Bibliograph

Cults, dangerous devotion, produced, written, and directed by Sandya Viswanathan ; produced by Partisan Pictures for the History Channel

Type

Label

Cults, dangerous devotion, produced, written, and directed by Sandya Viswanathan ; produced by Partisan Pictures for the History Channel

Language

eng

Characteristic

videorecording

Main title

Cults

Medium

videorecording DVD

resource.otherEventInformation

Originally broadcast on the History Channel as an episode of the television program Decoding the past in 2007

Responsibility statement

produced, written, and directed by Sandya Viswanathan ; produced by Partisan Pictures for the History Channel

Runtime

Sub title

dangerous devotion

Summary

Uses interviews with world-renowned scholars and the survivors of cultic tragedy to unmask the mystery of cults. Defines three characteristics that make a cult: reliance on a guru or leader rather than general principles of religion, systematic indoctrination with a focus on confession and self-criticism, and heavy exploitation from above. Shows how cult leaders have twisted the quest for purity into an obsession with madness and murder from Jim Jones' pursuit of a socialist paradise at Jonestown to Warren Jeffs' Yearning for Zion ranch. Looks at a number of examples of contemporary cults, including the Japanese Aum Shinrikyo, the polygamous Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS), Charles Manson and his bizarre prophecies, David Koresh and the Branch Davidians, and Paul Schäfer's colony of German immigrants in Chile that became a center for torture

Technique

live action

resource.variantTitle

Dangerous devotion

Classification

Contributor

Genre

Subject

Content