Yeah, really. Check you sources dude.
BULLSHIT. Tell that to every devout Catholic, and every Baptist in this universe who believes deeply, and NEVER felt the need to cave to a threat from a bad leader. Take your conspiracy shit down the road.
blog.une.edu.au
That is the problem with religion. The word devout. Take the westboro baptist church as an example
A cult to us but to them they are devout. It's a muddy area. Not all religious people are cultists but all cultists have a religious belief.
All Religions are cults.
I would like to say beliefs but I know that ain't it. I would also like to say false information but I know that ain't it. I would like to say religion isn't behind violence but I know that ain't it. To me a cult is a religion unto itself.
Do you think the Catholic church and all of it's hundreds of popes were all upstanding? The church claims to have some bones of Peter but they refuse to let them be DNA tested. Churches and people all over the world claim to have pieces of the 'true cross', so many pieces have been claimed that several full sized crosses could be built. I have not seen a single physical piece of evidence to back up claims made by the church. Also, the church has had many foul leaders so just because many people believe in religions doesn't mean any of them are accurate and true. Millions believed trump would be better for American than any Democrat, how's that going so far?
Size has nothing to do with being a cult.
Your view is limited, and America-centric. By definition, all religions are cults. By definition! Even by your own standards, would you not consider Mormonism a cult? Here in the US alone, well over 6.8 million practitioners, and globally well over 17 million. If the Mountain Meadows Massacre had happened in 2007 instead of 150 years earlier, everyone would still be pointing and screaming "CULT!" Now? Not so much.
There are cults within religions, the Westboro Baptist Church being a good example. People prone to join cults often gravitate toward religion, but neither means all religions are cults. People have used religions, perverting its doctrines, to form cults, but those are usually identified with a devotion to the leader of the sect rather than a devotion to God and/or the core theology of the religion.
Really? What exact number has to be achieved before it is no longer a cult? 27? 1,306?? 4,009,302??? Your premise is ridiculous.
cult
www.merriam-webster.com
Really? How much time? 8 weeks? 49 years?? 72 centuries??? 3 millennia???? At what stage do you declare a cult to be no longer a cult, but "integrated into larger society" ??? If the entire society you occupy is the society of your cult, when is it no longer a cult?
All you are describing is what has become a "socially acceptable cult". But it's still a cult. You can shun the name and call it whatever your little heart desires, but you haven't changed what it is. Once a cult - always a cult.
It's a matter of degree. The catholic church for example does demand unquestioning devotion to priests and the higher in status the priest the more it is expected that their opinions be not questioned. And they do make it dificult to leave by indoctrination of children, there preferred method. Hence the strict rule of marriage between man and woman to produce children. On the other hand they are such a large group holding millions of people that they do not have the total domination of thought and mind such as a small group like westboro can have.
Cults are not necessarily religious. It seems a lot of multi-level marketing develops a cult like following.
The difference between a religion and a cult is pretty well defined.
You could make the argument that the clergy is a cult and I definitely think that it is. But the congregants are not. They lack just about everything necessary to be a cult.
How about that same standard You could argue any company with multiple employees and hierarchy or any government or any society in general is a cult. When you give it such a broad defining term with all of humanity is it cult. I tend to go by these distinguishing factors
So once again we're broadening the scope to all of humanity because it makes you feel good to say things you don't like are a cult.
Two members of your cult perhaps. Mostly to me they are humorous.
Of course anyone can argue that any group is a cult. As I said, it is just a matter of perspective.You could make the argument that the clergy is a cult and I definitely think that it is. But the congregants are not. They lack just about everything necessary to be a cult.
How about that same standard You could argue any company with multiple employees and hierarchy or any government or any society in general is a cult. When you give it such a broad defining term with all of humanity is it cult. I tend to go by these distinguishing factors
- Absolute authoritarianism without meaningful accountability.
- No tolerance for questions or critical inquiry.
- No meaningful financial disclosure regarding budget, expenses such as an independently audited financial statement.
- Unreasonable fear about the outside world, such as impending catastrophe, evil conspiracies and persecutions.
- There is no legitimate reason to leave, former followers are always wrong in leaving, negative or even evil.
- Former members often relate the same stories of abuse and reflect a similar pattern of grievances.
- There are records, books, news articles, or television programs that document the abuses of the group/leader.
- Followers feel they can never be "good enough".
- The group/leader is always right.
- The group/leader is the exclusive means of knowing "truth" or receiving validation, no other process of discovery is really acceptable or credible.
So once again we're broadening the scope to all of humanity because it makes you feel good to say things you don't like are a cult.
I would say people that believe Donald Trump dated that white supremacists were some of the good people on both sides are far more likely to be in a cult than the people who voted for him.
Two members of your cult perhaps. Mostly to me they are humorous.
8 out of 10 at least; #6 and #8 would be a bit of a stretch.
To use your own example, once an acorn always an acorn?
Trying to say that religion always = cult makes the word redundant and utterly useless. It's not even etymologically warranted (Latin cultus means 'worship'), since not all religions involve worship.How many grains of sand are required to make a heap of sand? How many whiskers of what length are needed for a beard? You're engaging in what's sometimes called the continuum fallacy. The relevant features of cults in the Jonestown/Heaven's Gate sense are their insular, unquestioning and usually authoritarian nature, and those traits can be mapped out on a continuum. It's a rough approximation, but the more numerous a sect becomes, the more that insularity is inevitably breached - except in cases where it becomes the overwhelmingly dominant sect of its country/region/language I suppose - with its membership becoming more diverse and exposed to or open to different perspectives.
6 seems likely as those who have turned against trump are usually for the same reasons. That they finally see through his lies.8 out of 10 at least; #6 and #8 would be a bit of a stretch.
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To use your own example, once an acorn always an acorn?
There are some religious groups with few if any cult-like tendencies such as (generalizing quite broadly) diaspora Buddhism, Reform Judaism, Unitarian Universalism, some 'mainline' / liberal Christian churches, and some Hindu, Jain and Taoist groups. Presumably even some Muslim groups too
OK - I accept your tacit admission that you have no clue whatsoever about how many devotees, nor how long it takes for a cult to miraculously morph into a religion. I guess it's just based on your own subjective opinion. I suspected nothing less.8 out of 10 at least; #6 and #8 would be a bit of a stretch.
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To use your own example, once an acorn always an acorn?
There are some religious groups with few if any cult-like tendencies such as (generalizing quite broadly) diaspora Buddhism, Reform Judaism, Unitarian Universalism, some 'mainline' / liberal Christian churches, and some Hindu, Jain and Taoist groups. Presumably even some Muslim groups too
How many grains of sand are required to make a heap of sand? How many whiskers of what length are needed for a beard? You're engaging in what's sometimes called the continuum fallacy. The relevant features of cults in the Jonestown/Heaven's Gate sense are their insular, unquestioning and usually authoritarian nature, and those traits can be mapped out on a continuum. It's a rough approximation, but the more numerous a sect becomes, the more that insularity is inevitably breached - except in cases where it becomes the overwhelmingly dominant sect of its country/region/language I suppose - with its membership becoming more diverse and exposed to or open to different perspectives.
Sorites paradox - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Really? Hmmmm.....there's NO SUCH THING as a Non-harmful cult.