ALL KINDS OF people join cults. They may be young or old, male or female, rich or poor, well-educated, or otherwise; and they may be of any race, ethnic origin, or previous religious affiliation. There are many different kinds of cults, or alternative religions, to receive them all.

But different cults do attract different kinds of people. For example, Santeria consists mostly of people from the ethnic groups among whom the practice originated. Jim Jones's People's Temple drew its members primarily from the urban poor in the inner-city neighborhood of San Francisco where Jones started his church. Members of the Branch Davidians came mostly from the Seventh-Day Adventist church, whose beliefs the Davidians wanted to reform.

Many of the new cults that originated in the 1960s and 1970s attracted mostly young people from the middle class. Often these young adults, who were...