Religious Cults & Durkeim

“Follow me and you will be saved. I will take you to the next world, where you will experience peace, wealth and security that you will never have on this earth.” Those lines lead people to leave their possessions and world behind and follow the dream. They follow the dream that is the religious cult. These people are lambs that follow their charismatic Shepard to a promise land. Emile Durkheim, a famous sociologist, states that …showed first 75 words of 891 total…

…showed last 75 words of 891 total…charismatic leaders prove Emile Durkheim’s functionalist theories of religion to be true. Cults are organized, give people a sense of where they stand in life, their purpose, and are also a source of social cohesion and control. Three charismatic leaders of this past century lead hundreds to their deaths to serve their own religious beliefs. If we are to ask why these people do this, it is because of the social solidarity of religion.