A lot of people have debated this question for decades. We sit down with some work from Steven Hassan, Margaret Singer, and other cult experts to discuss what makes a cult a cult. Short answer, yes. Longer answer, yes and it's complicated. Longest answer, yes and listen to the show. Now that I have your attention, reader, here's a fun activity: send a Facebook message to Braden Hamm and ask him "if the players were required to be drunk, what would be the funniest sport to watch?" But don't tell him why! I want to know who reads these show notes. If you do, send me a direct message to [email protected] with your physical address. After that we talk about The Life of Brian and some happy news about New York building up its electric automotive infrastructure.

Cult resources:

BITE model https://freedomofmind.com/bite-model/

Steven Hassan on LDS Church https://freedomofmind.com/the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints/

The Cult of Trump https://freedomofmind.com/the-cult-of-trump-media-page/

Ethical concerns of Steven Hassan https://medium.com/@cults/ethical-concerns-raised-on-steven-hassans-book-on-cults-1f6133f63d9f

Steven Hassan "responds" to critics https://freedomofmind.com/the-truth-about-steven-hassan/

Cults in Our Midst by Margaret Singer (2003) https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Cults-in-our-midst%3A-The-continuing-fight-against-Singer/99e864eba1383e84c40d36a6aba62d8c11fd6041

Cults and the Law https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=136681

Happy news:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-autos-electric-new-york/new-york-to-invest-750-million-to-expand-electric-vehicle-infrastructure-idUSKCN24H3DD?utm_source=reddit.com

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