Make a cult in 5 easy steps
Step 1: Establish an in-group and out-group. The first thing to understand about your new cult is that it needs to supply its followers with three essential natural human needs: (i) a sense of identity; (ii) a sense of belonging; (iii) a sense of meaning. Primarily, being in the group must supply answers for “what am I?”, “what do I do?” and “what is it all for?”, which are at the core of any person; and, secondarily, members will naturally provide each other with the “in-group” sensation of belonging through peer-to-peer interactions.
NOTE: By itself, the existence of in-group and out-group dynamics do not need to be coercive or cult-like. Which brings us to...
Step 2: Make it costly to exit the in-group. Joining the group should be as easy as a (publicly witnessed) “yes”, but exiting should come at some cost, often in societal terms, such as standing or belonging. Leavers and non-conformers should be treated as the “out-group”, intentionally or not carrying stigma that makes them unworthy of total acceptance or belonging until they join and accept the group's values and beliefs.
Step 3: Make unfalsifiable claims. It's essential for accountability to flow only one way. Followers should be held accountable for their actions and display of conformity in the present. The cult, on the other hand, can promise unbounded rewards (or the absence of some unbearable evil) in the indefinite future. The follower's commitment must be verifiable, but the promised rewards must not. In the economic sense, the followers put in more into the group than it costs the group per follower, which allows for a self-sustaining enterprise.
Step 4: Install a charismatic person at the helm. This is optional, but also very fruitful. The actions and beliefs professed by this so-called leader must be, by definition, the cult's own values. Any attempt to point out apparent contradictions in the leader's behavior (e.g. “how come they are rich when the espoused values ask for material humility?”) can be explained away as “we just don't understand it well enough” or “this is in the end for the group's larger mission”. This reinforces the lack of accountability for the ones at the helm, while justifying contradictory actions and beliefs, all the while avoiding cognitive dissonance and crises of conscience.
Step 5: Make questioning and critical thinking evidence of being in the out-group. Given that the cult can't spend physical coercive efforts to keep people in, it's necessary that the people want to be a part of the group. We touched on how the cult does that in Step 1 through identity, belonging and meaning. Now, we need to inoculate the individual against the forces that would allow themselves to leave: critical thinking and questioning.
If an individual starts on the route of realizing the contradictions of the cult, we must isolate that individual as quickly as possible from the “in-group” as this threatens the whole. So any questioning of the professed values (or apparent violations by the cult-leader) must be met with unverifiable claims such as “you lack faith”, “just wait for...”, and critically, don't allow your followers to provide this individual with a sense of belonging and acceptance until they repent.
With these five easy steps, fellow cult maker, we can attract and maintain (by design or not; intentionally or not) vulnerable people as our followers, steering their behaviors (such as voting, have you heard of this crazy notion in democracies?), while keeping ourselves very much away from questioning and accountability with regards to our own behaviors.