Difference between revisions 1126758 and 1127304 on enwiki

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List of groups referred to as cults
<i>For this article to have the [[neutral point of view]], it should say '''who''' considers each listed group a "cult" and '''why''', balanced by similar info about those who disagree with the "cult" designation. Otherwise, it is just a list of groups that have somehow acquired a bad reputation.</i>

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This is a list of organizations, religious groups, and sects which are purported to be cults.
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In structuring the Bruderhof, Arnold was inspired by the example of the [[Hutterites]], a 16th Century [[Anabaptist]] group which pioneered the communal church form.  The Bruderhof's relationships with present-day Hutterites has been stormy.  The Bruderhof was accepted into the Hutterite Church in the 1920s, 
excommunicseparated in the 1960s, re-accepted in the 1970s, and re-excommunicseparated in the 1990s.

Former members sometimes claim that the Bruderhof uses techniques that amount to [[mind control]] to gain and retain members.  The Bruderhof itself dismisses such charges.

References:
* http://www.bruderhof.org (The official web-site of the Bruderhof)
* http://www.perefound.org (The Peregrine Foundation, an association of former Bruderhof members)
* http://www.perefound.org/xcsob_90.html A copy of the letter of excommunicseparation from the Lehrerleut and Dariusleut Hutterites to the Society of Brethren, or Arnold Leut, (Bruderhof) of Woodcrest, New York. (Note: the third Hutterite group, the Schmiedeleut, severed their ties with the Bruderhof several years later.)

=== Christian Science ===
Many [[Evangelicalism|Evangelicals]] consider the [[Church of Christ, Scientist]], a cult.
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* [[Church of the SubGenius]]

The Church of the SubGenius has made numerous attempts to be included on lists of cults and controversial religious movements.  This organization is widely seen as a humorous [[parody]] of religious cults, though members of the organization vehemently deny this; they state that while they are seen as a "joke disguised as a religion," in actuality they are a "religion disguised as a joke."