The Fellowship of the Sun
is a "church" in True Blood that is really more of a cult.
After going through a rough time in his life, Jason Stackhouse, who is not the brightest guy in the world, discovers and turns to the Fellowship. He is visited by Reverend Steve Newlin while in jail, after being accused of murdering his v-addicted girlfriend Amy Foster (it was later proven that Rene Lenier committed all the recent murders in Bon Temps including Amy's). Reverend Newlin knows that Jason is in a time of weakness and has had issues with vampires in his past as well as people who have dealt with them. Death surrounds Jason wherever he goes, and he often gets the initial blame for it, causing him undue stress and grief. He is confused and frustrated with his life and needs to find some kind of purpose. The rev. is clearly trying to exploit this.
The Fellowship is, in my opinion, really a vampire-hating cult, and their entire purpose is to rid society of vampires and punish those who associate with them. They disguise themselves as a church, and present things in a way that seems good.
Sarah Newlin (Steve Newlin's wife): We're fightin' for God's green earth, and daytime, and Christmas, and Easter eggs and all that is sacred and good... we are fightin' for..?
Steve Newlin: HUMAN RIGHTS! HUMAN RIGHTS!
This sounds fine. It is perfectly understandable for them to hate vampires. Their ideas seem reasonable on the surface. However, the issue with this group of people is that they are extreme enough to justify murdering not only vampires without regard for the particular vampires' moral compass, but also regular human beings that have undesirable relationships or opinions about vampires. Does this not make them sink to a lower level than the creatures they fear? We all know murder is SUPPOSED to be a very non-Christian thing to do. When you look under the surface things are not all hugs and puppies.
To top off this off, they use the Fellowship to gain money. Reverend Newlin tells Jason he can go to their leadership camp for the small price of $1200.00. He also says you can't put a price on Salvation.
Another reason I see the Fellowship as a cult is the way Rev. Newlin is seen by members. Jason once said he felt a calling from "Jesus or Steve Newlin himself", which is an excellent example of the pedestal members but their Reverend on. This is a common happening in cults, the cult leader is placed as high up in people's minds as the very god they are supposed to be worshipping.
After going through a rough time in his life, Jason Stackhouse, who is not the brightest guy in the world, discovers and turns to the Fellowship. He is visited by Reverend Steve Newlin while in jail, after being accused of murdering his v-addicted girlfriend Amy Foster (it was later proven that Rene Lenier committed all the recent murders in Bon Temps including Amy's). Reverend Newlin knows that Jason is in a time of weakness and has had issues with vampires in his past as well as people who have dealt with them. Death surrounds Jason wherever he goes, and he often gets the initial blame for it, causing him undue stress and grief. He is confused and frustrated with his life and needs to find some kind of purpose. The rev. is clearly trying to exploit this.
The Fellowship is, in my opinion, really a vampire-hating cult, and their entire purpose is to rid society of vampires and punish those who associate with them. They disguise themselves as a church, and present things in a way that seems good.
Sarah Newlin (Steve Newlin's wife): We're fightin' for God's green earth, and daytime, and Christmas, and Easter eggs and all that is sacred and good... we are fightin' for..?
Steve Newlin: HUMAN RIGHTS! HUMAN RIGHTS!
This sounds fine. It is perfectly understandable for them to hate vampires. Their ideas seem reasonable on the surface. However, the issue with this group of people is that they are extreme enough to justify murdering not only vampires without regard for the particular vampires' moral compass, but also regular human beings that have undesirable relationships or opinions about vampires. Does this not make them sink to a lower level than the creatures they fear? We all know murder is SUPPOSED to be a very non-Christian thing to do. When you look under the surface things are not all hugs and puppies.
To top off this off, they use the Fellowship to gain money. Reverend Newlin tells Jason he can go to their leadership camp for the small price of $1200.00. He also says you can't put a price on Salvation.
Another reason I see the Fellowship as a cult is the way Rev. Newlin is seen by members. Jason once said he felt a calling from "Jesus or Steve Newlin himself", which is an excellent example of the pedestal members but their Reverend on. This is a common happening in cults, the cult leader is placed as high up in people's minds as the very god they are supposed to be worshipping.
