61. Bad Subjects Bad Shorts Heaven S Gate The recent mass suicide by members of the Heaven s gate cult in Southern Bad Shorts Heaven s gate The Rise of Reactionary religious Politics in http://bad.eserver.org/issues/1997/32/badshorts.html

62. The Religious Movements Homepage: Heaven's Gate “Making Sense of the Heaven s gate Suicides.” In Cults, Religion and Violence, ed.David G. Bromley and J. Gordon Melton, pp. 209228. http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/hgprofile.html

The Religious Movements Homepage Project @The University of Virginia Heaven's Gate Profile History Beliefs and Rituals Controversies ... Cult Controversies Teaching Resources Email Profile of the Group Name: Founders: Marshall Herff Applewhite ( aka "Bo" and "Do"; 1931-1997) and Bonnie Lu Nettles (aka "Peep" and "Ti"; 1927-1985) Year Founded: Sacred or Revered Texts: How and When Heaven's Gate May Be Entered , which can still be assessed at various sites listed in the Links below, and numerous written testimonials. It may even be argued that a screenplay the group wrote to spread its message could be classified as a "sacred text." Size of Group: Thirty-nine (39). Heaven's Gate came to public attention when they committed mass suicide on March 27, 1997. The mean age of the group members was 46.7, more than twice the average as initially reported. The sex ratio was about equal. All members are believed to have perished. Group membership probably never exceeded two hundred (200) when Balch and Taylor studied them in the 1970s and early 1980s. The turnover was high in the early life of the group; perhaps as many as one thousand (1,000) persons were affiliated at one point or another. After the early period of active recruitment of new members, the defining feature of membership was gradual attrition. In 1994 two members visited sociologist Robert Balch and reported that there were twenty-four (24) members.

63. Heaven's Gate: Index Of Resources As it turned out, the group s name was Heaven s gate although this was This web site was created for and by students of religious movements at the http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/heavgateindex.html

Links to NRMs Sects and Cults? Rel. Freedom Televangelism Introduction to Heaven's Gate Tragedy jump to resource list O n March 28, 1997, the Unites States awoke to the news that authorities in Rancho Santa Fe, California had discovered the bodies of 39 cult members who had committed suicide. For the next several days this story dominated broadcast journalism and received considerable coverage in print journalism as well. E arly reports about fast breaking stories are often fragmentary and the information highly misleading. This story was no exception. Authorities on the scene initially identified the group as "Higher Source." The age composition was reported to range of 18-24, plus two older persons. Some news accounts said all the members were male. And there were reports that branches of the group in other locations might also be planning, or already have committed suicide. A s it turned out, the group's name was Heaven's Gate although this was only the latest of several names the group had assumed over the previous two decades. Higher Source was the name of the computer company of the group. The mean age of the group members was 46.7, more than twice the average as initially reported! The sex ratio was about equal. Only the report that the event might have been related to the appearance of the Comet Hale-Bopp seemed to have been correct. I f much of the information the news media pieced together in the early hours after the story broke was wrong or misleading, those reporting errors paled to insignificance in the face of misinformation, tales of deception, and just plain lies that came from a cadre of now well known professional cult-bashers. Their role as experts is self-proclaimed, and their information is as preprogrammed and predictable as the spot in the sky were one could find Hale-Bopp on a given evening during its pass by planet earth. Their contribution to promoting hate and divisiveness in human cultures is considerable. In providing a platform for these self-proclaimed experts, the media are co-participants in a feeding frenzy that makes thoughtful assessment and learning from this tragic event extremely difficult.

64. DOOMSDAY, DESTRUCTIVE RELIGIOUS CULTS religious CULTS. horizontal rule. Click below to visit our sponsors. bullet,The loss of life by the Heaven s gate membership was definitely a suicide. http://www.religioustolerance.org/destruct.htm

MENU: DOOMSDAY, DESTRUCTIVE RELIGIOUS CULTS Click below to visit our sponsors. Overview: We define Doomsday/Destructive/Apocalyptic cults to be religiously based, very high intensity, controlling groups that have caused or are liable to cause loss of life among their membership or the general public. It is important to realize that out of the tens of thousands of new religious groups worldwide, only a very few meet these criteria. We do not include terrorist groups in the above definition, because their goals are primarily political, not religious. However, groups like Al Quiada (The Source) do have some points of similarities with destructive religious cults. What is behind the death of members of destructive cults? No consensus exists concerning the motivation for the loss of life within this handful of cults: Some in the Anti-Cult Movement claim that much of this loss of life among cult members was the result of mass suicides ordered by the group leadership. That opinion fits well with their now-discredited belief that cult memberships have been the victims of mind control techniques . Having little self-will, they have been willing to follow any order from the leadership even one leading to self destruction.

65. Heaven's Gate (cult) - Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia Heaven s gate was the name of a cult coled by Marshall Applewhite and BonnieNettles until Nettles Heaven s gate was a secretive New Age religion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven's_Gate_(cult)

Heaven's Gate (cult) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Heaven's Gate was the name of a cult co-led by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles until Nettles' death. The cult's end, coinciding with the appearance of comet Hale-Bopp , created a sensation in the United States in . Applewhite convinced 39 followers to commit suicide so that their souls could take a ride on a spaceship that they thought was hiding behind the comet ; members reportedly believed themselves to be aliens Heaven's Gate was a secretive New Age religion. Knowledge of their practices is limited. Upon joining the group, members often sold their worldly belongings in order to break their attachments with earthly existence. For many years the group lived in isolation in the western United States. Members often traveled in pairs and rendezvoused with other members for meetings or presentations they gave to recruit new members. For a time, group members lived in a darkened house where they would simulate the experience they expected to have during their long journey in outer space. A publication produced at this time that received some press attention was titled "How to build a U.F.O." and purported to describe an interplanetary spacecraft out of materials such as old tires. Much of what is known about the group comes from the research of Robert Balch and David Taylor, who infiltrated the group in the

66. Free Will, Or Though Control? Heaven s gate, Marshall Applewhite, Heaven s gate Suicide, West and othersbelieve that members of totalist religious cults are subjected to a form of http://www.rickross.com/reference/heavensgate/gate39.html

Free will, or though control? Were the deaths of Heaven's Gate Members the result of brainwashing? The debate reflects larger cultural questions about the role of choice and the issue of victimization. Los Angeles Times/April 4, 1997 By Terrance Monmaney In those now-familiar sun-washed video farewells, the members of Heaven's Gate said they had made up their own minds. Even the parents of one young man found among the purple-shrouded dead tried to reassure us about what happened in Rancho Santa Fe, issuing a statement saying "he was happy, healthy and acting under his own volition." But despite claims that the 38 followers who committed suicide last week were not brainwashed or bullied by their wild-eyed leader, there is evidence to the contrary. Far from being freely thought-out final acts, the suicides are seen by some mental health experts and cult scholars as largely the result of a sustained, calculated and ruthless program of psychological coercion. "I see them as victims of a hoax," said Dr. Louis J. West, a UCLA psychiatrist and cult watcher. "There was villainy here." West and others believe that members of "totalist" religious cults are subjected to a form of psychological manipulation known as undue influence, coercive persuasion or

67. Heaven's Gate UFO Cult - Conspiracy Theories Linking UFO Cult To Waco, Theosophy Heaven s gate UFO Religion, Conspiracy Suicide Heaven gate cult Links, SuspiciousHeaven s gate Link to *THEM* http://www.mt.net/~watcher/cult.html

The Legacy of the Heaven's Gate New Age UFO suicide Cult 1997 Confusion surrounding what really happend leads to conspiracy theories. 39 religious folks, whose interests included computers and the internet, UFOs and prophecy (sound like anyone you know?) were found dead in San Diego. They had met their death over what might have been days, while comet Hale Bopp was bright in the sky, Mars was at close approach, and a lunar eclipse topped off the signs in the heavens. It was too auspicious of a time for *THEM* to pass up a sacrifice 3 * 13 = 39 an auspicious number of acolytes lost their lives ... for what? [39 is also 2 * 19.5] Sollog Heaven ' s Gate Applewhite Conspiracy in San Diego Computer Dude UFO Suicide - LISTEN Summary of the Heaven's Gate UFO cult suicide from the internet source the 60 Greatest Conspiracies. We at Watcher have been WARNING for years about the potential for people to be deceived by "aliens" (who are really fallen angels) bringing enlightenment, and the danger of viewing ETs as the catalyst for the next step in human evolution. Links to Cult Conspiracies etc.

68. Heaven's Gate In The News In 1997, the bodies of 39 members of the Heaven s gate cult were found inside September 10, 1999 Heaven s gate cult House Sold, NBC4, Washington DC (SAN http://www.cultsoncampus.com/heavgatinnew.html

March 26, 2004 SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY OF HEAVEN’S GATE MARKED, KFMB-TV, San Diego, California (Seven years ago Friday, 39 members of the Heaven's Gate cult were found dead in a Rancho Santa Fe mansion after a mass suicide...) March 26, 2004 Heaven's Gate Anniversary, KFMB-TV, San Diego, California (Friday marks a grim anniversary for San Diego County. It was exactly seven years ago when 39 members of a cult called Heaven's Gate were found dead in a Rancho Santa Fe mansion after a mass suicide. Cult leader Marshall Applewhite, known as Do to his followers, taught...) March 26, 2003 Today in History, Associated Press via KTRE News via Google's cache (...In 1997, the bodies of 39 members of the Heaven's Gate techno-religious cult who'd committed suicide were found inside a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, California...) March 26, 2003 Today in History for Wednesday, March 26, 2003, CNSNews.com (...In 1997, the bodies of 39 members of the Heaven's Gate cult were found inside a home in Rancho Santa Fe, California, following their group suicide...) March 24, 2003

69. Heaven's Gate - 2nd Cult's Leader Still At Large - Rising Death Toll Heaven s gate 2nd cult s Leader Still at Large - Rising Death Toll. view ofreligious restrictions when their own vital interests were at stake, http://www.webshowplace.com/HeavensGate/home.htm

Heaven's Gate Tragedy Is Behind Us But Second Sect's Leader Is Still at Large with Rising Death Toll Milton G. Henschel still at large has led more followers to early death than Marshall Applewhite "Beth-Sarim" mansion in San Diego near Heaven's Gate was westcoast center for Henschel's sect Followers expected to rendezvous with Pleiades star cluster rather than comet Hale-Bopp 23 young victims displayed as heroes for dying refusing blood transfusions. Death toll rising. Similarities to Heaven's Gate, but with a rising death toll In a nearby San Diego mansion another sect awaited the resurrection of long-dead patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and King David while expecting at their own death to rendezvous with the Pleiades star cluster. Not far from the Heaven's Gate suicide scene stands the terra cotta-roofed mansion named Beth-Sarim (Hebrew for "House of Princes") built in 1929 by the Watchtower organization, better known as Jehovah's Witnesses. "Transplanting organs is really cannibalism," current Watchtower President Milton G. Henschel told FREE PRESS religion writer Hiley B. Ward in 1968, when he was still rising through the sect's leadership ranks. The sect banned organ transplants and even skin grafting for thirteen years, but then dropped the ban suddenly in 1980, without any apology to members who had gone blind refusing cornea transplants or relatives of those who had died refusing kidneys. However, before selling their San Diego mansion in 1948, Henschel's associates drew up their ban on blood transfusions, a ban that has "led thousands to die needlessly" according to charges cited recently in

70. Mass Media Bunk 3 The nihilism expressed in the belief system of the Heaven s gate cult is no different Other real religions have similar tales to tell. If these cult http://skepdic.com/refuge/bunk3.html

Robert Todd Carroll SkepDic.com The Skeptic's Refuge Mass Media Bunk features news stories or articles in the mass media which provide false, misleading or deceptive information regarding scientific matters or alleged paranormal or supernatural events. Note: because many of the sites linked to here are newspapers or magazines, it is impossible to maintain the links. March 28, 1997 (Good Friday). It is clear to all of us, that to the Anti-Christ those propagators of sustained faithfulness to mammalian humanism we are, and will be seen as, their Anti-Christ. This is certainly to be expected, and it will not delay our return to our Father's Kingdom. It might even accelerate that return. We will, between now and our departure, do everything we can for those who want to go with us. But we cannot allow them to interfere with or delay our return to Him. The Present Representative Do a.k.a Marshall Herff Applewhite , a.k.a. Bo of "The Two" Bo and Peep a.k.a. Bonnie Lu Trousdale By now everyone has heard of the suicides by 39 members of a UFO cult known as "Heaven's Gate," but sure to be deemed the Comet Cult by the media. The news reports focus on the cult's "weird" beliefs in such things as

71. Mind Control, Cults + Freedom Of Mind News: FACTNet The Dangers of Fundamentalist religious Cults Operating within Governments comparative focus with her treatment of the Heaven s gate suicides. http://www.factnet.org/

Since 1993, we have been to destructive cults, fundamentalism, mind control, and mental coercion/torture what Amnesty International has been to physical torture. Home Search FACTNet Mission Make a Donation ... Subscribe to Free Newsletter Tell us Your story Discussion Board Guide to Cults Child Abuse in Cults Cult Groups List Cult Recovery Books Spiritual Safeguards ... Today's Cult News Index Guide to Cult Recovery Cult-Help Experts Cult-Help Organizations Cult Support Groups How to be an Activist ... Internet Resources on Cults Terrorism in Cults Terrorism Cults Terrorism Books Today's Terrorism News Guide to Scientology Scientology + Dianetics Newspaper Articles Scientology Books All the Sites worth Seeing ... Today's Scientology News FACTNet About FACTNet FACTNet Mission Editorials+Newsletters FACTNet Constitution ... Contacting FACTNet Translations Español Your Freedom Internet Free Speech Internal Resources Ancient FACTNet History Site Map All Products Books Popular Music Classical Music Video DVD Electronics Software Outdoor Living Cell Phones FACTNet F ight A gainst C oercive T actics Net work) is a non-profit organization that defends the most universal and basic freedom - freedom of mind! Factnet defends freedom of mind from all forms of mind control and unethical influence.

72. Recommended Books On Heaven's Gate The Keepers of Heaven s gate The Millennial Madness, the Religion Behind theRancho Cosmic Suicide is the definitive study of the Heaven s gate cult. http://www.factnet.org/cults/heavens_gate/Recommended_Books_on_Heaven's_Gate.htm

73. Cults Information and discussion on Cults, religious hate groups and New Includesaccounts of Heaven s gate, Jonestown, the Order of the Solar temple, http://altreligion.about.com/od/cults/

zJs=10 zJs=11 zJs=12 zJs=13 zc(5,'jsc',zJs,9999999,'') About Alternative Religions Religions A-Z Alternative Religions ... Help w(' ');zau(256,140,140,'el','http://z.about.com/0/ip/417/C.htm','');w(xb+xb+' ');zau(256,140,140,'von','http://z.about.com/0/ip/496/7.htm','');w(xb+xb); FREE Newsletter Sign Up Now for the Alternative Religions newsletter! See Online Courses Search Alternative Religions Cults and New Religious Movements Get the skinny on the often controversial, sometimes dangerous New Religious Movements- including Scientology, Moonies, Hare Krishnas, The Branch Davidians, and Aum Shinrikyo. As many viewpoints as possible will be explored. Not all listings in this section should be considered harmful. Alphabetical Recent Up a category UFO Cults The UFO movement began in the forties, and has grown phenomenally ever since. While some UFO groups are promoters of peace, others have piled on the casualties. Explore UFO cults from the peaceful Aetherius society, to the slightly wacky Raelians, to the suicidal Heaven's Gate movement. Doomsday / Destructive Cults The end is near- or so believe many religious groups and sects. Still others believe that violence is a means of achieving religious goals. Dangerous groups act on these beliefs, often with tragic results. Includes accounts of Heaven's Gate, Jonestown, the Order of the Solar temple, and more. Scroll down for more selections.

74. Anti-Cult Movement's Involvement In The Heaven's Gate Tragedy The ACM helped to feed the paranoid worldview of Heaven s gate members that made by an Heaven s gate member in the alt.religion.scientology newsgroup, http://bernie.cncfamily.com/acm/heaven.htm

The Anti-Cult Movement Cult Tragedies The Heaven's Gate INTRODUCTION DEPROGRAMMING CONSERVATORSHIP DEPROGRAMMING BILL ... WACO HEAVEN'S GATE GERMANY THE ANTI-CULT MINDSET LINKS CAN and COS ... Recommended Links CAN and COS Extreme groups are of course the primary responsibles in case of mass suicides or in case of other forms of violence on their part, but the confrontational approach of anti-cult groups have for effect to worsen the groups' paranoia and push them towards an irrevocable decision. The "investigation" of Leo Ryan in Jones' camp in 1978, with NBC camera et all, helped to precipitate the Jonestown tragedy. In Waco , the FBI and BATF, made hysterical by alarmist rumors from anticultists, have most probably caused the tragedy in which 75 men, women, and children were burned alive. The following post shows the same kind of confrontational approach at work towards the Heaven's Gate, how it prevents the possibility of a peaceful resolution of conflict but on the contrary helps to reinforce the group's feeling of estrangement from the outside society. The post was made by an Heaven's Gate member in the alt.religion.scientology newsgroup, to thank Scientologists for having busted CAN.

75. Religious Studies - FaithCentral - Sects And Cults Sects, cults, new religions are part of the world. Sects and cults can consumepeople s Heaven s gate. Jehovah s Witness. Jonestown. Moonies. Mormons http://www.faithcentral.net.nz/inclass/sects.htm

Other class topics Art music architecture Beginnings of NZ Church Biblical studies Bio-ethics Changing role of Women Church History Church's year Conscience Morality Values Creation and Co-Creation Ecumenism - Church Unity Eucharist Expressions of Catholic Life Holy Spirit Impact of Media Inspiring men and women Jesus Christ Jesus life and times Justice and Peace Loss grief death dying Mary the first disciple Modern Church History Poverty and wealth Psychology of Religion Religions of the world Sects and Cults Signs of God Marist Internet Project Sects and Cults Comparsions and profiles How they attract ... In the media Defining a Sect or Cult Defining a Cult or a Sect is often more difficult than we think. Cults have positive, neutral and negative meanings. On the other hand Sects seem to arouse less emotional response. Tracing the root origins and the different ways scholars have used the terms Sect and Cult help in understanding what is meant by them. What is a cult? Who joins them? Is it hard to get out of a cult? What's mind control?

76. Silva Mind Control,  UFOs, Gurdjieff- Ouspensky, Swedenborgianism, Atheism- Mar Mind Sciences Silva Mind Control, UFOs- Heaven s gate, Heaven s gate Heaven sgate. We already made a comment on this cult exactly on the date that 39 http://religion-cults.com/Cults/Other/Other.htm

Esoteric Religions Art Gallery 1- Mind Sciences- Silva Mind Control 4- Swedenborgianism 2- UFOs- Heaven's Gate ... 6- Modernism- Secularism Jesus is the Lord of History... the only God... the only Creator... the only Savior of your life and mine "MIND" THERAPY CULTS "Mind Therapy Cults", or "Mind Science", are therapy methods based on mind science, psychological or neurological, often mixed with the occult or the latent divinity that resides in every individual... and often end up being a "religion for life"... they may not be easy to recognize, but they may become psychologically just as damaging as the cults that require members to dress in robes and chant in the street. -Ernest Holmes, is considered to be the father of the mind sciences, with the foundation of the "Institute of Religious Science" in 1927, and his book "Science of Mind". There are dozens of them, with such names as "Religious Science", "Divine Science", "Science of Mind"... - "Scientology" may be the biggest and most famous, commented on "Western Cults".

77. Eastern Cults, Transcendental Meditation, Hare Krishna, Theosophy, New Age, Est, HEAVEN S gate. Today s 39 people suicide, 326-97, at Rancho Santa Fe, San Diego,California, from the Heaven s gate cult, had UFOs doctrines and, http://religion-cults.com/Cults/Eastern/E-CULTS.htm

Eastern Cults Transcendental Meditation Hare Krishna Theosophy New Age... "est", "Erhard Seminars Training", the Forum ... Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy Biofeedback, Self-Realization Fellowship Shree Gurudev Siddha Sahaja Yoga 3HO Foundation, Sikh Foundation of Yogi Bhajan ... Art Gallery Transcendental Meditation Founder: Guru Maharishi Mahest Yogi, born in 1911, as Mahesh Brasad Warma, at Jabalpur, India. Started TM in 1965 at Los Angeles (USA), and his actual headquarters are in the luxurious old Hotel Sonnenberg, at Seelisberg, Switzerland. Followers: TM claims 2 million people, in 140 countries; with one million it the USA, and 8,000 people in each one of the other 139 countries?... it does not make much sense!... It is a "religion"... and "big business": TM is a "religion" based on the Hindu "Raja Yoga" (pag.82), to obtain the Buddhist "enlightenment (pag.109), here called "cosmic consciousness", "complete god consciousness" and "unity consciousness", in the different "stages". - The Vedas and the Gita are "indispensable".

78. Heaven's Gate Or Hell's? With the mass suicides of 39 people involved in the Heaven s gate cult, I did some research about cults sects and religions and found acouple of http://www.sermons.org/sermons/sermon57.html

"Heaven's Gate or Hell's?" by Pastor Marvin McKenzie Bayview Baptist Church , Astoria, OR Download the ASCII text version of this sermon Text: 1 John 4:1-3 Introduction: There has been much interest lately about cults and the like. I preached a message this last Sunday night that I thought might be of interest to some of you. The Scriptures tell us that in the last days there will be many false Christs, many that try to turn people from the truth to follow "cunningly devised fables." The Christian should not be surprised nor alarmed at the rise of cultist type religious groups. Nor should we feel as if we must shrink from God given, Bible truth because of these cultist activities. We need to make a distinction at this point, from non Christian religions and Christian type or Bible-based cults. While many of the same things are true of each, our main difficulty is with those that use the same Bible we use, or at least a version of it. With the mass suicides of 39 people involved in the Heaven's - Gate cult, there has risen a new thrust of conversation in journalism concerning the seriousness of cults and what they do to its people. I am as opposed to the cults as just about anybody I know. Ibelieve they are devilish, destructive and disobedient to God. But, at the same time, I am concerned that the media is training the masses to believe that almost ANY church organization is cultish and dangerous. *** We have seen, in the last few days, video clips of cult leader David Koresh, teaching the Bible in much the same fashion (even if he was teaching a false doctrine) as we would in a Baptist church.

79. TheologyWebsite Internet Resources Index: Religions : Cults And Sects : Heavens Internet Resources Index Religions Cults and Sects heavens gate. Top Religions Cults and Sects heavens gate http://www.theologywebsite.com/internet/Religions/Cults_and_Sects/Heavens_Gate/i

Internet Resources Index: Religions : Cults and Sects : Heavens Gate Top Religions Cults and Sects : Heavens Gate Links: Heavensgate Mass Suicide House Photos popular (Hits: 546 Rating: Votes: 0) Rate It CNN - Expanded Coverage (Hits: 379 Rating: Votes: 0) Rate It Commentary: The Internet and Heaven's Gate Mass Suicide (Hits: 211 Rating: Votes: 0) Rate It Cult's Internet connection sparks fears of growing trend - CNN Report (Hits: 90 Rating: Votes: 0) Rate It Heaven's Gate - Mirror of the original site (Hits: 305 Rating: Votes: 0) Rate It Heaven's Gate Documents (Hits: 162 Rating: Votes: 0) Rate It Heaven's Gate Interactive Timeline - Washington Post (Hits: 158 Rating: Votes: 0) Rate It Heaven's Gate: Index of Resources (Hits: 124 Rating: Votes: 0) Rate It The End of the Age is Upon Us - Video and sound excerpts from Applewhite's speech. On CNN Site (Hits: 110 Rating: Votes: 0) Rate It The Internet as a god and propaganda tool for cults - CNN Tech Report (Hits: 61 Rating: Votes: 0) Rate It Search the Resource Index More search options What's New Most Popular Random Link ... Modify Your Listing Pages Updated On: 11-Sep-2005 - 17:20:18 TheologyWebsite sincerely thanks Gossamer Threads Inc.

80. Cult Behavior media hoopla surrounding the suicides of 39 members of the Heaven s gate cult, Although I wouldn t go so far as to say all religions are cults, http://www.sullivan-county.com/nf0/nov_2000/cult_beh.htm

Cult Behavior In the midst of all the media hoopla surrounding the suicides of 39 members of the "Heaven's Gate" cult, Bill Maher made a very sensible comment on the night of "Good Friday," 1997. He said, quite truthfully and bravely, that Christianity had started out with the name cult and had kept that name until it attracted enough followers to become respectable. Although I wouldn't go so far as to say all religions are cults, being a Faith Atheist and Unitarian Universalist myself, I do believe that there are a lot more cults out there than we realize, hiding behind a facade of respectability...or at least acceptance. The fact that a movement has existed for a long time, even centuries, and is believed in by even millions of followers does not make that movement necessarily true. At amazes me to hear Christians say that their religion must be true, or else it wouldn't have lasted for 2,000 years. If age and size are signs of God's stamp of exclusive truth, then these people better get over to Hinduism right quick. That religion has been around even longer than Judaism. No, age and size have nothing to do with truth. Galileo was right; Columbus was right; Darwin was right; but it took time for their ideas to be accepted. I don't mean to slam Christianity; I'm just saying that its truth must be judged on the merits of what it says, not its age. After all, the early Christians couldn't use that argument.

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