4 ms·

So here is a question : What is the difference between a cult and an established religion ? Is it the size of the following ? Is it the time of origin, i.e.

by arjn 12y ago

So here is a question : What is the difference between a cult and an established religion ? Is it the size of the following ? Is it the time of origin, i.e. recent vs long ago ? Is it the number of followers ? Or is it some combination of the above, or something else altogether ?

b_emery 12y ago
Good question. According to webster, it has to be 'relatively small' to be a cult. From the article, it seems that the cults have a higher relative level of exploitation. My guess is that there is a continuum that runs between the two. Edit: My guess substantiated by wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult
- arjn 12y ago
  ok, so that implies that all religions were once cults , no ? So in effect, there is no fundamental difference.
jqm 12y ago
Easy. A "cult" is a disparaging term for a religion that someone other than yourself belongs to. YOUR belief group on the other hand is obviously not a cult, but a religion. (Actually I guess it might be size, but in common vernacular I think the above is actually often the case).
- JoeAltmaier 12y ago
  Cults have another attribute: a mechanism for addicting members and keeping them, usually through psychological means.
  - gobots 12y ago
    So, Catholicism's / baptists / etc. hell, the Jehovah's Witnesses everlasting destruction, Mormon / Jehovah's Witness / Amish excommunication... ad nauseum.
    - arjn 12y ago
      Its literally every one of the the large religions.
    - JoeAltmaier 12y ago
      Those are really passive techniques. Cults have active, planned techniques of mind control. Try this: http://www.scribd.com/doc/514598/How-Cults-Seduce http://www.scribd.com/doc/514598/How-Cults-Seduce
      - gobots 12y ago
        I was a Jehovah's Witness and since leaving three years ago I have been struggling to differentiate between cult tactics and the control tactics of that particular religion.
        JoeAltmaier 12y ago
        JW tactics are definitely taken from the cult playbook.
  - dragonwriter 12y ago
    Any group that exists more than briefly has a mechanism for drawing and keeping members that, necessarily, operates "through psychological means".
- nandemo 12y ago
  That's certainly not the only or even the most common usage of the word. For example, most educated Catholics don't consider the Anglican church or mainstream Judaism or Islam as cults. On the other hand, many Catholics would consider Jehova's Witness and some pentecostal churches as cults, even though at some level Catholicism's doctrines share more bullet points with these organizations than with Judaism or Islam.
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  There are a number of uses of "cult" (both the disparaging term you use for a group, the neutral use "pattern of devotional practice" which refers to a set of actions rather than an organization, and various objective criteria for organizations) Size usually isn't a criterion in the definitions used for groups, whether the disparaging ones or the more objective ones (e.g., in the approach used in Marc Galanters Cults: Faith, Healing, and Coercion.)
dropit_sphere 12y ago
I think it really is size, time established, etc. This sounds impure, but actually as I think about it it's quite scientific: does it lead to mass suicide? Can respectable people hold such beliefs while continuing the behaviors that made them respectable? Is the cult/religion "fit" in the evolutionary sense? By their fruits shall ye know them, it seems.
vacri 12y ago
A cult is usually about a single charismatic leader. Religions don't really have this - Catholicism has the pope, I guess, but he's not the glory boy of the religion.
- scotty79 12y ago
  Religions are just cults that survived deaths of their gurus.
stephen_g 12y ago
I don't think it's any of the things you listed. I think the biggest difference is that cults (as the article mentions) generally are run by people who don't actually believe in what they teach. That does occasionally happen in established religion, but it is not common. The other thing about cults is that they are mainly about the personal gain of the leaders, while at the same time requiring members to devote much or all of their money to the cult continue to be a member. This is unlike most established religion, which is generally giving is always optional and often more transparent (all of the religious organisations I work with supply full budgets to all the members). Sadly, of course, there are exceptions here too (but those exceptions often are heading towards cultishness).

by arjn 12y ago

b_emery 12y ago

Good question. According to webster, it has to be 'relatively small' to be a cult. From the article, it seems that the cults have a higher relative level of exploitation. My guess is that there is a continuum that runs between the two. Edit: My guess substantiated by wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult

arjn 12y ago
ok, so that implies that all religions were once cults , no ? So in effect, there is no fundamental difference.

jqm 12y ago

Easy. A "cult" is a disparaging term for a religion that someone other than yourself belongs to. YOUR belief group on the other hand is obviously not a cult, but a religion. (Actually I guess it might be size, but in common vernacular I think the above is actually often the case).

JoeAltmaier 12y ago
Cults have another attribute: a mechanism for addicting members and keeping them, usually through psychological means.
- gobots 12y ago
  So, Catholicism's / baptists / etc. hell, the Jehovah's Witnesses everlasting destruction, Mormon / Jehovah's Witness / Amish excommunication... ad nauseum.
  - arjn 12y ago
    Its literally every one of the the large religions.
  - JoeAltmaier 12y ago
    Those are really passive techniques. Cults have active, planned techniques of mind control. Try this: http://www.scribd.com/doc/514598/How-Cults-Seduce http://www.scribd.com/doc/514598/How-Cults-Seduce
    - gobots 12y ago
      I was a Jehovah's Witness and since leaving three years ago I have been struggling to differentiate between cult tactics and the control tactics of that particular religion.
      - JoeAltmaier 12y ago
        JW tactics are definitely taken from the cult playbook.
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  Any group that exists more than briefly has a mechanism for drawing and keeping members that, necessarily, operates "through psychological means".
nandemo 12y ago
That's certainly not the only or even the most common usage of the word. For example, most educated Catholics don't consider the Anglican church or mainstream Judaism or Islam as cults. On the other hand, many Catholics would consider Jehova's Witness and some pentecostal churches as cults, even though at some level Catholicism's doctrines share more bullet points with these organizations than with Judaism or Islam.
dragonwriter 12y ago
There are a number of uses of "cult" (both the disparaging term you use for a group, the neutral use "pattern of devotional practice" which refers to a set of actions rather than an organization, and various objective criteria for organizations) Size usually isn't a criterion in the definitions used for groups, whether the disparaging ones or the more objective ones (e.g., in the approach used in Marc Galanters Cults: Faith, Healing, and Coercion.)

dropit_sphere 12y ago

I think it really is size, time established, etc. This sounds impure, but actually as I think about it it's quite scientific: does it lead to mass suicide? Can respectable people hold such beliefs while continuing the behaviors that made them respectable? Is the cult/religion "fit" in the evolutionary sense? By their fruits shall ye know them, it seems.

vacri 12y ago

A cult is usually about a single charismatic leader. Religions don't really have this - Catholicism has the pope, I guess, but he's not the glory boy of the religion.

scotty79 12y ago
Religions are just cults that survived deaths of their gurus.

stephen_g 12y ago

I don't think it's any of the things you listed. I think the biggest difference is that cults (as the article mentions) generally are run by people who don't actually believe in what they teach. That does occasionally happen in established religion, but it is not common. The other thing about cults is that they are mainly about the personal gain of the leaders, while at the same time requiring members to devote much or all of their money to the cult continue to be a member. This is unlike most established religion, which is generally giving is always optional and often more transparent (all of the religious organisations I work with supply full budgets to all the members). Sadly, of course, there are exceptions here too (but those exceptions often are heading towards cultishness).