Is Everyone in a Cult?

On The Epoch Times and Libraries

Lately I have had the opportunity to attend some introductory lectures on Buddhism, sparking an interest in comparative religion that led me to the book The World's Religions by Huston Smith. At base, all religions appear to teach “kindness to others,” but I was fascinated not only by the major differences between Abrahamic religions and Dharmic religions but also by the fissures and splits within each religion. While reading the book I also began to ponder what the difference is between a religion and a cult.

Rodney Stark and William Sims Bainbridge describe the difference as follows:

1 A church is a conventional religious organization.

2 A sect is a deviant religious organization with traditional beliefs and practices.

3 A cult is a deviant religious organization with novel beliefs and practices.

From that definition, one could assume that some cults are religions-in-waiting. Tina Rodia, in the publication Penn Today, asks, “Is it a cult, or a new religious movement?” She writes:

But what differentiates a cult from a religion? Followers see themselves as believers, even disciples—not cult members. Families, law enforcement, media, and other religious leaders, however, rely on the word “cult” to discredit, call out, or accuse these groups. Who has the final word, and what is behind the word itself?

Cult is a term that doesn’t refer to religion at all, but is applied to a social movement. People have intuitive feelings about how the word cult should be used, even when an organization or movement meets the criteria of a new religion. Take, for example, Scientology and Mormonism. Both were new religious movements that have evolved into a general understanding or definition of a religion. However, according to Pew Research, non-Mormons in the U.S. are more likely to label Mormonism as a cult. 

In the past I would have said that the difference lies in the fact that cults abuse their members, but of course there are examples of abuse in traditional religions. I might have pointed out that cults ask for money and labor from their practitioners, but traditional religions do that as well. Finally, I would have pointed out that cults isolate their members from friends and family, but monks and nuns also isolate themselves from the wider world. Rodia points out that both cults and religions have charismatic leaders and both believe in “end days.” For all these reasons, it has become increasingly difficult for me to articulate why cults are “bad” in contrast with religions.

This brings me to The Epoch Times, which has been tainted by its association with the “cult” Falun Gong. Previously all I knew about Falun Gong was that it was somehow connected to the endless round of advertisements I received regarding performances of Shen Yun in Long Beach.

Members of Shen Yun, a classical Chinese dance company, perform a traditional Chinese song and dance for U.S. Sailors during an Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month celebration in the Grand Vista 130529-N-MM360-078.jpg/ Wikimedia Commons

Is Falun Gong really a dangerous cult? Jia Tolentino writes, “Its practitioners have no record of violence, and the organization does not appear to be coercive.” Yet she goes on to write:

Li has been open about his beliefs that evolution is fraudulent, that people of different races will be separated in Heaven, and that homosexuality and promiscuity are unnatural. He told Time that aliens were attempting to control humans by making us dependent on modern science. (He intended to be metaphorical, he later said.) A San Francisco man named Samuel Luo has claimed that his mother and stepfather refused essential medical treatment because of Falun Gong’s teachings that sickness is based in karma; he has also claimed that they came to believe that it was the gods’ plan to eliminate the gay population. Luo set up a Web site called The Untold Story of Falun Gong in 2007, and Falun Gong responded by complaining to the domain provider. The organization also threatened to sue the International Cultic Studies Association for bringing Luo to a conference as a presenter. Other religions resist modern medicine, and many faiths have held racist views or have opposed homosexuality (or both). But Falun Gong’s defensive reactions not only to criticism but to basic journalistic inquiry can suggest an institution that would prefer people not ask very many questions.

One can find impassioned criticisms of Falun Gong, such as this one from Ben Hurley, describing the fear and devastation of former members. He writes:

The dominant narrative about Falun Gong among Western media is about a peaceful, if eccentric, group of people who adhere to some strange beliefs, and who are being persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party.

This is why the ABC’s recent coverage of Falun Gong is so important to the growing ex-Falun Gong community, of which I’m proud to be part. The ABC has begun to tell an important story that has been neglected or overlooked for too long. I found that its television reports, podcasts, and online articles were well-researched, powerful, and important.

On the other hand, Rodia writes:

…sometimes the state determines whether a group is a cult, and not popular culture. Falun Gong, for example, was an extremely popular Chinese religion that was labeled a cult abruptly by the Chinese government when it became so popular that its followers exceeded the number of Communist Party members. Nearly overnight, Falun Gong was designated as a cult, and something to be feared.

Although it is based on the ancient practice of qigong, according to Stark’s and Bainbridge’s definition, I would classify Falun Gong as a cult in that it incorporates novel beliefs and practices. The first question is, are any of its beliefs or practices dangerous? If the answer is yes, the second question is, would that necessarily mean that all of its beliefs and practices, as well as anything else associated with it, should be shunned and that libraries should refuse to collect anything related to Falun Gong?

Image: Yoga at Miri Piri Academy.jpg/ Wikimedia Commons

All of the libraries I worked at in the past received donations of books from The Church of Scientology, and, despite accusations of abuse by former members, they were added to the collection. The practice of kundalini yoga is something that has brought me physical and mental benefits, even as Yogi Bhajan has been accused of being a dangerous cult leader. Libraries still carry books and DVDs on kundalini yoga, as they do books and DVDs on bikram yoga, and people still enjoy Yogi Tea. Some claim “wokeism” is a cult; others level that accusation at capitalism. Criticisms of cultish behavior have also been leveled at Zen Buddhism. Yet libraries carry materials related to all of those subjects as well.

Image: 2018 Women's March in Missoula, Montana 119.jpg/Wikimedia Commons

Despite the fact that the blatantly pro-Trump paper stands accused of publishing right wing conspiracy theories, at first glance the headlines of The Epoch Times don’t appear to scream “cult insanity” or even “tabloid fodder” (as a side note, you rarely if ever hear the term “left wing conspiracy theories” lobbed at The New York Times in regard to its publishing record on subjects such as Russiagate). Upon searching WorldCat, I couldn’t find a single library that carries the paper version of The Epoch Times (I don’t know if any periodical databases carry it). (I stand corrected on this— upon a second search I found an entry for The Epoch Times with 83 libraries listed). Due to its popularity there would certainly be patron interest; according to The Atlantic, “The Epoch Times can currently claim the most popular Apple newspaper app in the country (The New York Times is No. 2).” In at least one case a library patron not only requested the paper but offered to pay for it as well.

The online suggestion box at Bloomingdale Public Library reveals the following exchanges over The Epoch Times:

• Suggestion: Why not order Epoch Times? Very little Epoch Times very little conservative material re: newspapers + magazines
  Answer: According to the media review website Allsides, the following journals that we own are considered "conservative" or "right". The National Review , Reason Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal ( editorial).

• Suggestion: In response to a suggestion, it was determined that the Epoch News was not ordered because of a lack of accuracy. I do not know if that is true. If that is your criteria, there would be no newspapers in the library.
  Answer: All suggestions for material to be purchased is given serious consideration within the framework of the Library's "Materials Selection Policy." When the library receives suggestions for purchase, selection aids are examined, and research on the title is performed to evaluate if the suggested title meets the criteria for purchase. Following these procedures for the suggestion of the purchase of Epoch Times, the Library determined that this resource currently does not meet the criteria for purchase due to its known lack of accuracy of information and reliability issues as an information resource. I would point you to the selection criteria and selection tools that are included in our Materials Selection Policy. This policy is on our website here: https://mybpl.org/documents/policy/Material%20Selection%20Policy.pdf

Collection development is often more of an art than a science, and having been a collection development librarian myself, I know that difficult decisions can arise. I assume the libraries made well-considered decisions in these particular cases; I only want to raise a larger philosophical discussion on when and why libraries might decide against purchasing a resource such as The Epoch Times, especially as traditional media sources become more biased and less trusted by the public.

I myself found this a challenging article to write because “cult” is a vague category, Falun Gong is hard to parse absent in-depth research, and a superficial reading of The Epoch Times leaves me unable to determine the accuracy of accusations against it. Just writing this piece made me feel like I was sinking deeper into the world of Thomas Pynchon.

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Top image: Toronto-falun-gong-8.jpg/ Wikimedia Commons