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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 6, 1985)
I Page 12/The Battalion/Wednesday, Movember 6,1985 Cults offer religious alternatives s$m$s$ss$sm$$s$sss$sssm$i$$ss$s$ssmsms*ss$ssu!| It’s On aTm Campus J (continued from page 1) “moonies,” after their leader, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. By understanding creation, the church says, the infinite God can be known. Church members believe that be cause God is the substantial being of goodness and the eternal idea in accordance with his purpose, hu mans also are created to become ideal in embodiments of goodness, in whom sin and suffering would be a contradiction and an impossibility. Some time ago, a student from The University of Texas tried to start a group to practice Satanism at A&M, Stadelman said. “Evidently he didn’t have much luck here at A&M, because I haven’t heard anything about them since,” Stadelman says. Melton says that Satanism is the worship of the Christian personifica tion of evil and was revived in the mid-1960s by Anton LeVey, who founded the Church of Satan on April 30, 1966. Satan is identified as Lucifer, called the light-bearer, and is identified with the snake in the Garden of Eden, who destroyed in nocence by bringing knowledge. According to Melton, “Satanists see themselves as developing the self to the fullest and upholding per sonal values as opposed to altruistic virtues. “Because of the very nature of Sa tanism, it is a short-lived phenome non and rarely involves individuals for more than a few years.” Many religious organizations are officially recognized by the Univer sity, but the majority of them proba bly wouldn’t be considered cults. Consuelo Trevino, a student de velopment specialist at UT, says that about three years ago, a few cults such as Hare Krishna were active as off-campus organizations, but the recent trend seems to indicate an in crease in different Christian organi zations who are taking new direc tions in how they study the Bible. The group’s full title is the Inter national Society for Krishna Con sciousness, and it takes its teachings from the Bhagavad Gita, one of sev eral sacred Hindu books. Members worship Krishna as “the eternal, om niscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, and all-attractive personality of God head.” The main act of devotion is the repetition of the Hare Krishna mantra. Krishnas are one of the few cults who have received negative criticism for their fund-raising m airports and other public facilities. Dr. David Snow, professor of so ciology and cult specialist at UT, says, “Traditionally, college cam puses have been a recruiting ground of cults because there are many young people who want to escape from competition, pressure and try ing to fit in. Adolescents are in a stage of dis engagement from their families and trying to strike out on their own. Tnese groups can offer a certain de gree of comfort in terms of the structure and certain alternatives they offer. “The groups also offer emotional support, a sense of belonging that doesn’t focus on accomplishment as does so much of life.” Snow says that cults are seen by conventional religion members as false prophets and competitors to the mainstream religions, thereby becoming highly threatening. Dr. Jon Alson, professor of socio logy at A&M, teaches a class on the sociology of religion. Alston says he sees a trend devel oping where the extreme cults are experiencing a loosening of their memberships. “People just aren’t searching for that kind of thing anymore,” Alson says. However, he says, the United States is one of the most religious na tions in the world; therefore, cults will always be in existence. “People get interested in one cer tain aspect of their religion and then break away from the mainstream,” Alson says. 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