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68-678: Described as mermaid-like spirits, they live in rivers and the sea, bringing good fortune to those who worship them. They can also cure disease and act as intermediaries between worshippers and the world of spirits. For this reason, a jengu cult has long enjoyed popularity among the Duala peoples. Among the Bakweri, this cult is also an important part of a young girl's rite of passage into womanhood. The description of miengu varies by ethnic group, but they are typically said to be beautiful, mermaid-like beings with long hair and beautiful gap-teeth. In

136-489: A rational choice . The application of the labels cult or sect to religious movements in government documents signifies the popular and negative use of the term cult in English and a functionally similar use of words translated as 'sect' in several European languages. Sociologists critical to this negative politicized use of the word cult argue that it may adversely impact the religious freedoms of group members. At

204-419: A secret liengu language , and if she seems to understand any of it, a traditional healer begins the initiation rites. The girl must live in seclusion for several months, during which she must follow a strict set of taboos and may see visions of spirits. She also receives a secret name and teaching in the secret liengu language. Eventually, the healer releases her into the custody of a group of strong men and

272-515: A "cult movement" is an actual complete organization, differing from a "sect" in that it is not a splinter of a bigger religion, while "audience cults" are loosely organized, and propagated through media, and "client cults" offer services (i.e. psychic readings or meditation sessions). One type can turn into another, for example the Church of Scientology changing from audience to client cult. Sociologists who follow their definition tend to continue using

340-404: A continuity with traditional beliefs and practices, whereas cults arise spontaneously around novel beliefs and practices. Scholars William Sims Bainbridge and Rodney Stark have argued for a further distinction between three kinds of cults: cult movements, client cults, and audience cults, all of which share a "compensator" or rewards for the things invested into the group. In their typology,

408-438: A cult as a social group with socially deviant or novel beliefs and practices, although this is often unclear. Other researchers present a less-organized picture of cults, saying that they arise spontaneously around novel beliefs and practices. Cults have been compared to miniature totalitarian political systems. Such groups are typically perceived as being led by a charismatic leader who tightly controls its members. It

476-428: A cult by the media, government and former members is a significant factor as to what lead to the deaths. The term was noted to carry "considerable cultural legitimacy". In the 1970s, with the rise of secular anti-cult movements , scholars (though not the general public) began to abandon the use of the term cult , regarding it as pejorative. By the end of the 1970s, the term cult was largely replaced in academia with

544-519: A cult may be a common occurrence, but it is not scholarship". However, it has also been viewed as empowering for ex-members of groups that have experienced trauma. Religious scholar Catherine Wessinger argued the term was dehumanizing of the people within the group, as well as their children; following the Waco siege , it was argued by some scholars that the defining of the Branch Davidians as

612-691: A destructive cult by "anticult crusaders." In 2002, the German government was held by the Federal Constitutional Court to have defamed the Osho movement by referring to it, among other things, as a "destructive cult" with no factual basis. Some researchers have criticized the term destructive cult , writing that it is used to describe groups which are not necessarily harmful in nature to themselves or others. In his book Understanding New Religious Movements , John A. Saliba writes that

680-408: A few more weeks of taboos, a traditional healer bathes her in a stream, and her initiation ends. This process also takes most of a year. Cult Cult is a term often applied to new religious movements and other social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious , spiritual , or philosophical beliefs and rituals . Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal

748-455: A jengu shrine further up the Wouri. Much jengu worship is related to healing and medicine , and the miengu are called upon when mainstream healing fails. For example, a jengu doctor can treat a patient by first sacrificing a cock and goat. He then administers a vomit-inducing medicine and waves a small stool over the patient's head. The one treated must then follow a series of taboos . Among

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816-410: A number of women singing in the liengu language. The men take turns carrying her until she reaches the middle of a stream. There, the healer plunges her in, inducting her into the cult. Meanwhile, other cult members attempt to capture a crab from the waters, as this animal represents the liengu spirit. The new member's taboos remain, however, and she must live in seclusion for several more months. Finally,

884-565: A political body called the Ngondo . Once the Ngondo declare that a jengu festival will commence, an offering is then collected from the villages by jengu spiritualists. Referred to as the banganga in Kongo culture, Sawabantu peoples also have jengu specialists, or "Earth priests," who go through extensive training to learn precise rituals to understand and communicate with miengu. The night before

952-506: A prophetic message from the miengu about the upcoming year. The Duala and related groups hold the jengu cult in high importance. The cult may have originated with peoples further west, possibly the Ijo , and then passed from people to people, reaching the Batanga at its most eastward extent. In the earliest days, jengu-worship centred on the water spirits as the source of four boons: crayfish ,

1020-735: A result, they have responded more neutrally with regard to new religions. Scholars have suggested that the outrage which followed the mass murder/suicides perpetuated by the Solar Temple , have significantly contributed to European anti-cult positions. In the 1980s, clergymen and officials of the French government expressed concern that some orders and other groups within the Roman Catholic Church would be adversely affected by anti-cult laws which were then being considered. Wouri River The Wouri (also Vouri or Vuri )

1088-430: A spiritual guide and controls the fates of both human beings, or muntu , and animals in the waterways of Central Africa. Because Miengu are associated with fate, they are also believed to bring good fortune to those who venerate them. As a results, Sawabantu peoples offer sacrifices to miengu spirits and hold extravagant festivals in their honor. These festivals are determined by the ruling families, who are members of

1156-401: A woman and two men, embarks on a ritual boat. He will then submerge himself in the middle of the river and stay underneath the water for three to ten minutes. It is believed that he visits the kingdom of their ancestors (spirits) beneath the waters. He returns with news of the successor of the ngondo presidency and a coded message from the gods of the land in a calabash. One mystery of this ritual

1224-599: Is a cult with a primary interest in political action and ideology . Groups that some have described as "political cults", mostly advocating far-left or far-right agendas, have received some attention from journalists and scholars. In their 2000 book On the Edge: Political Cults Right and Left , Dennis Tourish and Tim Wohlforth discuss about a dozen organizations in the United States and Great Britain that they characterize as cults. In

1292-568: Is a river in Cameroon . Cameroon has many water bodies and amongst these are two major rivers, the Sanaga , the longest at about 525 km (325 miles) long and the Wouri, the largest. The Wouri forms at the confluence of the rivers Nkam and Makombé , 32 km (20 mi) northeast of the city of Yabassi . It then flows about 160 km (99 mi) southeast to the Wouri estuary at Douala ,

1360-509: Is a shapeshifter, semantically morphing with the intentions of whoever uses it. As an analytical term, it resists rigorous definition." She argued that the least subjective definition of cult referred to a religion or religion-like group "self-consciously building a new form of society", but that the rest of society rejected as unacceptable. The term cult has been criticized as lacking "scholarly rigour"; Benjamin E. Zeller stated "[l]abelling any group with which one disagrees and considers deviant as

1428-412: Is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term has different, and sometimes divergent or pejorative , definitions both in popular culture and academia and has been an ongoing source of contention among scholars across several fields of study. Beginning in the 1930s, new religious movements became an object of sociological study within the context of the study of religious behavior . Since

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1496-437: Is considered to be one of the most important and widely cited studies of the process of religious conversion. J. Gordon Melton stated that, in 1970, "one could count the number of active researchers on new religions on one's hands." However, James R. Lewis writes that the "meteoric growth" in this field of study can be attributed to the cult controversy of the early 1970s. Because of "a wave of nontraditional religiosity" in

1564-577: Is in some contexts a pejorative term, also used for new religious movements and other social groups which are defined by their unusual religious , spiritual , or philosophical beliefs and rituals , or their common interest in a particular person, object, or goal . This sense of the term is weakly defined – having divergent definitions both in popular culture and academia – and has also been an ongoing source of contention among scholars across several fields of study. According to Susannah Crockford, "[t]he word ‘cult’

1632-428: Is mostly evangelical protestants. The Christian countercult movement asserts that Christian groups whose teachings deviate from the belief that the bible is inerrant, but also focuses on non-Christian religions like Hinduism. Christian countercult activist writers also emphasize the need for Christians to evangelize to followers of cults. Starting in the late 1960s, a different strand of anti-cult groups arose, with

1700-461: Is primarily male among the Duala , Malimba proper, but among the Bakweri, on the other hand, the cult is primarily for women. Jengu worship centres on a secret society led by an individual known as the ekale . This person traditionally wears a mask at all meetings, though this practice all but died out by the mid-20th century. Anyone can supplicate the miengu, however, and the simplest rituals involve nothing more than prayers or sacrifices to

1768-435: Is sometimes presented in contrast to a "benign cult", which implies that not all "cults" would be harmful, though others apply it to all cults. Psychologist Michael Langone , executive director of the anti-cult group International Cultic Studies Association , defines a destructive cult as "a highly manipulative group which exploits and sometimes physically and/or psychologically damages members and recruits." In Cults and

1836-501: Is that the calabash, which the diver holds as he re-emerges from underneath the river, is dry. The rites observed by the Bakweri people of Mount Cameroon serve as an example of similar rituals among other coastal groups. Toward the coast, the Bakweri practice two major induction rituals. In the Liengu la Ndiva , cult members take a seizure or collapse as a sign that a young girl is ready for induction. A cult member then speaks to her in

1904-555: The APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Methods of Persuasion and Control , literature from previous court cases in which brainwashing theories were used, and expert testimonies which were delivered by scholars such as Dick Anthony . The governments of France and Belgium have taken policy positions which accept "brainwashing" theories uncritically, while the governments of other European nations, such as those of Sweden and Italy, are cautious with regard to brainwashing and as

1972-504: The Central African Republic . Since 2004 the bridge has been undergoing a major rehabilitation. With an initial capacity of 2,000 vehicles per day, this bridge now supports more than 45,000 vehicles everyday creating monstrous traffic at the entrance of Douala's heart. With a cost of almost CFA 141,6 billion, the second bridge on the Wouri river is 756 m long and 34 m width and has a 746 m long railway. Constructed by

2040-484: The Jehovah's Witnesses , and other sects which were loosely referred to as " neo-Pentecostals ". In the 1970s, the scientific status of the " brainwashing theory " became a central topic in U.S. court cases where the theory was used to try to justify the use of the forceful deprogramming of cult members Meanwhile, sociologists who were critical of these theories assisted advocates of religious freedom in defending

2108-528: The Littoral Region ). Observations by European traders and explorers prove that jengu-worship was well established by the early 19th century. Early missionaries largely failed in their attempts to suppress it. The cult is still active in Cameroon's Littoral and Southwest Provinces . Both males and females are eligible to join, though this openness may be a fairly recent development. Jengu-worship

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2176-841: The Russian Interior Ministry prepared a list of "extremist groups". At the top of the list were Islamic groups outside of "traditional Islam", which is supervised by the Russian government. Next listed were " Pagan cults ". In 2009 the Russian Ministry of Justice created a council which it named the "Council of Experts Conducting State Religious Studies Expert Analysis." The new council listed 80 large sects which it considered potentially dangerous to Russian society, and it also mentioned that there were thousands of smaller ones. The large sects which were listed included: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ,

2244-530: The court case of United States v. Fishman (1990) ended the usage of brainwashing theories by expert witnesses such as Margaret Singer and Richard Ofshe . In the case's ruling, the court cited the Frye standard , which states that the scientific theory which is utilized by expert witnesses must be generally accepted in their respective fields. The court deemed brainwashing to be inadmissible in expert testimonies, using supporting documents which were published by

2312-476: The traditional spirituality of Sawabantu-speaking peoples along the coast of Cameroon, a jengu (pl. miengu) is a water spirit that acts as an intermediary between the physical world of the living and the spiritual world of the ancestors. They are said to inhabit both the ocean, rivers and lakes of Cameroon. Similar to a simbi in Kongo religion , a jengu is seen as a guardian of the natural world that acts as

2380-463: The 1930s, new religious movements perceived as cults became an object of sociological study within the context of the study of religious behavior . The term saw its origins in the work of sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920). Weber is an important theorist in the academic study of cults, which often draws on his theorizations of charismatic authority , and of the distinction he drew between churches and sects . This concept of church-sect division

2448-532: The 1940s, the Christian countercult movement has opposed some sects and new religious movements, labeling them cults because of their unorthodox beliefs . Since the 1970s, the secular anti-cult movement has opposed certain groups, which they call cults, accusing them of practicing brainwashing . Groups labelled cults are found around the world and range in size from small localized groups to some international organizations with up to millions of members. In

2516-433: The 1940s, the long-held opposition by some established Christian denominations to non-Christian religions and supposedly heretical or counterfeit Christian sects crystallized into a more organized Christian countercult movement in the United States. For those belonging to the movement, all religious groups claiming to be Christian, but deemed outside of Christian orthodoxy , were considered cults. The countercult movement

2584-455: The 1950s, American social psychologist Leon Festinger and his colleagues observed members of a small UFO religion called the Seekers for several months, and recorded their conversations both prior to and after a failed prophecy from their charismatic leader. Their work was later published in the book When Prophecy Fails: A Social and Psychological Study of a Modern Group that Predicted

2652-457: The Bakweri, this rite is known as Liengu la Vafea . The highest-profile miengu ceremony today is the annual Ngondo celebration in Douala , first held in 1949. The night before the fête's culmination, members of the jengu cult hold a private ceremony at Jebale Island on the Wouri. There they sacrifice to the water spirits and prepare a package of gifts. The next day, this offering is presented to

2720-513: The Destruction of the World . In the late 1980s, doomsday cults were a major topic of news reports, with some reporters and commentators considering them a serious threat to society. A 1997 psychological study by Festinger, Riecken, and Schachter found that people turned to a cataclysmic world view after they had repeatedly failed to find meaning in mainstream movements. A political cult

2788-539: The English-speaking world, the term cult often carries derogatory connotations. The word "cult" is derived from the Latin term cultus , which means worship. An older sense of the word cult, which is not pejorative, indicates a set of religious devotional practices that is conventional within its culture, is related to a particular figure, and is frequently associated with a particular place, or generally

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2856-454: The Family , the authors cite Shapiro, who defines a destructive cultism as a sociopathic syndrome , whose distinctive qualities include: "behavioral and personality changes , loss of personal identity , cessation of scholastic activities, estrangement from family, disinterest in society and pronounced mental control and enslavement by cult leaders." Writing about Bruderhof communities in

2924-623: The Wouri River and named it " Rio dos Camarões" , Portuguese for "River of Prawns", and the phrase from which the name Cameroon derived. The phrase " Rio dos Camarões" later became Camarones when the Spanish arrived in the region. Then, during the German protectorate in the country which started in 1884, the country's name changed to Kamerun before the Treaty of Versailles placed the country under French and British authority in 1919 which led to

2992-605: The activities of Unification Church members in California in trying to promote their beliefs and win new members. Lofland noted that most of their efforts were ineffective and that most of the people who joined did so because of personal relationships with other members, often family relationships. Lofland published his findings in 1964 as a doctoral thesis entitled "The World Savers: A Field Study of Cult Processes", and in 1966 in book form by as Doomsday Cult: A Study of Conversion, Proselytization and Maintenance of Faith . It

3060-671: The activities of a very small minority of new religious groups, mass culture often extends them to any religious group viewed as culturally deviant , however peaceful or law abiding it may be. While some psychologists were receptive to these theories, sociologists were for the most part sceptical of their ability to explain conversion to NRMs . In the late 1980s, psychologists and sociologists started to abandon theories like brainwashing and mind control. While scholars may believe that various less dramatic coercive psychological mechanisms could influence group members, they came to see conversion to new religious movements principally as an act of

3128-611: The book Misunderstanding Cults , Julius H. Rubin said that American religious innovation created an unending diversity of sects. These "new religious movements…gathered new converts and issued challenges to the wider society. Not infrequently, public controversy, contested narratives and litigation result." In his work Cults in Context author Lorne L. Dawson writes that although the Unification Church "has not been shown to be violent or volatile," it has been described as

3196-473: The chief port and industrial city in the southwestern part of Cameroon on the Gulf of Guinea . The river is navigable about 64 km (40 mi) upriver from Douala. The Portuguese navigator and explorer Fernão do Pó or Fernando Pó, is believed to be the first European to explore the estuary of the Wouri, around the year 1472. The explorers noted an abundance of the mud lobster Lepidophthalmus turneranus in

3264-423: The classification of a religion as xiejiao did not necessarily mean that a religion's teachings were believed to be false or inauthentic; rather, the label was applied to religious groups that were not authorized by the state, or it was applied to religious groups that were believed to challenge the legitimacy of the state. Groups branded xiejiao face suppression and punishment by authorities. In 2008

3332-470: The collective participation in rites of religion. References to the imperial cult of ancient Rome , for example, use the word in this sense. A derived sense of "excessive devotion" arose in the 19th century, and usage is not always strictly religious. The term is variously applied to abusive or coercive groups of many categories, including gangs, organized crime, and terrorist organizations. Sociological classifications of religious movements may identify

3400-468: The cult holds a feast in her honour, and the initiation comes to an end. The entire process takes the better part of a year. An alternate Bakweri initiation ritual is the Liengu la Mongbango . If a young girl disappears into the bush, her female relatives try to track her down by singing to her in the liengu language and carrying cult insignia made of wicker. When they find her, they hide her away for several months (outsiders may visit, however). Afterward,

3468-445: The cult prepares a feast for the girl. She and her sponsor then go alone into the forest. The initiate dresses in traditional regalia of fern fronds and rubs her body with red camwood . She is then led back to the village tied to the middle of a long rope. Two groups play a tug of war over her until the rope breaks, and she collapses. The cult members call to her nine times in the liengu language, which causes her to stand back up. After

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3536-478: The deities before fishing or traveling by water. Early jengu worshippers performed rituals in pirogues on the Wouri River , its tributaries and estuary , and on nearby islands. The person would first dress in ceremonial garb, a cape, skirt, and headdress of raffia fronds, and carry palm fronds and wooden paddles. He would then summon the miengu and offer them oblations of food and drink. He might also visit

3604-497: The end of the rainy season in one of the world's wettest regions, victory in the pirogue races , and protection from epidemics of disease. Among the Duala proper, membership was originally reserved to "free" (pure-blooded) Duala, a stipulation that even excluded members of the prestigious Akwa clan due to one of their ancestors being a Longasse woman (a Cameroonian ethnic group in the Sanaga-Maritime District in

3672-456: The festivals, these specialists hold a sacred ceremony on Jebalé Islands in the Wouri River. The following day, they display the tribute to the Duala chiefs, who head the Ngondo, at a public ceremony on the beach. After the Ngondo see the tribute, a jengu specialist then swims the offering deep underwater, where they present it to the miengu on behalf of the chiefs. The specialist later returns with

3740-424: The final name "Cameroon". In the 1950s, during the colonial period, the French built a bridge of 1 km across the river, the longest in the central African sub-region. It connects Douala with the city of Bonabéri and is not only of great economic importance to western Cameroon, carrying auto, truck, and train traffic but also a central tool for international exchanges with landlocked countries like Chad and

3808-567: The formation of the secular anti-cult movement (ACM). This was in response to the rise of new religions in the 1960s and 1970s, particularly the events at Jonestown and the deaths of nearly 1000 people. The organizations that formed the secular anti-cult movement (ACM) often acted on behalf of relatives of "cult" converts who did not believe their loved ones could have altered their lives so drastically by their own free will . A few psychologists and sociologists working in this field suggested that brainwashing techniques were used to maintain

3876-622: The groups. Since the 2000s, some governments have again distanced themselves from such classifications of religious movements. While the official response to new religious groups has been mixed across the globe, some governments aligned more with the critics of these groups to the extent of distinguishing between "legitimate" religion and "dangerous", "unwanted" cults in public policy . For centuries, governments in China have categorized certain religions as xiéjiào ( 邪教 ), translated as "evil cults" or " heterodox teachings ". In imperial China ,

3944-555: The height of the counter-cult movement and ritual abuse scare of the 1990s, some governments published lists of cults. Groups labelled "cults" are found around the world and range in size from local groups with a few members to international organizations with millions. While these documents utilize similar terminology, they do not necessarily include the same groups nor is their assessment of these groups based on agreed criteria. Other governments and world bodies also report on new religious movements but do not use these terms to describe

4012-435: The late 1960s and early 1970s, academics perceived new religious movements as different phenomena from previous religious innovations. Destructive cult is a term frequently used by the anti-cult movement . Members of the anti-cult movement typically define a destructive cult as a group that is unethical, deceptive, and one that uses "strong influence" or mind control techniques to affect critical thinking skills. This term

4080-619: The legitimacy of new religious movements in court. In the United States the religious activities of cults are protected under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution , which prohibits governmental establishment of religion and protects freedom of religion , freedom of speech , freedom of the press , and freedom of assembly ; however, no members of religious groups or cults are granted any special immunity from criminal prosecution . In 1990,

4148-609: The loyalty of cult members. The belief that cults brainwashed their members became a unifying theme among cult critics and in the more extreme corners of the anti-cult movement techniques like the sometimes forceful " deprogramming " of cult members was practised. In the mass media , and among average citizens, "cult" gained an increasingly negative connotation, becoming associated with things like kidnapping , brainwashing, psychological abuse , sexual abuse , and other criminal activity , and mass suicide . While most of these negative qualities usually have real documented precedents in

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4216-427: The miengu during a public ceremony on a beach near Douala. One cult member dives into the sea with the gift and stays down as long as possible. Afterward, he returns with a message from the miengu about the year to come. The climax of the ngondo festival is the jengu cult. Wherein the traditional diver goes into the river under supervision of the traditional rulers. This undisclosed custodian of tradition, accompanied by

4284-548: The multinational road construction company SOGEA SATOM and financed by the Cameroonian government and a loan from the French government, this bridge will help decongest traffic on the first bridge. The construction of this bridge is important for Cameroon's economy and will facilitate exchanges in the central African region which opens to the world through Cameroon and its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean . The bridge

4352-537: The private nature of personal beliefs. Later sociological formulations built on such characteristics, placing an additional emphasis on cults as deviant religious groups, "deriving their inspiration from outside of the predominant religious culture." This is often thought to lead to a high degree of tension between the group and the more mainstream culture surrounding it, a characteristic shared with religious sects. According to this sociological terminology, sects are products of religious schism and therefore maintain

4420-405: The term "new religion" or " new religious movement ". Other proposed alternative terms that have seen use were "emergent religion", "alternative religious movement", or "marginal religious movement", though new religious movement is the most popular term. The anti-cult movement mostly regards the term "new religious movement" as a euphemism for cult that hides their harmful nature. Beginning in

4488-504: The term is overgeneralized. Saliba sees the Peoples Temple as the "paradigm of a destructive cult", where those that use the term are implying that other groups will also commit mass suicide . Doomsday cult is an expression which is used to describe groups that believe in apocalypticism and millenarianism , and it can also be used to refer both to groups that predict disaster , and groups that attempt to bring it about. In

4556-399: The word "cult", unlike most other academics; however Bainbridge later stated he regretted having used the word at all. Stark and Bainbridge, in discussing the process by which individuals join new religious groups, have even questioned the utility of the concept of conversion , suggesting that affiliation is a more useful concept. In the early 1960s, sociologist John Lofland studied

4624-469: Was further elaborated upon by German theologian Ernst Troeltsch , who added a "mystical" categorization to define more personal religious experiences. American sociologist Howard P. Becker further bisected Troeltsch's first two categories: church was split into ecclesia and denomination ; and sect into sect and cult . Like Troeltsch's "mystical religion", Becker's cult refers to small religious groups that lack in organization and emphasize

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