Ex-cult members, what was your 'oh crap, I'm in a cult' moment?

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[hennaoctopus]

If they're telling you not to get an education or not to look at stuff from other ways of living, its because keeping you ignorant makes you forget you have a choice. Keep learning folks

[erich]

Paying to leave a Scientology is insane.

I cannot see a legal reason to do so, unless you signed a contract to do so, , , tell them to pound salt.

[Whitiful]

The license plate saying "red flag" is oddly fitting

[Badartist]

I think a good way to judge if its a cult is how much it costs you to leave. From losing friends or loved ones, to literally paying them money, these are real give aways. The church I went to as a kid, well you just walk away and no one probably even notices. They didn't have any contact details for me or my parents or any idea where any of us worked.

[mentallydisturbedscience]

Scientology works their members 80 hours a week for $50, and still calls them freeloaders and makes them pay an outrageous amount of money when they leave. 🙄

[ndawn]

For me, it was the moment I realized that the founder of my "religion" was exactly the same sort of guy who has started every other cult.

Jim Jones, David Koresh, L Ron Hubbard, and Joseph Smith Jr. All the same guy. The lies, the cons, the whole marrying teenage girls thing (seriously, why does it always come to that?), the "give us your money, even if you can't pay your bills", dodging taxes, "spiritual revelations" that are always conveniently in line with whatever the leader wants/needs at the moment, the lying about church doctrine/history, etc etc etc.

Once I realized that my church was founded by a cult leader, it became pretty obvious that my church was actually a cult, and I left.

[belnel]

I recommend the book, "Why Cults are more Addictive than Doughnuts".

[AndrewChumKaser]

This is how you know the difference between a proper religion/church and a cult. A church says you're welcome any time, any reason, and while they might encourage you to follow them they won't be judgemental if you turn away. They want to help you and want you to see the way they do of your own volition; they want you to want to come back and be a part of their community. A church says "Come in."

A cult on the other hand stifles your free will, tells you not to think for yourself, tells you they are your only salvation, and shames you if you speak out against them. And they make it impossible, or at least extremely difficult to leave them and go your own way without them. A cult says "Never leave, no exceptions."

[thenyancatminecart]

I really respect your viewpoint on religion. I'm Catholic, and I support all faiths, including those who don't believe in God/Jesus/any higher being. It's so sad seeing people use religion to extort others and going absolutely crazy. It gives the good religious people a bad name and, like you said, it gives people trauma associated with religion that they should never have to experience. Please know that not all religious people are like these crazy, cruel idiots.

[Albanwinter]

Knew a guy that was in the Church of Christ, he was a co-worker. I went with him to one of their large gatherings. They passed Communion around at one point, which I didn't take part in, and he was a little bit disappointed. (I'm Lutheran and we don't take Communion unless it's in a Lutheran Church.) This guy was so into this church. So religious.
Imagine our surprise at work one day when they came in to press charges on him for theft. He had been stealing from the cash register. The rest of us there were talking amongst ourselves pointing out how religious he was and was always on about how people should obey the commandments.
A few months later I ran into him and we decided to go to lunch. He admitted to me that he had been stealing from the cash register because he had to keep up with his tithe at church. His reasoning for stealing is that giving to God was first and foremost and the money was going to the church. I tried to explain things a bit better to him about faith etc. but he was too far gone. I often wonder what happened to him in the long run.

[hope]

South Park made the right choice with the sciencetology ep.

[LotusBloom]

Former Jehovah’s Witness here. Was in for about seven years. I never heard the term “high control group” while I was in. I just knew that it felt like I was living in a fishbowl, being watched and judged for every little thing in my life. When I found myself policing my own thoughts for fear of some mysterious sky daddy hearing them, I knew this wasn’t sustainable. Hope everyone here familiarizes themselves with the B.I.T.E. Model, so they know what to watch out for.

[MiraTheWarlock]

Imagine getting inspired by the family that let their son SA their daughters because 'he cried and said sorry'

[janemba]

I'm Australian and went to a Catholic school, it was and still is the best primary school in town. Their curriculum was far ahead of the local public school, everyone was surprisingly nice and understanding. Even ended up waving the debt my parents had to keep me in there which was over 13k. Not all catholic schools are bad. Just most.

[TheLolturtle]

Dang, you’re not just reading out the entries but adding your own two unbiased cents. I love it.

[philippak]

I wasn't pulled in, but one attempted to recruit me. The worst part was afterwards when I had looked it up and realised that the person had been trying to pull me in. I tried telling my parents and they just... waved me off, like it wasn't important.
I don't tell my parents important things these days

[funnyteacherman]

26:44 the fact that the pastor specifically blames the University of Tennessee for planting fossils caught me all the way off guard

[leileyaravencroft]

I am a rare breed for my race and family history, I was a person who was fascinated with ALL religions but was never truly “sold” on any of them.

My dad’s mother’s family were Southern Baptist. I should point out that we are also of mixed heritage. My grandmother made us (her grandchildren) go to church all the time with her. All of her siblings except one, who was Catholic, attended the same church. All of the grandchildren attended Sunday School except me. I do remember going once but asking questions and then suddenly I didn’t have to go anymore.

I remember as a young child watching someone experiencing the Holy Spirit and being absolutely appalled by their behavior. Mind you, she was only convulsing on the ground but I distinctly remember thinking: “you are so faking it” which alarmed me.

I truly wanted to believe in what they did but I just… couldn’t. Not whole heartedly. I will never forget the time I used the Bible to get out of attending church forever.

My grandma was getting ready for church one Sunday morning and I just… didn’t want to be bothered. I was required to wear a dress (I HATED them) and I looked at my grandma and she said: “you should get ready”

Me: “why?”

Grandma: “because we are going to the house of God to worship him..”

Me: “But grandma it is said in Matthew such and such chapter and such and such verse that we carry the house of god within our hearts at all times and if that is true. I should not have to go to the “house of God” because according to the Bible I am always at his house.” And I turned back to watching cartoons.

My grandma was flabbergasted. She retrieved her Bible opened it to the chapter and exact scripture I quoted and… determined that the Holy Spirit had directed me to say what I did since I was like 7. From that day forward I did not attend her church.

My older cousin who lived with us HATED that I didn’t have to go but my grandma saw it as God speaking through me and determining that I didn’t have to go to church.

That didn’t last long as at 8 I moved in with my mother and SHE wanted to be a Jehovah’s Witness. I was NOT interested in the slightest. Well that’s partially true. I was interested in it through scholarly lenses but I was not someone who was interested in becoming a part of any of that.

Sad to say, my mother bought it whole heartedly and her first husband did as well. They were both zealots and not in a good way. When I was 13, they decided they wanted to devote their lives to Jehovah. I did not. I was asked if I wanted to be baptized as well and I flat out said refused. That was something that they taught was that it was a life changing decision and you should take it very seriously. If you found that it wasn’t for you, then don’t do it. (Note: I have sense learned that what I was taught was definitely not apart of the doctrine and was actually against what they taught. My congregation also taught the importance of a higher education. Again actually not apart of the doctrine. Children were encouraged to become full time ministers HOWEVER there wasn’t any shame in wanting to attend college) I had said I didn’t want to get baptized because I thought that at the age of freaking 13 that this was entirely too serious of a situation for me to decide to do without proper thought, time to decide, etc.

What was my parents reaction? My mom, evil that she is, applauded me for having such an adult way of thinking about baptism. Her husband on the other hand… did not like it. He wanted us to be baptized as a “family”. I was punished. I was not allowed to go anywhere or do anything until I saw “the light “. After a full year of being denied even socializing I gave in and was baptized at 15.

That lasted all of 1 year before I decided that I was right and I did NOT wish to be associated with a religion that would shun people who left or punish people for deciding NOT to be one of them.

I am proud to say I am a heathen and I really don’t give a eff about what you believe. However, the moment you try to force me to attend and believe what you do… I don’t like you nor whatever “god” you think you are worshipping.

On a side note: My mother’s mother told me several years ago that according to their latest teachings, my baptism was null and void due to the fact that I was forced to do so under duress. Like I care.

[BoxOKittens]

Story 10 reminds me of a school I went to long ago. It wasn't an actual cult but have very cult-like vibes. The principal also ran it like she was the next Jesus. I could tell so many weird stories of that place, but I think the most petty was when I (a 13 yr old girl at the time) got subtle blonde highlights in my hair, the principal pulled me into her office and shamed me and then threatened to expel me if I didn't get rid of the highlights. I cannot stress enough how much these highlights were just a subtle blonde color, not bleach blond or an unnatural color. That woman genuinely scared me lol

[ashtondoublet]

I think the reason why the University of Tennessee was so prominently focused on in that cult was because I believe the University of Tennessee was the first University to teach Evolution to it students rather than the Creationist belief. There was a whole Supreme Court case about it when it happened if I remember from Civics class correctly. I think it was in the 50s. But take it with a grain of salt, I may be wrong about everything.