Is SGI a cult? A checklist

1. The Guru is always right.

2. You are always wrong.

3. No Exit.

4. No Graduates.

5. Cult-speak.

6. Group-think, Suppression of Dissent, and Enforced Conformity in Thinking

7. Irrationality.

8. Suspension of disbelief.

9. Denigration of competing sects, cults, religions...

10. Personal attacks on critics.

11. Insistence that the cult is THE ONLY WAY.

12. The cult and its members are special.

13. Induction of guilt, and the use of guilt to manipulate cult members.

14. Unquestionable Dogma, Sacred Science, and Infallible Ideology.

15. Indoctrination of members.

16. Appeals to "holy" or "wise" authorities.

17. Instant Community.

18. Instant Intimacy.

19. Surrender To The Cult.

20. Giggly wonderfulness and starry-eyed faith.

21. Personal testimonies of earlier converts.

22. The cult is self-absorbed.

23. Dual Purposes, Hidden Agendas, and Ulterior Motives.

24. Aggressive Recruiting.

25. Deceptive Recruiting.

26. No Humor.

27. You Can't Tell The Truth.

28. Cloning — You become a clone of the cult leader or other elder cult members.

29. You must change your beliefs to conform to the group's beliefs.

30. The End Justifies The Means.

31. Dishonesty, Deceit, Denial, Falsification, and Rewriting History.

32. Different Levels of Truth.

33. Newcomers can't think right.

34. The Cult Implants Phobias.

35. The Cult is Money-Grubbing.

36. Confession Sessions.

37. A System of Punishments and Rewards.

38. An Impossible Superhuman Model of Perfection.

39. Mentoring.

40. Intrusiveness.

41. Disturbed Guru, Mentally Ill Leader.

42. Disturbed Members, Mentally Ill Followers.

43. Create a sense of powerlessness, covert fear, guilt, and dependency.

44. Dispensed existence

45. Ideology Over Experience, Observation, and Logic

46. Keep them unaware that there is an agenda to change them

47. Thought-Stopping Language. Thought-terminating clichés and slogans.

48. Mystical Manipulation

49. The guru or the group demands ultra-loyalty and total committment.

50. Demands for Total Faith and Total Trust

51. Members Get No Respect. They Get Abused.

52. Inconsistency. Contradictory Messages

53. Hierarchical, Authoritarian Power Structure, and Social Castes

54. Front groups, masquerading recruiters, hidden promoters, and disguised propagandists

55. Belief equals truth

56. Use of double-binds

57. The cult leader is not held accountable for his actions.

58. Everybody else needs the guru to boss him around, but nobody bosses the guru around.

59. The guru criticizes everybody else, but nobody criticizes the guru.

60. Dispensed truth and social definition of reality

61. The Guru Is Extra-Special.

62. Flexible, shifting morality

63. Separatism

64. Inability to tolerate criticism

65. A Charismatic Leader

66. Calls to Obliterate Self

67. Don't Trust Your Own Mind.

68. Don't Feel Your Own Feelings.

69. The cult takes over the individual's decision-making process.

70. You Owe The Group.

71. We Have The Panacea.

72. Progressive Indoctrination and Progressive Commitments

73. Magical, Mystical, Unexplainable Workings

74. Trance-Inducing Practices

75. New Identity — Redefinition of Self — Revision of Personal History

76. Membership Rivalry

77. True Believers

78. Scapegoating and Excommunication

79. Promised Powers or Knowledge

80. It's a con. You don't get the promised goodies.

81. Hypocrisy

82. Denial of the truth. Reversal of reality. Rationalization and Denial.

83. Seeing Through Tinted Lenses

84. You can't make it without the cult.

85. Enemy-making and Devaluing the Outsider

86. The cult wants to own you.

87. Channelling or other occult, unchallengeable, sources of information.

88. They Make You Dependent On The Group.

89. Demands For Compliance With The Group

90. Newcomers Need Fixing.

91. Use of the Cognitive Dissonance Technique.

92. Grandiose existence. Bombastic, Grandiose Claims.

93. Black And White Thinking

94. The use of heavy-duty mind control and rapid conversion techniques.

95. Threats of bodily harm or death to someone who leaves the cult.

96. Threats of bodily harm or death to someone who criticizes the cult.

97. Appropriation of all of the members' worldly wealth.

98. Making cult members work long hours for free.

99. Total immersion and total isolation