175) Largest Cults in History

05/25/22 • 87 min

We've all heard of the most famous cults out there: The People's Temple (a.k.a. Jonestown), the Manson Family, Heaven's Gate. Despite their infamy, these cults are not the largest in history, or even close to it. On this episode, Nick and Josh Schell from the Let's Start a Cult podcast cover the Top 10 Largest Cults in History, ranked by their peak membership.

PLUS: the history and belief system of each cult, what makes a cult?, which mainstream religions should be considered cults?, doomsday cults, sex with Jesus, UFO religions, the cult that wanted to rub your feet, and MUCH more.

IMAGES (contains spoilers):

David Berg, leader of Children of God
Marshall Applewhite, leader of Heaven's Gate
Sean Moon, leader of the off-shoot Unification Church cult

NOTE: this episode contains some content that may be uncomfortable for some, such as violence, sexual abuse, and other sensitive topics.

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Hear more from Josh on his podcasts, Let's Start a Cult and Reddit on Wiki.

On Let's Start a Cult, Join Josh in diving into the dark and interesting world of cults! Each episode is a journey of how cults form, who their leaders are, and how they almost always come to an end. Listen now at https://www.letsstartacultpodcast.com.

On Reddit on Wiki, Josh and co-hosts, Sean and John, chat about life and research a topic from Wikipedia. On Fridays, they scroll Reddit on their quest for the biggest a$$holes on the platform! Listen now at https://www.redditonwiki.com. Listen to the April 8, 2022 episode for Nick's guest appearance!

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