Lust For Power

Too often, the strong manipulate and intimidate the weak and confused under the guise of a religious or political dogma. But, what such "leaders" really want is raw naked power.
At least such tyrants could do is admit to their true goals and desires.
To often, such people take on a superficial niceness to hide what they really are, and that just makes it worse.
To our knowledge, no animal other than man has ever tried to rationalize their base impulses.
There are the power hungry Zealots which lead and the spineless and needy who follow.
There are more than enough examples of such tenancies. Such as communists re-education camps, Hitler Youth, The Branch Davidians, Jim Jones and recent phenomena of Evganical "straight camps" for gay youth.
The leaders of such movements might say "blessed be the poor in spirit, for they are easy to manipulate."
What cults and cult like movements all have in common is a tenancy to cause people to deny who they really are. And, incourage denial and "emotional honesty". They want their followers to follow the big lie and not whats really inside them.