The Cult-Like Nature of Church Retreats and Summer Camps.

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Hi yall,
I have been on numerous weekend retreats in my time in the Church of Christ. I had a sudden eureka moment at one that a church retreat on a weekend is very cult like in some ways.You are typically very isolated in the middle of nowhere on a farm or ranch in typical church retreats and summer camps.I experienced sleep deprivation due to the schedule and snoring.

I think one of the main differences between stereotypical cults with a compound and a retreat or church camp is the very limited duration typically involved.Its typically only for a week or a weekend.I bought books written by cult deprogrammers and they said that many times retreats are used as fronts for cults.I thought it was very interesting.Also there is typically no outside news on tv or media at these retreats and camps so its like you are cut off from the outside world unless you have a phone.I often times did not have much food to eat while I was there because there was not much I liked to eat there although they had lots of other food.

It's not surprising that there's so many similarities.

The boundary between a cult and a religion isn't that clear to begin with, and the more totalitarian a religious movement is, the more cult-like it will be in practice.

Isolation from unapproved ideas, isolation from one's support network (especially people who aren't part of the faith), sleep deprivation, reduced access to food, etc are all methods used when seeking to brainwash or manipulate people.

The most controlling organizations would seek to have members never engage with the outside world, but that's not always sustainable.

Slightly less controlling groups just seek to set themselves aside from the rest of the world, like JWs or Scientology do. The might rely on retreats or camps to refresh the indoctrination every so often, or they might limit those sorts of things to the kids, as kids tend to be more impressionable. Ultimately the goal is to get those who attend to maintain that sense of separation once they return to the regular world.

There's a lot of similarities with totalitarian political systems too, since ultimately cults are totalitarianism in miniature. This is also a big factor in why historic political entities often intermeshed themselves with religion, even when they weren't theocratic in nature. The political system helps the priesthood advance it's goals and the political system borrows the priesthood's influence and sense of legitimacy.

Personally, I'm not convinced that any meaningful distinction exists between cults and religions. Beyond that, it's possible that societies themselves are more like cults than we'd like to acknowledge. The main difference seems to be how open to questioning, and how tolerant of membership in multiple other cults they might be.

A very totalitarian society might have no room for participation in anything but a single, unified cult (worship our God-Emperor, who combines our nation and our official faith into one, for example). A somewhat less totalitarian society might allow for a few acceptable varieties of religious and secular thought, but still be hostile to anything outside of that window.

All-in-all though, it's all about indoctrination and control and it's largely a question of how much control is sought. The more control they seek, the more cult-like it will appear.