Religious Cults and Psychosis 

(tw death, assault) 

Many religious cults and leaders have been present during the past e.g Jim Jones and his “people’s temple” in Jonestown where Jim demanded a mass suislide with 900 adults and children dying. The people’s Temple was originally a place for all people who were not accepted in society to go. Interracial couples, drug addicts, soldiers with ptsd, ect-. Jones had religious psychosis believing he was god and having an insatiable, terrifying need to control. Religious Psychosis is a condition which causes a person to have a stubborn belief in something untrue in a religious context. This involves feeling you have special power / abilities. Today we will delve deeper into a very interesting and currently active cult called the FLDS. If you find this blog interesting, there is a great netflix documentary called “Keep sweet: Prey and Obey” named after what the church members were ordered to do. 

FLDS

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This is a Mormon fundamentalist group who practice polygamy (having more than one wife) often described as a cult! The FLDS Church has been involved in many illegal activities such as child marriage, sexual abuse, child abandonment and human trafficking. It has a one man rule structure and begin in the early 1900s in Short Creek, Arizona. This church as of modern and present times believe there is a prophet who happens to be Warren Jeff’s who is a cult leader and has been convicted for child sexual assault! He took over from his father Rulon Jeff’s who had around 65 wives and even more children! He married girls he chose as young as 19 and would 🍇 them. Warren is thankfully, currently serving a life sentence in Texas and his father is dead despite promising his people he is immortal and will resurrect. However, people are not willing to give up their beliefs and still continue to visit Warrem in jail for guidance and advice. He has around 80 wives and more than 60 children. Warren Jeff’s was arrested for Marrying a 14 year old girl to her 19 year old cousin. However, we know there were hundreds more child marriages beyond this. After moving his followers from Short Creek to a more remote location when the olympics came to America, he then moved some of them again to “Zion” (heaven on earth) which was a the YFZ ranch in Eldorado Texas. Warren told his followers that it was the end of the world and manipulated around 8000 people into moving the first time around. After this move, Warren became strict and banned patterned clothing, red or black clothing and many more seemingly normal things. The second move is where warren built a ranch and temple in which he would 🍇 children and commit many more sins. Because Warren believed in polygamy, he decided to abandon the men and boys of his church and kicked them out of the community, leaving them homeless, stranded and separated from family. He also sent the youngest children (without there parents consent) to the zion ranch, transporting them from there original home so he could manipulate them from an early age. Yet he was such a good manipulator, parents of these children and various other people in the community were too afraid to leave or speak up. Warren Jeffs even created schools where certain elements of science were stripped from the books and curriculum. This school taught women to be good wives and taught men they needed at least 3 wives to reach zion, they could even become gods after death and create whole planets and universes. When Warren was on the run, the texas ranch was raided and children were separated from there mothers so law enforcement could delve deeper into the child abuse. However, the mothers were distraught, afraid and loyal to there prophet and so denied allegations. Unfortunately, all the children were sent home but this did mean separated family’s could reunite, some children had forgotten who there mothers were by that time tho. Eventually, Warren was arrested when law enforcement discovered all his files and crimes hidden in a vault inside the temple he built in the Zion ranch. This ranch also known as YFZ ranch is 1,700 acre and cost 2 million dollars to buy! It was designed to hold a self sufficient, agricultural community.

Conclusion

It’s genuinely so scary to me how singular people specifically white men can control thousands if not millions of people through manipulation. Warren Jeff’s had around 10 THOUSAND people believing he was the prophet and following his every word despite all the abuse and trauma they faced. Not to mention world leaders such as Hitler who was the dictator or the Nazi party! I think we all know how that story goes.. We really need to educate people on the signs manipulation, guilt tripping and gaslighting because although it may not affect everyone on as large a scale as we have discussed today, it is still a huge problem in todays society!! I also think people should be educated on religious psychosis as it can be so empowering and destructive. Despite all the peace in religion, it can not only cause war but genuine mental health issues people fall victim to daily.