A sneak peek preview of this coming weekend’s column where I present seven characteristics of cult leadership.

The Culture of Cults and Cult Leaders

The primary definition of a cult is: “a relatively small group of people having beliefs or practices, especially relating to religion, that are regarded by others as strange or sinister or as imposing excessive control over members.” The example used is: “Satan-worshipping cults.” We like to think “those other people” are following a cult, blinded by evil, but not us—our religious practices could never be a cult. So we think. Once, while visiting a Mormon household with a friend, I felt uncomfortable. The mother sat down with me and asked what troubled me. I told her I believed they were in a cult, under the influence of the Evil One. She looked pained, calmly assuring me they were a happy family who served a loving God. I’m ashamed to admit my early judgmental faith, but years later I also see the beginning of my own emergence from cult-like thinking.

Read the full column here