What's the difference between religion and cult?

[MiniMandaRuth]

Being brought up by another thread... What is the difference?

I'm curious.

[drhilarius]

1. Nothing, really...

Except a cult might cost you more $ and your life.

[MiniMandaRuth]

3. It might depend on the cult.

You never know what those crazy people might think of next. The religious people might ask for more... and if you don't pay up, you might get whacked.

Oy. My logic isn't right. Sorry.

[drhilarius]

7. I always imagine the heaven's gate cult...

If someone asks you to cut off your balls, then you're in over you head. Of course, I was raised Catholic, so I was asked to cut off my balls, symbolically, for years.

Oh yeah, and Scientology...too many people destroyed by Scientology. Forgive my logic, one too many scotches.

[MiniMandaRuth]

10. I've HEARD of scientology, but I have NO clue whatsoever of what it is.

Care to explain?

[drhilarius]

12. My friend, here's a good resource on Scientology...

A whacky alien cult that has killed its fair share of members,

<http://www.xenu.net />

[KitchenWitch]

2. That is an excellent question

The line between the two is awfully fuzzy. Not to mention the fact that the predominant religions in a society often call groups on the fringes, cults.

[MiniMandaRuth]

5. Thank you KitchenWitch!

And might I say you sound lovely tonight!

There are more extreme versions of every religion... Hmm...

[KitchenWitch]

6. Do you remember David Koresh and the Branch Davidians?

They were an extreme offshoot of the Seventh Day Adventists.

[MiniMandaRuth]

9. I think I'm too young to remeber that...

Hey, being fourteen only gets you so far before you hit a wall.

Then you fall back flat on your butt while the older people look at you and laugh about their superior pop culture knowings.

Then, I kick their butts at video games.

[KitchenWitch]

11. I keep forgetting you are the same age as my son

Back in the early 1990s (sorry I do not remember the exact date), the Branch Davidians basically got into some sort of nasty thing with the US government at their compound in Waco Texas. The government raided the place, and somehow (whether the FBI and the ATF or the BDs themselves) set the place on fire, killing hundreds of people.

[MiniMandaRuth]

13. Ooo! Is your son hot?

[KitchenWitch]

14. Yeah!

I think so, but I am his mom!

[MiniMandaRuth]

15. Teehee!

Say hi to MiniMr.KitchenWitch for me, okay?

Oh, and about your other posts... Weird. you learn a bit of history everyday.

[KitchenWitch]

16. True enough

I learn a lot, if I am open to it!

[MiniMandaRuth]

17. My favorite phrase for school is 'You learn something new every hour."

Usually, then stuff I learn is... disturbing... But, it's stuff!

[HEyHEY]

4. Cults ask for your money all in one big lump-sum

[drhilarius]

8. Like scientologists...

if you don't have access to the "sacred texts" of your religion w/o paying a premium, then something is fishy.

[leftofthedial]

18. nothing

some cults are arbitrarily accepted and then we call them "religions" instead of "cults"

[nytemare]

19. I think the main commanality in cults is cutting off members from the

outside world. Brainwashing, all that jazz. Sucking away finances seems to be a big factor, as well.

I am sure they lie on both extremes, left and right. I really almost view the Christian fundamentalists as being somewhat cultish. Really, Fallwell and Robertson are just out there. Problem is, they have a big pull on our government, which is scary.

[MiniMandaRuth]

20. *Nods in agreement*

Did I ever tell you I love your sig picture.

makes me giggle.

[nytemare]

22. Thank you.

It is amazing how the reality of the administration has paralleled a fictional movie.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

47. As a liberal Christian, I would agree that some of the fundie churches

are cults, especially the politicized ones, which create total environments for their members, so that their entire social life and all their sources of information are based in the church. Fundies have their own schools, their own social groups for every age, their own TV shows and straight-to-video movies, their own radio stations, their own music, and even their own news magazines. They are taught that everything not approved by their church is evil. It's a total information environment.

In mainstream churches, you're free to come and go as you please, and you're free to use any source of information you please. They let you have a life outside church.

[Maat]

60. This is a good post.

It identifies pertinent characteristics of a cult.

[nytemare]

63. Yes, very scary that this is becoming somewhat acceptable.

I strongly support religious freedoms, and that people should be free to believe what they want. It is distressing when these beliefs become discriminatory political actions. It seems these culty fundie churches are becoming more and more acceptable and mainstream.

[WCGreen]

21. A really, really big book.....

Written by more than one person....

[Solon]

23. OK, the traditional meaning has little to no negative connotations...

Cult is derived from the Latin word "cultus" which means adoration or care. Many small sects of polytheistic cultures surrounding Rome during the height of its empire are referred to as cults by most historians. A famous example is the Cult of Isis. In modern usage, many religious circles today also refer to many benign and small sects, some within a religion as cults. An example of the is the "Cult of Mary" within Catholism, this isn't negative, just a group that has an adoration for Mary(not on the level of worship).

This first definition deviates greatly from other groups, Fundlementalists and some Evangelical Christianity groups view most Non-Christian religions as cults. This is obviously in a derogeratory way. The most common usage today, of course, describes destructive or mind control cults, the most famous of which would be Jonestown, Heaven's Gate, and the Branch Dravidians. This last definition apparently originated in a book called "Kingdom of the Cults" written by Walter Martin back in 1965.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/cults.htm

[LeftyMom]

24. Broad social acceptability

and in many cases, political power.

[realisticphish]

25. As brought up before

cults require isolation, devotion to a human leader, and heavy financial contributions. while sects of religions may require one or two of these things, the essential core (e.g., Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, etc) does not require any of these

[Kickin_Donkey]

26. At least 150 years.

[philosophie_en_rose]

27. 1. Isolation from society at large. 2. Total control of members.

I do think that there's a difference between a cult and a religion, in the sense that a cult isolates its members and brings them into total control. This is more than moral condemnation or shunning. It's extreme psychological or physical isolation and control.

For instance, the Branch Davidians lived on an isolated compound. It's members were not really there for a religious retreat that they could leave at any time. Same with Fundamentalist Mormons. It's not a cult just because of polygamy. It's a cult because it's isolating and controlling with almost no way out.

Most religions have extreme branches. I'd say that the parts of a religion that are extreme and that police individual freedom are cults. This includes situations where a church leader tells has total control over its members (Ex: An officious church leader controls who can marry whom) or when the religious system gives more than moral authority over its members. (Ex: If Scientology sends its "ethics" people to punish its members, dig through their houses, & put people in Scientology jails).

I can't write enough about the dangers of cults, but I think it's also important to recognize that people can have spiritual beliefs or participate in religious groups without being brainwashed or controlled. There is a distinction between a religion and a cult, even though there is a lot of overlap.

[DanCa]

28. IMO a religion lets you have a difference of an opinion

Whereas a cult does not. Simple answer.

[MountainLaurel]

30. Which means that

Much of what we know as religion is actually a cult, since many are all about complete, unquestioning obedience.

[hfojvt]

31. ah, but it is about obedience

to your own conscience and to the principles you choose and claim to live by, not, typically, about obedience to a human leader.

[GirlinContempt]

33. Point & match

[DanCa]

61. "Many" but not all.

I mean I believe in a Higher Power but Ill deffend your right to disagree with me. And I wont shove my beliefs down peoples throat.

[mitchum]

29. The "respectability" of $$$$$$$$$$$$$

[Strong Atheist]

32. Yeah, another thread!

MY THREAD! Just kidding ... I think


Thread stealer.

[MiniMandaRuth]

40. It's okay. I'll let you steal one of my threads.

Wait... did I steal a thread.

[Strong Atheist]

43. Ok! nt.

[ScreamingMeemie]

34. I depends upon the person viewing it. Which is why I tread lightly

and try not to bring up threads about it.

[PassingFair]

41. I think the child is an impresario, Mrs. Grumpy!

Tossing out flames at FOURTEEN!



Brava! MiniAmanda. Brava!

Mrs. Grumpy and I have teen daughters also...

[MiniMandaRuth]

44. I'm a person who finaces and sets up concerts?

O.o

[PassingFair]

46. Yes, you're an orchestrator and a playa'

at 14!

[MiniMandaRuth]

48. Whoops. Don't let my mom hear the last part!

Or for that matter.... Trevor. Hee-hee!

[ScreamingMeemie]

52. Something gives me the feeling that you would get along really well

with PassingFair and my daughters. She's got a 14 year old playa, and I've a 15 year old. Secrets safe with me...for now.

[ScreamingMeemie]

53. She's got gumption.

[immoderate]

35. There's no difference, except...

Many of what we refer to as cults today center around a living person who is seen as a prophet, and we call more traditional systems religions. This is not a rule.

I'll just add that since most arguments are about what words mean, and their meaning is determined by how they are used, the real difference is all in your mind.

--IMM

[skygazer]

36. About five letters

Both ask you to take their teachings on faith. Both ask for money. Both tell you what you are supposed to believe. Both tend to demonize anyone who doesn't agree with their views.

I speak of organized religion and not a person's personal spirituality which is a different thing.

[PassingFair]

42. The real distinction is a matter of degree, I think...

Mainstream religions are designed to be at least SOMEWHAT tolerant.
Truly intolerant people will isolate themselves from everything that might hurt or entice one of their fold from their field <---bad sheep analogy>.
Major religions have safety valves built into the dogma:
"Love the sinner; Hate the sin", etc. Because a certain amount of tolerance is NECESSARY if you want to remain part of society-at-large.

Truly fearful and intolerant people will withdraw as completely as possible, ala Jonestown (ask your mom before you look it up).

[skygazer]

56. My mom died in 1975

But I'll pass your advice on to my three grandchildren. LOL

[PassingFair]

57. Ooops,

meant to post to the OP, my bad, Skygazer!

[Vidar]

37. mainly money

[liontamer]

38. religious beliefs are supposed to help you in daily life, a cult

isolates you from your life

[Blue-Jay]

39. Religions have batter picnics.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

45. Cults are usually centered around a charismatic leader who demands

absolute obedience and requires members to cut off all ties with people outside the cult and to mistrust any sources of information outside the cult.

Cults need not be religious. You're too young to remember the Charles Manson cult in the late 1960s, but he recruited troubled young people (ages between 18-22, as I recall), made them absolutely obedient to him, and fed them a wild idea about starting a race war by killing people and making it look as if African-Americans had done it. Under his influence, they broke into two houses and murdered a total of seven (I think) people.

Another secular cult from my life time was the Red Guards in China, who revered Mao Zedong, believed that all wisdom lay in his little red book, and ran amok in China, persecuting and killing anyone who disagreed or even looked as if they might disagree.

"Religion" is the broader term. Most religious people recognize their leaders as ordinary human beings, and they are free to seek information outside the bounds of their religious doctrine.

People who practice ordinary religions live pretty normal lives. People in cults do not, because their whole existence is defined by the cult, which has replaced all their other social ties. One reason that it's so hard for people to leave cults is that the cult has torn down their old identity and separated them from their old familial and social ties, so they feel that if they leave the cult, they're nobody and belong nowhere.

[MiniMandaRuth]

49. It's very sad....

[mvd]

64. True..

Many religious people have normal lives outside of religion. Also, in cults, there's a human that is to be worshiped. Religions have deities. The Pope comes close to blurring this line, though.

For some fundies, religion is pretty much their lives. Go to Church, read Bible, listen to only Christian music, watch approved TV, try to convert people, follow every teaching down to the little acts - that's where it gets disturbing.

[Arkana]

50. Flavor of Kool-Aid.

[u4ic]

51. Cults are also very proactive in their recruiting n/t

[Horus45]

54. Worldly Possessions

Cults make you give them all your Worldly Possessions.
Everything you own, including your mind and body, become possessions of the Cult.

[Neil Lisst]

55. Time and Acceptance = the difference between cult and religion

They're all cults until accepted.

PROTESTants, one and all, grew from cults

Mormons, Christian Scientists - not far away from Scientologists, but now accepted as religions.

They're all cults until they gain acceptance on a wider level.

[Reverend_Smitty]

58. I'd say the the number of members

100 people believing a certain in a god is a cult, 1 million people believing in a certain god is a religion

[baldguy]

59. Money & power

[BlueIris]

62. For the record, Exmormon.org has a brief but good explanation.

There are also many resources which can explain in a more in depth sense about what the differences are between a faith, a religion and a cult. Enjoy!

[MrScorpio]

65. Tax exemption status

I think

[Arugula Latte]

68. Bingo. n/t

[burythehatchet]

66. Cults don't get faith based grants from bushie McChucklenuts

[Deep13]

67. longevity

My understanding is that a religion is a cult that has survived a century beyond the death of its founder.

[Hugin]

69. In my personal definition...

The only difference is a "cult" requires it's members
to carry firearms.

[sinkingfeeling]

70. Classic answer: a religion has more members.

[kick-ass-bob]

71. According to Tom Wolfe: A cult is a religion with no political power

Google's quote of the day.

[anarch]

72. perspective n/t