Christian, yet taught something fundamentally different from what the Bible teaches, then you would talk about a religious cult. Similarly, if a self styled Buddhist group taught something greatly at variance with Buddhism, they could be called a cult. Very often, cults used a belief system Christian or otherwise, as their base, but what makes them a cult is that they rely on mind control and deception to gain and hold members, and coercion and at times, even force, to prevent members from leaving. Cults trick people into joining up, and then coerce or scare them into remaining as members. A normal non-cult like religious organisation or grouping, where the belief system is what really matters, has no trouble about someone being a member of or moving to another group. So, somebody might be in the St. Vincent de Paul, or the Legion of Mary, or any other Catholic Organisation, and also be a pilgrim to and supporter of the House of Prayer and believe in the messages given to Christina Gallagher. |
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Followers of Heaven’s Gate cult, led primarily by Marshall Applewhite, thought Earth and everything on it were about to be “recycled” to a clean slate, and believed hitching a ride on comet Hale-Bopp in March 1997 could allow them to survive. Thirty-nine members (including Applewhite) poisoned themselves in shifts in a California mansion wearing Nike’s sneakers and armbands that read “Heaven’s Gate Away Team” |
Founded sometime in the mid- 1980s, Aum Shinrikyo is infamous for attacking Tokyo’s subway system with Sarin gas in 1995, killing 12 and injuring more than 5,000 people. The Cult’s beliefs are often described as a hodge-podge of destructive aspects of various religions, and while many followers thought they would develop supernatural powers, others relished the chance to fight Japanese materialism. |
Rev. Jim Jones started the Peoples Temple to help homeless, jobless and sick people of all races, but former members claimed widespread abuse within the group. To remove his group from further scrutiny, Jones started a colony in the jungles of Guyana, where he hoped to build a tropical utopia. When a congressman visited the commune with three journalists to investigate the abuse claims, they were shot and killed when trying to leave. After the shootings, 913 commune members – including hundreds of children – drank poison in a horrific mass suicide. |
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When one would consider the actions of groups such as these where control and freedom are taken from individuals for absurd causes, how can anyone of sound mind suggest a link of any kind between such bizarre groups, and those who support the House of Prayer in Achill? And can anyone explain why some so–called Christian people and believers, sadly even some priests, have chosen to use such a nasty and derogatory term to describe the followers of Our Lady who chose of their own free will as Catholics, to regularly visit the House of Prayer in Achill to do nothing contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church and do nothing different than anyone would do on any pilgrimage to any Catholic place of pilgrimage? The media vendetta being orchestrated against Christina Gallagher and the House of Prayer blatantly and maliciously uses the word “cult” and cultism to create a negative, oppressive and threatening image. It is used cynically to foster resentment and suspicion and to demean all concerned and all in any way positive or supportive of this mission. |
Used consistently, such words provoke deliberate incitment to hatred towards the “targeted” individuals and their places of domicile and worship. This unjustified and despicable tactic may one day have severe consequences. One wonders where are the standards and where are the editorial controls which have permitted this abuse and defilement to exist and be part of such a prolonged propaganda campaign against everything and everybody connected to Our Lady Queen of Peace, House of Prayer? This is abuse and denegration. |
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On a final thought, one should ponder why and who so badly wishes to destroy this work that these virtually criminal tactics are embraced and made acceptable? |
