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The Rhetoric of Religious Cults: Terms of Use and Abuse
The Rhetoric of Religious Cults Terms of Use and Abuse Author:Annabelle Mooney This study's departure point is the notion that "cults" have a distinctive language and way of recruiting members. First outlining a rhetorical framework, which encompasses contemporary discourse analysis, the persuasive texts of three movements--Scientology, Jehovah's Witnesses and Children of God--are analyzed in detail and their discourse com... more »pared with other kinds of recruitment literature. Cults' distinctive negative profile in society is not matched by a linguistic typology. Indeed, this negative profile seems to rest on the semantics and application of the term "cult" itself.« less