No problem.
You are taking the religion class, take a look at the similarities and parallels between "religion" and "cultic behavior" and line them up against what you have gone through over the last several months with DIR. Really look at your posts from last week where everything got way out of hand and consider the mindset and behaviours in light of your class.
Fair enough.
According to what we learned in my Religion course, and according to Dr. Thomas Creely (or professor) and the book which he taught from (
Experiencing the World's Religions by Michael Molloy), a "cult" becomes a "cult" instead of a "religion" when it posesses the following five characteristics:
1.
Absolute truth claims: The leaders seek to "prove" their religion, and have no tolerance for any other viewpoint. Anyone else who disagrees with the viewpoint is said to be completely wrong.
2.
Blind obedience: Leaders in the cult stress complete and blind obedience to the religion, discouraging questions and villifying those who seek answers. They praise those who follow without questioning, and encourage others to do so.
3.
Establishing an ideal time: Cult leaders stress a reason why it is important to join the cult NOW, and urge those to not wait to do so. Typically, a cult leader will stress an upcoming cataclysmic event, such as an apocolypse or the coming of a messiah, and urge people to quickly become a part of the cult.
4.
The end justifies any means: Cult leaders stress that death, personal sacrifice, loss of family and loved ones, or even the loss of personal identity means nothing by comparison of the cult's ideals. The cult leaders Jim Jones and David Koresh both were masters of convincing people that the end justified any means.
5.
Declaring a holy war: Cult leaders declare holy war; that is, they take an offensive stance against those who are not of the same belief as their own cult, and seek to destroy them.
...So my question to you is... How does DIR stand up to these definitions of a cult? Sure, there are absolute truth claims, at least in terms of scuba diving... So it may match up nicely with #1... But GUE has never discouraged blind obedience... In fact, they very much encourage questioning! DIR doesn't do well with #3, either... Rather than encourage people to "become DIR" as quickly as possible, the exact opposite is true... They encourage people to take their time and learn very slowly
In terms of "the end justifying any means," that one doesn't hold up much either... GUE knows that this is just SCUBA, man... They say early in the DIR-F class that the #1 goal is to have FUN... There's no inkling of the "end justifying any means." To me, in fact, it seems that GUE people take DIR a lot more LIGHTLY than those people who are not DIR! At least, that's been my experience.
Lastly, to be a "cult," GUE would have to declare a "holy war..." Something which is silly to even think about. To the best of my knowlege, GUE is not about to go to war with anyone.
...So how's DIR do in terms of being a cult or having "cultic behavior," as you say? Not very well. By comparison, think about your favorite NFL fan up the street... You know, the one with the GIANTS football jersey, the bumper sticker, and the one who's life comes to a complete halt every time "his team" plays a game... By comparison, there's much more cult-like behavior in that!
So to respond to your post... I've thought about it with an open mind, and yes, I still hate religion. And no, DIR is no more a religion and displays no more "cultic behavior" than your average NFL fan.
However, if you ask the NFL guy who his favorite NFL team is, he's gonna tell you... And tell you why! If someone asks a question about diving, I'm going to give them the answer that I've seen work best for me... The DIR answer.
Simple.
