High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! "The Joy of Sect" is the thirteenth episode of The Simpsons` ninth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 8, 1998. In the episode, a cult called the "Movementarians" takes over Springfield, and Homer and the rest of the Simpson family become members. Homer and Bart are initially introduced to a pair of young Movementarian recruiters in an airport. Homer becomes brainwashed, and moves his family into the cult compound. David Mirkin had the initial idea for the episode, Steve O`Donnell was the lead writer, and Steven Dean Moore directed. The writers drew on many groups to develop the Movementarians, but were principally influenced by Scientology, Heaven`s Gate, the Unification Church, and Peoples Temple.