Merriam-Webster defines a cult as "a small religious group that is not part of a larger and more accepted religion and that has beliefs regarded by many people as extreme or dangerous" and "a small group of very devoted supporters or fans."  The keyword in these definitions is "small."

Most human beings may have their quirks and their follies, but they are not so open-minded that their brains fall out.  Normal people simply do not want to follow individuals, no matter how charismatic, who promise miracles in return for all of their money and earthly possessions, nor do they want to have their lives completely controlled.  Or at least that once was true.

It would seem that this is no longer the case.  Millions of people around the world appear to have joined a cult based on COVID.  They are wearing masks to show their obedience, although masks may not be effective and have been shown to cause emotional and mental problems.

They are rushing to be vaccinated, although vaccines could be driving COVID mutations.  The father of mRNA vaccines, Dr. Robert Malone, has been warning against universal vaccination.

People have been told to be terrified of the latest COVID variant, omicron, and they are duly shaking in their shoes.  But omicron generally is so mild that many don't realize they have caught it, and there have been very few deaths.

The cult mentality was on full display when the newly elected governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, issued an executive order allowing parents to opt out of school mask mandates.  Youngkin did not forbid anyone to mask his child.  He merely ordered that no one can be forced to mask his child.

Image: The COVID cultists (with added text).  Freepik license.

Considering the adverse effects of masks on children, this was a decision for the children's benefit.  There was immediate backlash from Arlington County, with support from White House press secretary Jen Psaki.  The one thing that cults demand above all else is obedience, and the progressives of Virginia are determined to defy the governor and continue to force masks on children.

The country of Greece provided another example of the COVID cult enforcing its doctrine with a decision to fine people 60 and older who are not vaccinated.  The total population of Greece is approximately 10,345,314.  There have been about 22,000 deaths from COVID.  That works out to a death rate of about 0.2%.  Nevertheless, the cultists of Greece have decided to fine elderly people, starting with 50 euros in January and going up to a monthly fine of 100 euros after that.

I presume that old people in Greece are like old people in most other countries, in need of care and compassion after spending their lives working hard to be productive members of their society, but that's not how people in a cult think.  Only the doctrine matters.  Anyone who does not support the doctrine of the cult is to be destroyed.

There have been dangerous cults in the past.  The Manson Family, Heaven's Gate, and Jonestown were all hideously destructive, but they were small in number, and their atrocities were at least limited.  Germany made a cult of Adolf Hitler, and millions around the world suffered, but at least most of the people in the world fought back against the Nazis, recognizing the danger.

The danger of the COVID cult is that it is not small, nor is it outside the mainstream.  The COVID cult has become the mainstream, and normal people have become the fringe, fighting for a return to sanity.

Voltaire warned, "Anyone who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."  The history of cultism has been people who believe absurdities going on to commit atrocities.  Today, there are far too many atrocities being committed by those who believe in the absurdity of the COVID cult.

Pandra Selivanov is the author of The Pardon, a story of forgiveness based on the thief on the cross in the Bible.