Why does one become a member of a Violent Fundamentalist Cult?

Why does one become a member of a Violent Fundamentalist Cult?

There are two effects I want to tell you about concerning relationships first: The Trim Tab effect and the Boiling Frog Effect.

The Trim Tab effect occurs with small changes that have large effects. The Trim Tab is at the bottom of the rudder of a large sailboat. The rudder is what moves the boat, but the trim tab is what moves the rudder. No one has the strength to move the rudder, so a trim tab is necessary. It is in the small changes to a relationship that bring people into agreement.

Have you ever wondered why a spouse would stay in an abusive relationship? Alternatively, how they got there? They normally got there because of small-unnoticed changes in the relationship. Thus the Boiling Frog: If you throw a frog into a pan of water that is boiling, it jumps out. If you put it into a pan of cold water and slowly turn up the heat, it stays until it is dead. Bad relationships are like that usually. They start with innocuous yet somewhat painful jokes, and then more painful statements that are derogatory…from name calling it goes to rough handling, from rough handling to an occasional hit, from a hit to a beating…and so on.

The induction into a cult has a similar trail it follows. Yet the inductee though at the early stages cut off from finding other sources of that which might help them break free they are then indoctrinated, usually slowly and incrementally to believing a system of violence and arrogance and to value the group they are a part of more than anything else in the world.

Fundamentalists’ are threatened by modernity and the changes it brings to their culture because it challenges their belief system, which in turns challenges the way they attempt to live their lives. The introduction of the written word brought about democracies and the absolutists used violence in an effort to maintain authority for as long as they could. Threatened by a rising tide of monistic voices from their subjects that they should be able to talk to God and read God’s words for themselves.

Fundamentalists are threatened by modernity from all of the major religions, primarily from Islamic, Christian and Judaistic. Their response that leads to violence begins with taking the mythos of their scriptures and attempting to make it into a political strategy that makes logical sense to them. They see themselves in the middle of a great battle between good and evil itself. They being on the side of good and all who in their mind oppose them; are evil and attempting to trick them with facts. This in turn justifies their use of a militant piety that usually results in violence wherein they believe they are only defending themselves and doing the work of G-d or God or Allah. In all of these religions, the use of literal interpretation of their scriptures is a relatively new event in their religions. The interpretations of allegorical statements in their scriptures remained in the realm of clearly understood allegory until the early 16th century for the majority with few exceptions (The 16th century is the beginning of Technological Innovations that started the Industrial Revolution.) The danger comes from taking the mythos of the meaning of allegory and instead of allowing it to influence ones thinking and clear ones judgment turn it into a blueprint for developing political strategies making all who think different opponents, subjects or targets.

What is one thing you would say to a person considering committing violence in the name of their religion?