175) Largest Cults in History

EPISODE 175 | 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. ---------------------------------------------- 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! ---------------------------------------------- EARLY, AD-FREE EPISODES on 10ISH POD+: https://www.10ishpod.com/plus NEWSLETTER: https://www.10ishpod.com/newsletter REDDIT: https://www.reddit.com/r/10ishPod YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/10ishpodcast ---------------------------------------------- Listen to the podcast, No Bad Reviews: A Coffee Podcast, on any podcast app or at https://www.nobadreviewspodcast.com. ---------------------------------------------- TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/10ishpod INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/10ishpod TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@10ishpod ---------------------------------------------- Listen to the podcast, Starfleet Leadership Academy - Leadership Through Star Trek, on any podcast app or at https://www.starfleetleadership.academy. ---------------------------------------------- 10ish Podcast Theme Music:  Hackbeat by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Ad Music (10ish Pod social):  Onion Capers by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Background Music during 10ish Podcast Reviews: Monkeys Spinning Monkeys by Kevin MacLeod https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4071-monkeys-spinning-monkeys Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices