Soka Gakkai cult checklist

Checklist to determine if SGI is a cult: 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