Cults, facts and figures

Peoples Temple

-'reaching a maximum of 3000 members'-http://www.caic.org.au/biblebase/apocolyptic/jones.htm

-death toll 914-http://www.angelfire.com/ms/perring/russo.html

-Spiritual leader- Jim 'Dad' Jones.

-Spiritual home. Jonestown Guyana

-Core beliefs= Mixture of Communism, Socialism and Pentecostal Christianity

-founded in 1955

-ended 1978 (at the time of the Jonestown Massacre)

-The use of cyanide-laced Grape flavoured Kool Aid to kill its members has led to the phrase 'Drink the kool aid' which means to blindly accept or believe in something without questioning it.

The Manson Family

-Peak membership around 100: http://mykindofcommunication.wordpress.com/2009/02/20/the-manson-family/

-death toll 7- http://www.religioustolerance.org/dc_charl.htm

-Spiritual leader- Charles Manson

-spiritual home- Spahn Movie Ranch-http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/06/charles-mansons-ranch-pho_n_253116.html

-core beliefs- Hippie based doomsday cult, predicting a race related end of the world charliemanson.com

-founded in 1967

-ended in 1969

Famous quote' Now is The Time For Helter Skelter'- Charles Manson was obsessed with the Beatles and believed the recently released White Album was a coded message aimed at the Manson Family, instructing them what to do about the coming apocalypse. Helter Skelter was Manson's term for the uprising of the Blacks, the murders he committed were an attempt to bring about the 'Helter Skelter'.-http://www.charliemanson.com/helter-skelter.htm


Scientology

-Peak Membership 10Million and growing-http://publicaffairs.scientology-tor.ca/2006/04/latest-international-scientology.html

-Death Toll: 0 known deaths

-Spiritual leader: David Miscavige, formerly founder Ron L. Hubbard http://www.scientology.org/

-Spiritual Home: Gold Base/int. base San Jacincto California

-Core beliefs: The study of the mind, which like Buddhism is an eternal reincarnating presence. Also the belief that a long time ago in a galaxy far away, a Warlord called Xenu who enslaved a race called the Thetans who were thrown into a volcano o our planet. Their spirits then possess the bodies of humans and cause all their unwanted pain and emotions.-http://www.lermanet.com/scientologynews/santa-cruz-good-times.htm

-Founded 1954-http://stason.org/TULARC/religion/scientology-catechism/1-3-How-did-Scientology-start.html

-still going strong

-Famous Quote- "We are not a cult" stands out after watching the Panorama investigation into Scientology, whenever they were challenge on accusations of being a cult, they would also respond with the same defensive 'We are not a cult'.




This last one I've chosen, not because it's destructive like I had intended with all of them, but because it's ridiculous. If I use this one, then I have one mass suicide cult, one homicidal cult, one thats become/becoming institutionalised and one that is absolutely absurd:


The Raelian Church

Peak Membership: 70,000 worldwide (allegedly) http://rael.org/

Death Toll: 0

Spiritual Leader:Rael (Claude Vorilhon) http://www.gogomagazine.com/0227/coverstory.html

Spiritual Home: The as yet unbuilt Elohim Embassy, a proposed embassy for the Aliens to land.http://rael.org/embassy

Founded in 1974

Still going

Quotes: To describe their God-character, the Aliens that came to populate the Earth at the birth of man, they describe them as the Elohim. 'Those Who Came From The Sky'. It has quite an obscure twang to it, and it definitely sums up their bizarre beliefs quite well.