I
Page 12/The Battalion/Wednesday, Movember 6,1985
Cults offer religious alternatives
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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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Persons with a master's degree or a minimum of two years
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