How to Deal With Religious Cults That Target Senior Citizens

Close to 200,000 Americans join cults each year. For years, it was thought that cults primarily attracted young people; but in recent years, more senior citizens have been lured to them as they confront the challenges of aging and poor health. The cults find them attractive targets because older people have the financial wherewithal to promote the cult's causes. Before you are taken in by a cult's controlling personalities, here are a few things to ponder.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Accept that everyone is susceptible to a cult. It makes no difference if you are young or old, poor or affluent, well-educated or have less than a high school education. A cult knows no demographics. A cult's leader will do whatever is necessary to recruit you because the ability to convince people to join is necessary for advancement into the cult's hierarchy. Often, they will try to convince you that you have no choice but to become involved and that it will be a dreadful decision if you choose not to participate.

2. Understand when you are the most susceptible to a cult's message. Cults are most successful in recruiting people who are going through a transitional phase in their lives. Are you reaching a new plateau in your life? Have you recently lost someone close to you? Have you moved and feel lonely because your family and friends are no longer nearby?

3. Know the difference between a cult and a religion. A religion often places great value on family, while a cult usually does not. A cult's mission is amplifying the importance of its leaders. That's opposed to traditional religions that place their ruling bodies above an individual leader. Furthermore, a cult stemming from Christianity will interpret scripture to support its own efforts to recruit and to raise funds while declaring that it is the one true belief system and all others are false.

4. Recognize the signs that you are being recruited by or forced to be an active member a cult. If you answer positively to any of these questions, you are running the risk of being unduly influenced by the cult's leadership.

Tips & Warnings

• Do remember that all religions started out as a cult. They became religions when they began wielding political weight and when their proponents grew into large numbers.