The Theory Of Culture A Conflict View - 1946 Words

The identities that each person possesses is influenced according to their attitudes, values and beliefs embedded in their culture. When people hear the word cult, the images of satan worshipping, animal sacrifices and evil, pagan rituals automatically come to mind. However, in reality, the majority of cults do not involve these things and are in fact simply a religious system with alternate beliefs. The word though refers to an unorthodox sect whose members distort the original doctrines of the religion. Heaven’s Gate is a cult that is centred in California, founded by Marshall Herff Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles in 1993. They are a UFO based ‘destructive doomsday’ cult who believed that evil space aliens called ‘Luciferians’ had kept†¦show more content†¦Most historians use the more neutral term ‘new religious movement’ instead of the cult, because there is no one definition of cults, their number and membership cannot be accur ately measured even today (Sarah Pike, 2016). New religious groups are regularly developed from another, more accepted religion. An example of this is Christianity, which first began as a cult extending from Judaism (Sarah Pike, 2016). While this was regularly the case, many cults did not begin as religious groups. A famous example of this is the movement called Synanon, which was originally organised to rehabilitate drug addicts, but then later changed into a commune and won legal recognition as a religion (Sarah Pike, 2016). A theory among UFO groups, there is a widespread belief that extraterrestrials have no vocal cords, an atrophied digestive system and no sexual organs (B.A. Robinson, 2009). This is symbolic of three common religious disciplines: silence, fasting and celibacy. These attitudes may have somewhat shaped what the UFO group Heaven’s Gate believed in. Heaven’s Gate is a California-centered notoriously known ‘destructive doomsday cult’ consisting of women and men ranging from 26 to 72 years old. On the 23rd of March, 1997, 21 women and 18 men voluntarily committed suicide in three groups on three consecutive days (B.A. Robinson, 2009). Heaven’s Gate was the latest of three organisations founded by Marshall Herff Applewhite and Bonnie LuShow MoreRelatedThe Conflict Theory Of An Age Of Corporate Colonization886 Words   |  4 PagesConflict theory is a term that is being used to help us, people, to understand how and why a model of behaviors, norms, inequality, powers, ideology, values that characterize our social system is happing or have happened over time. This theory focuses on people the way that they act. It has been believed that people tend to do things that are interest others. For instance, Stanly A. Deetz who wrote Democracy In An Age Of Corporate Colonization views theory as a lens and a way of seeing the worldRead MoreStructural Functionalism And Conflict Theory972 Words   |  4 Pagesface-to-face and small-group interactions. 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