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My best friend was in a famous cult half his life. That's nothing like a cult. He had unlimited money ($25k a month was nothing) and freedom to do anything he

My best friend was in a famous cult half his life. That's nothing like a cult. He had unlimited money ($25k a month was nothing) and freedom to do anything he wanted for 15 years. He was never harmed. The organization collapsed as the elders passed away partially due to the rule of no proselytizing so no new members. edit: they had about $50M split between 6 people near the end. I don't really know why more people don't do this: register a religious organization, require all members to assign all assets and money to the organization, work together for the rest of your life building your wealth tax free and watch how quick your wealth amplifies as you acquire properties and make investments.

ceejayoz 5y ago
I don't think your friend's cult experience is the norm.
- 0x000000001 5y ago
  I believe it is the norm, but nobody talks about the ones that are operating successfully. You only hear about the ones that end in shootouts with the feds.
samhw 5y ago
Your friend was in an organisation which (a) didn't recruit new members, (b) gave its members total freedom to do whatever they wanted, and (c) gave its members money? And you're calling this organisation a cult? No offence, but is English your first language? This sounds entirely unrelated to the concept of a cult. I think you're just describing a company, an LLP with a religious focus.
- 0x000000001 5y ago
  I think you believe a "cult" only means a situation where people are held against their will by crazy religious nuts trying to assert their sovereignty. Those are the only examples the media wants you to know about. Hearing about a group of people who have successfully implemented small scale communism with a religion involved and they thrived for over 100 years isn't something you want to shout from the rooftops as it would encourage more of this behavior.
  - retrac 5y ago
    That's not a cult, then. Its just an odd religious community. In contemporary English, cult refers specifically to brainwashy abusive practices that attempt to control every aspect of the person's life and tend not to allow you to leave. Some groups like the Amish and the ultra-Orthodox Jews in North America live in insular communal societies, but most would not describe them as cults. (Though sometimes the more isolationist groups do get called so, maybe with some cause.)
  - ChainOfFools 5y ago
    a cult in the pejorative sense is one in which members exhibit what used to be called "snapping," where the confluence of dogma internalization and pressure to resist out-group messaging effectively disables one's ability to question their in-group messaging.
alphabetting 5y ago
"that's nothing like a cult" describes situation that is clearly fraud and actually nothing like a cult
- wayoutthere 5y ago
  Honestly it’s not; the legal definition of a religion is so loose in the US that you can literally have a religion based around being rich bringing you closer to happiness. It would be fully legal and sheltered from taxes under the law (you, however, would have to pay taxes on any distribution from the “church”).
  - 0x000000001 5y ago
    There aren't any distributions if you don't personally own any assets or have any bank accounts -- the "church" pays for it all on your behalf. You also don't fit any legal definition of an employee either.
- 0x000000001 5y ago
  They sued the federal government decades ago for illegally collecting Social Security taxes and won. It's not fraud.
krinchan 5y ago
Yeaaaah this isn’t a cult. Though it’s interesting to learn my grandparents’ “home church” could scale that far. @.@
pjc50 5y ago
I would like to subscribe to your cult. > rule of no proselytizing > had about $50M split between 6 people near the end .. are you sure that isn't just a tontine?
- rundmc 5y ago
  Sounds exactly like a tontine to me and I should know. (Founder of https://tontine.com https://tontine.com)
  - 0x000000001 5y ago
    That does sound similar except you'd have younger employed members making money to add to the pool of equity and also working on self sustainability like farming to feed the members. Not all members in the aforementioned org lived together past the 1970s or whatever; they often were sent to live and maintain on properties the org owned all around the world.
abrichr 5y ago
> famous cult Can you please share the name?
- ChainOfFools 5y ago
  based on description (famous, 100 years old, pooling financial assets but no proselytizing so it amounts to a tontine with a dualist story attached) sounds like the Shakers or some offshoot.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]

ceejayoz 5y ago

I don't think your friend's cult experience is the norm.

0x000000001 5y ago
I believe it is the norm, but nobody talks about the ones that are operating successfully. You only hear about the ones that end in shootouts with the feds.

samhw 5y ago

Your friend was in an organisation which (a) didn't recruit new members, (b) gave its members total freedom to do whatever they wanted, and (c) gave its members money? And you're calling this organisation a cult? No offence, but is English your first language? This sounds entirely unrelated to the concept of a cult. I think you're just describing a company, an LLP with a religious focus.

0x000000001 5y ago
I think you believe a "cult" only means a situation where people are held against their will by crazy religious nuts trying to assert their sovereignty. Those are the only examples the media wants you to know about. Hearing about a group of people who have successfully implemented small scale communism with a religion involved and they thrived for over 100 years isn't something you want to shout from the rooftops as it would encourage more of this behavior.
- retrac 5y ago
  That's not a cult, then. Its just an odd religious community. In contemporary English, cult refers specifically to brainwashy abusive practices that attempt to control every aspect of the person's life and tend not to allow you to leave. Some groups like the Amish and the ultra-Orthodox Jews in North America live in insular communal societies, but most would not describe them as cults. (Though sometimes the more isolationist groups do get called so, maybe with some cause.)
- ChainOfFools 5y ago
  a cult in the pejorative sense is one in which members exhibit what used to be called "snapping," where the confluence of dogma internalization and pressure to resist out-group messaging effectively disables one's ability to question their in-group messaging.

alphabetting 5y ago

"that's nothing like a cult" describes situation that is clearly fraud and actually nothing like a cult

wayoutthere 5y ago
Honestly it’s not; the legal definition of a religion is so loose in the US that you can literally have a religion based around being rich bringing you closer to happiness. It would be fully legal and sheltered from taxes under the law (you, however, would have to pay taxes on any distribution from the “church”).
- 0x000000001 5y ago
  There aren't any distributions if you don't personally own any assets or have any bank accounts -- the "church" pays for it all on your behalf. You also don't fit any legal definition of an employee either.
0x000000001 5y ago
They sued the federal government decades ago for illegally collecting Social Security taxes and won. It's not fraud.

krinchan 5y ago

Yeaaaah this isn’t a cult. Though it’s interesting to learn my grandparents’ “home church” could scale that far. @.@

pjc50 5y ago

I would like to subscribe to your cult. > rule of no proselytizing > had about $50M split between 6 people near the end .. are you sure that isn't just a tontine?

rundmc 5y ago
Sounds exactly like a tontine to me and I should know. (Founder of https://tontine.com https://tontine.com)
- 0x000000001 5y ago
  That does sound similar except you'd have younger employed members making money to add to the pool of equity and also working on self sustainability like farming to feed the members. Not all members in the aforementioned org lived together past the 1970s or whatever; they often were sent to live and maintain on properties the org owned all around the world.

abrichr 5y ago

> famous cult Can you please share the name?

ChainOfFools 5y ago
based on description (famous, 100 years old, pooling financial assets but no proselytizing so it amounts to a tontine with a dualist story attached) sounds like the Shakers or some offshoot.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]