The term "destructive cult" sometimes called doomsday cult refers to a small number of religious groups that have intentionally killed people - either themselves or others. In religion and sociology, a cult is a cohesive group of people (often a relatively small and new religious movement) devoted to beliefs or practices that the surrounding culture or society considers to be far outside the mainstream. ...

The term "doomsday cult" literally only refers to a group that has as an important part of its belief system the expectation of the imminent advent of the Last Judgement, but this apocalyptic world-view is seen by some as increasing the chance of a violent, destructive outcome. ^[1] Image:Michelangelo - Fresco of the Last Judgment. ... Apocalypticism is a worldview based on the idea that important matters are hidden from view and they will soon be revealed in a major confrontation of earth-shaking magnitude that will change the course of history. ...

There are half dozen well-documented cases on record, and there is little controversy about them:

• The "Ant Hill Kids commune" formed by Roch Theriault
• Aum Shinrikyo - Shoko Asahara
• Branch Davidians - David Koresh
• the RLDS splinter cult formed by Jeffrey Lundgren
• Lord's Resistance Army - Joseph Kony (Called a cult by Czech Wiki and Taiwan News Online)
• Manson Family - Charles Manson
• Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God - Joseph Kibweteere
• Order of the Solar Temple
• Peoples Temple - Jim Jones
• Takfir wal-Hijra - Shukri Mustafa
• Heaven's Gate (cult) - Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles

Note on religious terrorist and paramilitary organizations Roch Moses Theriault was the charismatic leader of a tiny sect based near Burnt River, Ontario. ... Aum Shinrikyo (also spelled Om Shin Rikyo) was a religious group which mixed Buddhist and Hindu beliefs and was based in Japan. ... Shoko Asahara (麻原 彰晃 Asahara Shōkō) (born March 2, 1955) is the founder and former guru of the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo (now known as Aleph), convicted of masterminding the 1995 Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway as well as several other crimes. ... The Branch Davidians are a religious group originating from the Seventh_day Adventist church. ... David Koresh David Koresh, born Vernon Wayne Howell (August 17, 1959 - April 19, 1993) was a self-proclaimed head of the Branch Davidians from 1988 until a raid by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and subsequent siege by the Federal Bureau of Investigation ended with the burning of... Community of Christ Temple in Independence, Missouri, USA. Dedicated 1994 The Community of Christ, previously known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or RLDS church is a branch of Christian Restorationism, and is the second largest denomination of the Latter Day Saint movement. ... In religion and sociology, a cult is a cohesive group of people (often a relatively small and new religious movement) devoted to beliefs or practices that the surrounding culture or society considers to be far outside the mainstream. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The conflict forces many civilians to live in internally displaced person (IDP) camps. ... Kony has terrorised the North of Uganda. ... Charles Milles Manson (born November 12th, 1934) was convicted of murder in what became known as the Tate/La Bianca case. ... Charles Manson Charles Miles Manson (born November 14, 1934) was the leader of a group known as The Family, in the late 1960s and early 1970s. ... The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God was a breakaway group from the Roman Catholic Church that formed in Uganda in the late 1980s. ... Joseph Kibweteere was the leader of a suicidal cult that splintered from the Roman Catholic Church in Uganda. ... The Order of the Solar Temple also known as Ordre du Temple Solaire (OTS) in French, and the International Chivalric Organization of the Solar Tradition or simply as The Solar Temple was a secret society based upon the new age myth of the continuing existence of the Knights Templar (see... Brochure of the Peoples Temple portraying cult leader Jim Jones as the loving father of the Rainbow Family. The Peoples Temple was a cult that is best known for a mass suicide at Jonestown, Guyana, on November 18, 1978. ... Brochure of the Peoples Temple, portraying cult leader Jim Jones as the loving father of the Rainbow Family. ... Takfir wal-Hijra (Arabic - Apostasy and Exile) was founded as an Egyptian terrorist group in the 1960s. ... Shukri Mustafa was an agricultural engineer who would rise to lead Takfir wal-Hijra. ... Heavens Gate was the name of a UFO cult co-led by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles until Nettles death. ... Do (né Marshall Herff Applewhite) (May 17, 1931 - c. ... Bonnie Nettles was co-leader of a group with Herff Applewhite, (Herff never went by the name Marshall according to friends and family) and became the leader of what turned into Heavens Gate cult after Nettles death. ...

There is an ongoing debate about whether religious terrorist or paramilitary groups fit in categories like this. Some have deemed the Tamil Tigers, and Al Qaeda to be cults. Others refute the idea they qualify as destructive cults and feel terrorism or paramilitarism is still a better explanation. See List of groups referred to as cults by some media outlets, Cults and terrorism and Al Qaeda.' This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Osama bin Laden, founder of al-Qaeda. ... This list of reported cults indexes a number of groups that have been referred to: as a cult directly by specific listed sources; as a sect directly by specific listed French-language or United Kingdom sources; as such within the last 50 years; Disclaimer: Inclusion of a group within this... In religion and sociology, a cult is a cohesive group of people (often a relatively small and new religious movement) devoted to beliefs or practices that the surrounding culture or society considers to be far outside the mainstream. ... Osama bin Laden, founder of al-Qaeda. ...

Takfir wal-Hijra and Lord's Resistance Army are also disputed, but listed in the main group for now. In Takfir's case during the period of Shukri Mustafa's leadership, according to French scholar Gilles Kepel, they lived as a series separatist religious communes. In these communes Shukri claimed religious power to arrange marriages, encourage withdrawal from society, and theologically reject the world. As for the LRA it also has increasingly emphasized a religious component that revolves around Kony's alleged mystic abilities. Takfir wal-Hijra (Arabic - Apostasy and Exile) was founded as an Egyptian terrorist group in the 1960s. ... The conflict forces many civilians to live in internally displaced person (IDP) camps. ... Shukri Mustafa was an agricultural engineer who would rise to lead Takfir wal-Hijra. ... Gilles Kepel on a Frontline documentary Gilles Kepel is a prominent French scholar of Islam and the Arab world. ...

References

^  Hall, John R. and Philip Schuyler (1998), Apostasy, Apocalypse, and religious violence: An Exploratory comparison of Peoples Temple, the Branch Davidians, and the Solar Temple, in the book The Politics of Religious Apostasy: The Role of Apostates in the Transformation of Religious Movements page 147 "Thus, apocalyptic religious movements may be especially prone to violence, but that tendency is only realized under specific additional conditions." edited by David G. Bromley Westport, CT, Praeger Publishers, (1998). ISBN 0-275-95508-7, David G. Bromley is a professor of sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA and the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA. Education and Career Bromley received his B.A. in sociology (1963) from Colby College. ...