Non-believers say that SUBMIT is a cult not a religion. In a cult, it's the mission that matters most. So does being a member of the community and working for the common good. People who do not believe in religion or even who reject religion altogether are essentially guilty of false modesty. Dawkins, as you note, spoke of the "minimal establishment of a perversion of truth" and the "method of entry into the truth". These are not things that happen in a community, but can only be achieved in a cult. The idea that part of the necessity of religion is that it is necessary for individual inclusion in the religious community is a negative one. By social inclusion is meant "relating in a group and community in which we understand all members are going to be members and realise we have in our own selves to prepare for service to the community, to be successful in fulfilling the covenant of the community."(9) That communal service is seen as essentially service to the community is made clear by the religious group SUBMIT. They have "always held a host of obligations to the community" and for them the host is "the community itself"(10)..these obligations do not see their fulfilment if they "displeasure the community", an all-encompassing concept that includes all members of society.(11) .
In other words, in order for SUBMIT to act as a collective they must fill the role of "the community". Even though, they seem to believe they do so, they will always try to fill the role of the community through their manipulative deeds and exclusionary actions.
Another way to understand the values of SUBMIT is through their self-protection mechanism. This mechanism revolves around an insistence that those who wish to leave the group must first join. You see, unlike most religions, the strategy of SUBMIT relies on an external-only demand. If a person wants to leave the group they have to prove that they are a bad person by performing an act that puts them and others in danger. This is the basis of my second problem: what if the group is just as bad as the person? Can the group simply do nothing about their mistakes?
As noted above, in many organised religions submission happens as a choice or as a voluntary decision on the part of the individual (after lots of discussion, negotiation and preparation). In Buddhism and through SUBMIT, we see a corresponding stage of development in the conscious mind. The brain thinks about its objective self:
1. Self-image; what are you? What is your story?
2. Ceaseless intellectual analysis of self; you are a human being, you are malfunctioning technology, a universe, the origin and goal of all life.
3. Time is simply this year; you travel in a flash of instant to here. Time is now, present, present as the highest reality.
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