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Probably not, the Latin "cultus" means worship of a god and is value-neutral; the vernacular English meaning of "cult" as "new religious movement that I don't l
by HarryHirsch 6y ago
Probably not, the Latin "cultus" means worship of a god and is value-neutral; the vernacular English meaning of "cult" as "new religious movement that I don't like" is quite recent. A catholic church having a budget line for "cult expenses" (that's a case of wine and a box of communion wafers) wouldn't raise eyebrows within the congregation.
That said, is there a temple without cult? After all a temple is a building to worship a deity. That sounds like a poor translation.
- ginko 6y agoBuddhist temples don't necessarily worship deities as far as I know.
- wavefunction 6y agoDepends on the tradition or school or however the divisions are named I think. I don't possess a deep understanding of Buddhism but I've visited shrines that are dedicated to different gods/bodhisattvas like Tara or another one I don't remember. Maybe that's different than a temple though, these were shrines up in the Himalya. And the line between deities and bodhisattvas or humans doesn't seem so clearly delineated as it is in Abrahamic religions. Buddhism and "Hinduism" are intensely complex and interesting religions or sets of beliefs to me.