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What is the difference between a religion and a cult? What is the difference between a religion and a cult?

03-03-2012 , 11:15 AM
well?
What is the difference between a religion and a cult? Quote
03-03-2012 , 11:30 AM
Cults become religions if they last long enough?
What is the difference between a religion and a cult? Quote
03-03-2012 , 11:32 AM
Is a new religion a cult then?
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03-03-2012 , 11:39 AM
Cults are counterfeits.
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03-03-2012 , 12:30 PM
but various religions with contradicting views of god.. now those are the real deal.
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03-03-2012 , 02:03 PM
Per Miriam-Webster website:

Quote:
Definition of CULT
1: formal religious veneration : worship
2: a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also : its body of adherents
3: a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also : its body of adherents
4: a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator <health cults>
5a : great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book); especially : such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fad b : the object of such devotion c : a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion
All religions are cults. Yes, Splendour, even yours.

Last edited by TexArcher; 03-03-2012 at 02:11 PM.
What is the difference between a religion and a cult? Quote
03-03-2012 , 02:08 PM
Religions are cults that have been around long enough, have a relatively large group of followers generally, and have been accepted as a "way" of explaining reality.

Think about it - who decides what is a cult and what is a religion? It's a numbers game. The more people in your religion, the more legitimate it seems.

All religions begin as cults.
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03-03-2012 , 03:12 PM
political power
What is the difference between a religion and a cult? Quote
03-03-2012 , 05:39 PM
It's like the difference between a dialect and a language. A religion is a cult with an army.
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03-03-2012 , 05:41 PM
Location. If you're in one, it's a religion. If you're outside, it's a cult.
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03-03-2012 , 06:40 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheRealIABoomer
Location. If you're in one, it's a religion. If you're outside, it's a cult.
Perfectly stated
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03-03-2012 , 06:44 PM
I dunno, but don't call Scientology a cult or Tommy Davis will be angry, real angry.

What is the difference between a religion and a cult? Quote
03-03-2012 , 07:12 PM
Size and popularity.
What is the difference between a religion and a cult? Quote
03-04-2012 , 12:00 AM
FWIW heres's a more serious answer:

Dr. Arthur Deikman, a spiritually minded psychiatrist and cult-expert in northern California, has identified..."four basic behaviors found in extreme form in [destructive] cults: compliance with the group, dependence on a leader, devaluing the outsider, and avoiding dissent.

Major organized religions are not considered to be either "destructive" or exploitive cults.
What is the difference between a religion and a cult? Quote
03-04-2012 , 04:03 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pokerlogist
FWIW heres's a more serious answer:

Dr. Arthur Deikman, a spiritually minded psychiatrist and cult-expert in northern California, has identified..."four basic behaviors found in extreme form in [destructive] cults: compliance with the group, dependence on a leader, devaluing the outsider, and avoiding dissent.

Major organized religions are not considered to be either "destructive" or exploitive cults.
Clearly someone didn't have a Catholic upbringing. :}
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03-04-2012 , 05:05 AM
For me, there is no difference. For a religious person, I'm guessing cult has a negative ring to it.
What is the difference between a religion and a cult? Quote
03-04-2012 , 11:10 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by tame_deuces
For me, there is no difference. For a religious person, I'm guessing cult has a negative ring to it.
+1
What is the difference between a religion and a cult? Quote
03-04-2012 , 04:36 PM
hmm. seems weird that religious people often (wrongly) call atheism a religion, yet atheist don't (rightly) call religion a cult (rightly according to this thread).

or rather, it would at least be much less wrong to call a religion a cult that it is to call atheism a religion.
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03-04-2012 , 11:07 PM
Religious people aren't know for their reasoning abilities.
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03-05-2012 , 12:48 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Turn Prophet
Size and popularity.
This.

OP maybe meant difference between church and cult.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociolo...ious_movements
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03-06-2012 , 07:12 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Turn Prophet
Size and popularity.
This.

Quote:
Originally Posted by TexArcher
Per Miriam-Webster website:
3: a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also : its body of adherents
I think it is inaccurate to call major religions, especially those with long traditions, a cult. The word has different connotations. They may have started out as cults but have long since "gone pro". It's not right to call them "amateur" anymore.
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03-06-2012 , 10:40 AM
Um, "Atheism" is a religion as well. It's a belief system. The only rational position is agnosticism.
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03-06-2012 , 11:39 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Strubbs
Um, "Atheism" is a religion as well. It's a belief system. The only rational position is agnosticism.
Lol really? This again? I suppose non belief in santa claus is also a belief system?
What is the difference between a religion and a cult? Quote
03-06-2012 , 11:55 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Strubbs
Um, "Atheism" is a religion as well. It's a belief system. The only rational position is agnosticism.
You're using a different definition of religion.

When people talk about religions (in the context of this forum, for instance) they are referring to the bolded below:
Quote:
Definition of RELIGION
1a : the state of a religious <a nun in her 20th year of religion> b (1) : the service and worship of God or the supernatural (2) : commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance
2: a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices
3archaic : scrupulous conformity : conscientiousness
4: a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith
You are using definition 4 which is a completely different meaning.
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03-06-2012 , 01:28 PM
Okee dokee.
What is the difference between a religion and a cult? Quote

      
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