c8b35a No.4448
In this thread we post and talk about fascinatingly wacky religions and cults.
I start with the Cargo Cult. I think that a lot of you are already familiar with it.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult
>A cargo cult is a Melanesian millenarian movement encompassing a diverse range of practices and occurring in the wake of contact with the commercial networks of colonizing societies. The name derives from the belief that various ritualistic acts will lead to a bestowing of material wealth ("cargo").
>With the end of the war, the military abandoned the airbases and stopped dropping cargo. In response, charismatic individuals developed cults among remote Melanesian populations that promised to bestow on their followers deliveries of food, arms, Jeeps, etc. The cult leaders explained that the cargo would be gifts from their own ancestors, or other sources, as had occurred with the outsider armies. In attempts to get cargo to fall by parachute or land in planes or ships again, islanders imitated the same practices they had seen the soldiers, sailors, and airmen use. Cult behaviors usually involved mimicking the day-to-day activities and dress styles of US soldiers, such as performing parade ground drills with wooden or salvaged rifles.[14] The islanders carved headphones from wood and wore them while sitting in fabricated control towers. They waved the landing signals while standing on the runways. They lit signal fires and torches to light up runways and lighthouses.
This is probably the closes we can to a religion that has been spawned either on our or their side from contact with aliens.
c306c8 No.4463
YouTube embed. Click thumbnail to play.
>>4448Man, that's funny but also sad. I always thought the Charles Manson family was pretty fascinating because of their weird ideology composed of racism, Biblical prophecy and Beatles lyrics but I don't think "wacky" is a word I'd use to describe them. So here's the Family International.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_International
>TFI initially spread a message of salvation, apocalypticism, and spiritual "revolution" against the outside world, which the members called "the System". In 1976,[3] it began a method of evangelism called Flirty Fishing, using sex to "show God's love" and win converts, resulting in controversy.[4] TFI's founder and prophetic leader, David Berg (who was first called "Moses David" in the Texas press), took the titles of "King", "The Last Endtime Prophet", "Moses", and "David". He communicated with his followers via Mo Letters—letters of instruction and counsel on myriad spiritual and practical subjects—until his death in late 1994.[5] After his death, his widow Karen Zerby became the leader of TFI, taking the title of "Queen" and "prophetess". She married Steve Kelly, an assistant of Berg's whom he had handpicked as her "consort". Kelly took the title of "King Peter" and became the public face of TFI, speaking in a more public capacity than either David Berg or Karen Zerby. c8b35a No.4465
>>4463Wow, they really have a legit website.
970b40 No.4494
>>4463Just the name "Family International" in the context of religion gives me the creeps. This video is really not helping either, and neither are the awkward faces people keep making in it.
970b40 No.4496
>>4463What's really fucked up is that this video feels crazy half the time, and people got evolution fucked up, but then that fucking part that starts off at 17:00 is… ugh. Why did these fucking people have to be slightly right on the whole mass surveillance thing?
c8b35a No.4512
The Japanese New religions are interesting. Especially Aum Shinrikyo that performed the Tokyo subway sarin attack.
It is remarkable how people with advanced degrees in Chemistry, applied Physics and AI became so radicalized that they performed violent attacks in a country where most people don't strictly follow (organized) religions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aum_Shinrikyohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_new_religions c306c8 No.4518
>>4496It's not really about mass surveillance, it's about the prophecy in Revelation saying people will be forced to get the "mark of the beast", which they seem to think will be barcodes.
e777a8 No.4540
The cargo cult always makes me wonder if any other religions are the result of similar interactions.
Like what if one group of ancient humans bumped into a more advanced group and were awed into worship?
e777a8 No.4541
>>4512Existential crisis is a helluva drug.
85ab62 No.4915
ca3a66 No.4931
cf2c8f No.4938
>>4512We must never forget that intelligence alone doesn't create a rational mind, nor does it make you immune to delusions. Intelligent people can be very good at fooling
themselves. Everyone should be taught to value skepticism.
>In 1992 Asahara published a foundational book, and declared himself "Christ", Japan's only fully enlightened master and identified with the "Lamb of God". His purported mission was to take upon himself the sins of the world, and he claimed he could transfer to his followers spiritual power and ultimately take away their sins and bad deeds.In one form or another, behind every religion are people like this.
8df3cf No.4939
>>4938Intelligent people can do higher level mental gymnastics, so actually intelligence could sometimes be bad for reason.
http://discovermagazine.com/2010/oct/13-why-are-smart-people-the-most-gullible dbd858 No.4955
How about some famous suicide cults? I will paraphrase from memory what happened in each:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven%27s_Gate_%28religious_group%29A church believed a comet is an alien ship that will take them to heaven if they all kill themselves.m they out plastic bags over their heads and suffocated themselves together on the same night.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JonestownThousands were persuaded or coerced into drinking poisoned cool-aid and in a secluded community, because the authoritarian leader had a massive persecution complex and thought the US government/local government would infiltrate them and destroy them. Only two survived the massacre to tell the story.
I bet the ancient world had tons of these suicide cults too.
970b40 No.5125
YouTube embed. Click thumbnail to play.
>>4463This video gives some damned good insight into Family International's operations, and how the cult has mentally scarred it's followers. It's a depressing watch.
c306c8 No.5490
http://www.truthcontest.com/entries/the-present-universal-truth/I only know about this because practically every youtube video relating to the Beatles has a bunch of shitty spam comments saying the Beatles were prophets and to go to this website. I can't even post the highlights, every word of it is insane but basically it's an attempt to justify mysticism with science. I think this kind of thing is becoming more and more typical among new age nuts.
dbd858 No.6344
YouTube embed. Click thumbnail to play.
>>4463The "Kathy don't go!" song is pretty catchy. The warning came about 30 or 40 years ago, so I'm wondering why bar codes haven't taken over our souls yet.
0c89ee No.6369
Broken clock right twice a day, yo
93bd5f No.9609
Wiki says on Buddhism:
The practice of Fudaraku Tokai (補陀落渡海) in ancient Japan, setting sail into the Pacific in a small boat in hopes of reaching the Fudaraku Pure Land, is now viewed as religious suicide and is not practiced today.[33][34]
c8b35a No.9618
>>9609
What's up with Japan and suicide all the time?
Seppuku, honorable suicide.
Kamikaze, suicide by air attack.
Karōshi, suicide by overworking.
Suicide by doing a spiritual boat trip.
93bd5f No.9644
>>9618
Don't forget hitobashira. It looks like a culture-bound syndrome. Maybe through the constant typhoons, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, fires and wars people adopt a fatalistic approach. But the religious boat pilgramege might explain how some Polynesians discovered certain islands.
a7edea No.9645
>>9618
They work so hard they die.
93bd5f No.9882
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tachikawa-ryu
12th century Japanese religion devoted to blissful sex because "when a man and a woman unite they become Buddha," and skull fucking…or rather spreading sexual fluids on a skull and having lots of sex until the skull speaks to you and tells you the meaning of your dreams/answers your wishes.
1de481 No.9887
>>9882
>skull ritual description
Holy shit, this paragraph.
000000 No.9890
>>9882
Sheeit mayne I've never heard of this shit before and I actively search for this kinda stuff
93bd5f No.10466
The seekers ufo cult believed automatic writing had warned them of a coming cataclysm, and a UFO was coming to save the chosen ones. When the prophecy failed, it made the believers become even more feverent believers who were ready to spread the gospel due to some twisted psychology.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Prophecy_Fails
9bab70 No.10468
>>4448
the Cargo still lives. A reporter asked why they still do it after decades of no results.
One of them said "You Christians have waited for Jesus to return for 2,000 years. We can wait for John Frum a little longer"
dd9a6d No.12133
9bab70 No.12140
>>9618
You forgot my favorite Japanese method of suicide.. self mummification.
The monk starves himself to death while drinking a tea made of tree sap that lacquers his internal organs.
The end is result is nicely preserved corpse in the lotus position that is put on display for veneration.
Sure it's completely insane, but you have to admire the dedication this would take.
a483da No.12167
>>12140
Hey well if you're tired of life it's at least a cool way to go. Most suicidal people just blow their heads off and leave a messy corpse. Very inconsiderate.
93bd5f No.12202
>>12167
Yeah it leaves an awesome halloween statue that's worth money.
f8bd35 No.12214
93bd5f No.12226
>>12214
I don't understand Anarchists. They want Twitch Plays Pokemon IRL. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitch_Plays_Pokémon
93bd5f No.13858
Scientology says an alien dictator had the Earth nuked by H-bombs 75 million years ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenu
bf9551 No.13864
Atheism is one of the most wackiest cults in the world. Instead of a god, they worship their own "intelligence".
a68f63 No.13865
It's always funny to see people drawing these kind of analogies.
Some people just can't fathdom the reality that some humans lack faith and have no need for the equivalent of a church, a parish or even the very act of praying
So they are cruely imagining in their mind that irreligious people are 'just like them' and that 'scientist are like priests' and that 'science' is like a religion since the things that I've mentioned above have been so influential in their lives.
bf9551 No.13866
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>>13865
No, I draw these kind of analogies because they're true.
a68f63 No.13871