When reading the posts of the AVs listed on SAV, I sometimes reflect on the reason for the human susceptibility to religious cults. It seems to be a very old mechanism as ancient human groups even have had their shaman or religion.
How did you grow up and how were your decisions relating to religion?
My mom was really religious but not crazy kind of really religious. My dad just wasn’t interested. Somehow I never fell into the religious thinking and ended up getting jaded over religion as I saw so many using it to grift, exert power, or get fame.
After that, years of religious scandals, cults, and scams pretty well convinced me the bigger the preacher’s following, the more likely it is just another scam.