When you think of a cult, you straight away think of extremists like Charles Manson or members of The Children of God Cult. We never seem to question if youth groups are just ‘baby’ cults in the making.
One thing that stuck with me while watching a documentary called How to Become a Cult Leader (2023) on Netflix, is that cult leaders often impact those who are most vulnerable within society. Specifically, young adults and adolescents who struggle with identity, self-esteem and free will. Charles Manson wholeheartedly used this method by targeting teenage runaways and other ‘lost’ souls. Similarly, youth groups use welcoming gestures and tactics for members to feel as if they ‘belong’ to this group and must follow ‘all’ practised faith-based ideologies. It comes to the question of why we don’t call the local youth group a ‘baby cult’ or a place for ‘coming-of-age culties.’
Growing up, I also went to a youth group organised by the Catholic Church. But surely my group was not like that? We didn’t brainwash people and call it ‘enlightenment’, nor did we force our opinions on others ––at least, that’s what I thought until I looked over at my poor friend’s reaction when I was invited to this group as we sang “Shine, Jesus Shine” to her. Fuck.
And just like that, those red-tinted glasses were thrown off. The iconic youth group cheese pizza was no longer iconic anymore, and the religious chants no longer sounded like I was in a community.
Sometimes you need to see things from another perspective in order to realise how warmed that reality is.
To explore these issues, I made a survey regarding “Youth Group Experiences” where participants anonymously provided their experiences of both “enlightenment” and being “brainwashed.” While it is important to acknowledge that some have had a welcoming and great experience, I am here to address the tainted childhoods that were induced by toxic, harmful and self-loathing narratives.
One anonymous participant, who went to a Pentecostal youth group, reflects on their experience of brainwashing having “Worship Nights” and a youth leader who would “dim the lights and sing a repetitive Jesus chorus with the same four lines over and over again. Another youth pastor would come around and put his hands on me and scream at me in tongues”.
Another iteration of cultish behaviour is the use of fear to manipulate members into doing certain acts. When these survey members were asked about any experiences with religious youth organisations using harmful tactics, many answered with “the ‘devil’ as the means of scaring us into doing the right thing”. Such ‘right things’ meant to practise intense faith-based ideologies and to have others join the ‘path to salvation’.
The normalisation of cultish tactics – why was it never questioned?
In retrospect, the purpose and cult-tactics of Youth groups were never questioned as they are often associated with religious organisations. Although Australia declares itself a secular country, religious institutions have played a large role in our society since the beginning of colonisation. Over time, cult tactics behaviours have been used consistently and thus became the normalisation of cult behaviours within certain groups. And with that association, there is a normalisation for young kids to go to the Church’s hall with much older ‘youth leaders’ and speak in tongues.
It has become apparent that this normalisation has become an issue; it has turned into an epidemic where previous youth members who have now turned into adults are coming forth to discuss their unsettling experiences and/or religious traumas. This implies that religious organisations should only provide ‘community’ groups for adults, as many kids are too young to declare their devotion to these religious beliefs.
In all honesty – I think we were all too young to be a part of some organisation that promoted oppressive, homophobic, sex prejudice and terrifying dogma beliefs.
To this day, I still remember one childhood friend who converted to Mormonism (also recognised as Latter-day Saints) just so they could join the Morman youth group and talk to “the hot Mormon guys” –– her words, not mine. In that scenario, do we think it is a good idea for young girls to be a part of religious institutions and to be doctrine with certain dogmas in the name of interacting with “hot religious guys”? The answer should be no.
‘Thank God’ these youth groups aren’t encouraging the murder of celebrities – because then these committed youth groups would be killing it. And ‘thank God’ we do not see the extremes of the youth surrendering their identity as an individual to be a part of the whole. However, the idea that youth groups do use cult tactics to both lure young individuals and provide a zero-exit strategy should be recognised.
Cult tactics
Trojan Horse
One common cult tactic that is used is ‘The Trojan Horse’, where youth groups have used innocuous events as a platform to introduce ideological or religious concepts. Similar to cults, true intentions are never given to its members. Often newcomers are told that the Youth Group is hosting a ‘movie night’, ‘pizza night’ or even a ‘party’, but are shocked when it comes to reality. I have never recovered from the time I had invited my friend to one of those ‘movie nights’; we were told that we would watch Finding Nemo (2003) but it was miraculously missing and we watched God’s Not Dead (2014) instead.
Transactions
Within this cult tactic of the Trojan horse, comes another — the conditioned belief of transactions. These groups have often lured young people with free food in return for God’s full salvation. I believe this is ethically questionable. In our context of cult behaviours, cults have incorporated transactional concepts into their practices such as quid-pro-quo relationships and emotional transactions.
Another survey participant disclosed this transaction behaviour in their first time going to a youth group: “It was a very strange experience – I was only really there for the company and free food”. As a previous member of a Youth Group, the discourse was always focused on “God loves you, here’s some free food, now help our community”.
Youth groups have conditioned members from a young age to believe that life itself is a transaction. But the transaction of chanting intense dogma beliefs to receive free food in return has been overplayed.
Isolation and zero-exit strategy
Have you ever heard anyone refer to their “second family” or “community” as their youth group?
If not, you might be surprised to find that it’s a common sentiment, due in part to many youth groups employing social and emotional manipulation tactics to impart to their members a sense of “us versus them”. These “zero-exit” and inferred isolation strategies are expressed within snarky comments and are disparaging towards those who are outside this group. It leaves members who have been brought up by these religious groups to feel a sense of urgency and dependency on their group peers.
Some may argue that these youth groups are virtuous, building a sense of community and close-knit friendships, but my question to you is this:
What happens to those friendships if a person leaves or is cast out of a youth group?
In most cases, these ‘withdrawers’ are merely categorised as ‘others’ and amicably parted from. In the worst cases, they are completely ostracised from a community that once promised to be a safe space for self-expression and friendship.
Knowing this, and being completely dependent on your youth group, it becomes very hard to leave these communities. One survey participant who grew up attending a youth group shared their last encounter, like this: “the last time was painful, more so because I no longer enjoyed it, but also because I was struggling to let go because it’s all I have known my entire life”.
The ending
I do not want to say that youth groups are cults. However, most youth groups do fall into the category of ‘cult-like behaviour’ by using the Trojan Horse and the actions emphasising ‘outsiders vs youth members’ — as such, it does become alarming.
Maybe we were too young to be introduced to such religious organisations that pressured us to be their future and spread alarming dogmas about sex, the queer community and “allegations” about anyone in their appointed church. It’s time that we become our own individuals.