Reallife cults

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Real-life cults
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Warren Jeffs

• El Dorado compound in Colorado
• 14 log homes
• 4 large buildings
• Large stone temple
• FLDS religious group, 10,000 members of
  polygamous sect
• They are self-sufficient!
• Why?
• Jailed 8/26/06
• Crime- arrangement of marriages between men and
  underage girls

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Warren Jeffs on Marriage

• Preached that men need at least 3 wives in order
  to get to Heaven
• Marriages are arranged by Warren only
• Women are to be obedient to men
• Jeffs sends young men from the cult away
• Too much competition between them and the older
  men for wives!
• Older men are urged to take a child bride before
  the girls become attracted to men their age

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Warren Jeffs on

• Wives are expected to apply for welfare as if
  they are single
• What is welfare?
• Who is being hurt by this action?
• Entire paychecks are expected to go to Warren
• Kids are home-schooled.
• Why?
• Those who disagreed were sent away and lost all
  communication with their families

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Branch Davidians

• Leader- David Koresh.
• Believed he was a prophet
• All of his followers were forced to rely on him-
  for everything! What effect does this have?
• Davids followers lived within a compound in
  Waco, Texas. They were self-sufficient. What
  other cult was self-sufficient?

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Davids beliefs

• He was a prophet, sent from God
• When the world ended, which it would soon, only
  the BDs would ascend to Heaven
• In order to get into Heaven, the followers of
  David must be obedient and do what he says

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Church Practices

• Polygamy- but only for David!
• The more wives he hadthe better!
• Marriages were broken up
• Young daughters were chosen to be married
• Highly communal, disciplined life
• Large arsenal of weapons and ammunition
• To protect themselves at the end of the world

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The end of the world

• FBI agents were staking out the compound
• They raided the compound on Feb 28, 1993, killing
  6 BDs and 4 agents
• The siege continued for 51 more days and ended in
  a huge fire
• 82 members died, including David Koresh
• Including children of all ages

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Some pictures
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Heavens Gate

• Led by Marshall Applegate
• Secretive, UFO based cult

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Heavens Gate beliefs

• Hale-Bop, a very large comet, was a sign
• Shed their bodies and join a space craft that
  would take them to a higher place
• March, 1997
• 39 members committed suicide
• Happened in shifts so they could help each other
  drink the lethal combination of drugs.

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Peoples Temple

• Jim Jones, leader
• 3,000 members
• Believed Jim Jones was the Messiah
• He ordered his followers to commit suicide
• They drank a cyanide laced kool-aid drink and
  died together
• 900 members died. 300 of them were children

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Order of the Solar Temple

• Lead by Luc Jouret and Joseph Di Mambro
• Members believed that death was a form of
  transit and that they were going to live on
  another star.
• A baby and his parents (former members), who were
  at their home in Quebec, were stabbed to death as
  the cult reportedly believed the three month old
  boy was the Anti-Christ
• His followers were killed when they burned
  themselves alive in house fires.

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Some Pictures

• Joseph Di Mambro

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Charles Manson Family

• Manson actually convinced some of his followers
  to murder several innocent people as part of his
  master plan to spark a race war between the white
  race and the black race.
• He believed each side would kill the other and
  his family would be the only survivors.
• Members of his family, acting on his orders, were
  responsible for the brutal murder of actress
  Sharon Tate and several other people.

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Some Pictures

• Charles Manson Members of His Family

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Good website!

• http//people.howstuffworks.com/cult.htm