Yes. It reinforces the idea that the world is corrupt, fallen, that it won’t accept them. That only the cult will accept them. It reinforces the separation of cult and world, and makes cult the only attainable form of community.
Community is the cult’s greatest weapon. Gangs, religions, the manosphere, neo-Nazi… so many groups work by finding the isolated and disempowered, offering them a community that will adopt them (conditionally). Isolated people swallow the conditions readily in order to have a community, even an unhealthy one. Humans are social creatures.
Getting your members to do behaviours you know will see them rejected (like door-knocking) reinforces the indoctrination that only your cult can offer community. Even if they have doubts or discomfort, they won’t leave.
Yes. It reinforces the idea that the world is corrupt, fallen, that it won’t accept them. That only the cult will accept them. It reinforces the separation of cult and world, and makes cult the only attainable form of community.
Community is the cult’s greatest weapon. Gangs, religions, the manosphere, neo-Nazi… so many groups work by finding the isolated and disempowered, offering them a community that will adopt them (conditionally). Isolated people swallow the conditions readily in order to have a community, even an unhealthy one. Humans are social creatures.
Getting your members to do behaviours you know will see them rejected (like door-knocking) reinforces the indoctrination that only your cult can offer community. Even if they have doubts or discomfort, they won’t leave.