So do I.

Agreed.

The majority for the ban have been children who were indoctrinated since birth. Some leave eventually, some don't. Some are "mentally out, but physically in" to avoid losing contact with their close family members. Therefore the argument seems to be, "They didn't respect my freedom or rights, so why should I respect theirs?" However in this case, two wrongs simply do not make a right.

In your definition of "occult" part is "knowledge of the hidden", and a cult to me is the exact opposite, a cult hides knowledge :)

"your story is an argument away from government involvement in medical decisions"
I don't see it has an argument either way. It's just part of my experience with children and medicine. It's certainly simple not to intervene. I clearly see that. I just think intervening to save a child is right.

But, you understand that your story is an argument away from government involvement in medical decisions, right?

You argue for force. I argue for not using force. Simple enough.

"really dangerous cults such as Scientology would be left untouched because they are well connected politically."
"enforce existing laws"
"No blaming the cult or its leadership for your own behavior"
"if a teenager insists on running away from home and is willing to work to support himself, I would have the law allow it and not compel him to go back."
I agree wholeheartedly with all of this, not just the parts I quoted.

"hemorrhage after child birth"
Our first baby had tachypnea when he was born. He wasn't breathing right, resulting in very low oxygen in his blood. They put him in incubator with increased O2 levels and slowly reduced the O2 levels to normal air over a period of hours. It worked. He has no health problems now except he needs an inhaler when gets a cold. Given the evidence we have, it would have been a crime to deny my baby that simple O2 treatment.

" It will remove all medical decisions from the parents and place government in the role."
There's a continuum between a flu vaccine for kids and some well-tolerated treatment for fetal disease. In the case of parents who deny their kids a proven treatment for a proven fetal disease, I think someone should use force to save those kids. There must be a way to do that without going down the slippery slope toward gov't forcing kids to get things like vaccines or vitamins.

It reminds me of when I had appendicitis at age 9. The doctors believed my life was in danger. My father hired a surgeon with a long history of doing appendectomies successfully who charged more than the insurance company guidelines. I recovered with no complications. I knew those facts, but I didn't really understand until I got older that I was lucky my parents got me high-quality care. If they had just taken no action when the evidence said my life was in danger, I would consider that criminal. Even if it turns out the doctors were wrong, to the best of our knowledge at the time, my life was in immediate danger from something easily treatable. To me this is on the spectrum of neglect, like denying children food.

This reminds me of SB-18 here in California. It will remove all medical decisions from the parents and place government in the role. Sure - there will be screaming and howling when they tear kids from the homes in the middle of the night. But, the government will be deciding what constitutes "vital medical treatment for kids too young to decide". Yeay!

What if I told you that there are children out there who have been diagnosed with cancer but don't have it? You may not want to believe that. But, think about it in context of your point. I personally know a family that almost had their 2-year old daughter taken over chemo for a cancer she didn't have. It was a misdiagnosis. But...I'm sure they are the only people who've had an incorrect diagnosis...

You bet it could. And, your example is a very good one.

I know several other families who like an idea I've been kicking around for a while now. We'd buy some acreage, build several homes on it around our own little school building. We'd homeschool our kids on our property, raise some chickens, have a pool, etc. But, it'd be close enough to town that we could still keep our jobs. Great idea, right? Until somebody says it's a cult or some other damned thing. There'd be zero religion, just the love of having better control of how our kids are educated. The possible gov power being discussed here is not good juju...

And the Most perverted kind to date!

Yep...that seems to be the "concussion" we are coming to.

The left, having no belief in life or existence at all is a belief system itself...and it's loosely organized so we could call it a religion. A belief of not believing, not appreciating, making up science, history and rhetoric as they go.

Jeff Walker's "The Ayn Rand Cult", (1999) is one of the better works. Seems well documented. It is not an anti-Objectivism work but comes from those who were in the original "Collective".
I learned of Rand's and other Objectivists' works in the mid 1960s, but have never been a joiner, so I never sought out fellow travelers. Despite the actions of Rand's group, I still like many of their ideas, but do not like the ARI's closed Objectivism because that would make it something like a religion.

Methinks much of our Federal government is a cult.

One particular religious group will use plasma extenders instead of blood. It has to do with following Biblical principles of not 'eating blood' as blood is life. They trust in God and wish to not offend so they follow tenets from the Torah.

Yep...forgot that one...good catch!

Yes those and Clintonism ,but as stated it is a partial list.

Quite a list Dob.

I would add: "Man made climate change", racism, sexism, hate speech, transgenderism and other things I haven't thought of yet.

[Hate speech, because, hate is physical, not speech].

Cult: a religion regarded as unorthodox...everything humanoids do is unorthodox.

By definition, Freemasonry, the Illuminati, Skull and Bones, The Bohemian club, Global Warming advocates, The Deep State or Shadow Governments would be examples of cults that are occulted.
Just to confuse things some more...laughing.

Define: The occult (from the Latin word occultus "clandestine, hidden, secret") is "knowledge of the hidden." In common English usage, occult refers to "knowledge of the paranormal," as opposed to "knowledge of the measurable," usually referred to as science.

or a different view

the terms “occult” and “cult” refer to completely different things—although there can be crossover in some specific instances. That is, some cults have occultic practices.

The following practices are considered to be occultic:
(partial list, in alphabetical order)
◾Alchemy
◾Animism
◾Astrology
◾Automatic speaking (through spirits)
◾Automatic writing (spirit-guided)
◾Cabalistic knowledge
◾Calling up the dead
◾Candomble
◾Celtics (the religion, not the Celtic “race”)
◾Channeling
◾Chaos Magic
◾Chiromancy
◾Clairaudience
◾Clairvoyance
◾Crystalmancy
◾Demon worship and consultation
◾Discordianism
◾Divination
◾Eckankar
◾Enchantments
◾Fetishism
◾Fortune telling
◾Freemasonry
◾Glass looking
◾Gnostic wisdom
◾Hermetic Traditions
◾Horoscopes
◾Hydromancy
◾I Ching
◾Illuminated organizations
◾Illuminati
◾Incantations
◾Kabbalah
◾Knights Templar
◾La Regla Lucumi
◾Lukumi
◾Lycanthropy
◾Macumba
◾Magic, magick (magical arts)
◾Mediums
◾Mirror gazing
◾Necromancy/necromancer
◾Neo-paganism
◾Omens
◾Oracles
◾Ordo Templi Orientis
◾Ouija boards
◾Paganism
◾Palmistry
◾Prognostication
◾Psychometry
◾Qabalah
◾Quimbanda
◾Radiestesia
◾Rosicrucianism
◾Runes
◾Santeria
◾Satanism
◾Scrying
◾Secret societies
◾Sevi Lwa
◾Shamanism
◾Soothsaying
◾Sorcery
◾Spells (casting, conjuring)
◾Spirit-guides
◾Spiritists
◾Spiritualism
◾Tarot cards
◾Tea cup reading
◾Thelemite
◾Umbanda
◾Vedic astrology
◾Vodun (Voodoo)
◾White witchcraft
◾Wicca
◾Witchcraft
◾Wizardy

Thanks;^)

Occult and cult to me are two different things. To me occult is just a belief system. A cult is a group that rams a belief system down your throat and threatens you if you step outside the norms.

I would also recommend the documentary "Going Clear". It was very well done.