I never said religion is the "cause".

There are many reasons why people start destructive cults. Many cult leaders have narcissistic personality disorder.

Contrary to popular opinion, most people recruited into a cult do not have a mental illness. Rather, they are at a vulnerable time in their life when whatever the cult is offering as bait hooks into the vulnerability of the recruit. The "dark side" of the group is not usually apparent during the recruiting process. Cognitive dissonane and other problems may arise as part of the cult involvement, but cults generally want highly functioning people to exploit. Intelligent, hard working recruits are the most valuable. If someone has problems, they usually get dumped from the group, unless they are a source of income like disability payments, social security, or something like that.

Destructive cults are not all based on religious ideology - some are political, some can be business oriented (follow me and you will become rich), some are based on racism (white supremist, etc.) and many are "therapy" cults, led by psychologists or self proclaimed counselors who create their own idea of therapy and involve a group of people around them. Many cults in America have been called "mom and pop" cults, where there are one or two strong leaders who involve a small group of followers, and the group acts below the radar.

If you want more info on destructive cults, you can PM me.