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I actually have a degree in comparative religion and this was brought up a few times.
First, a cult is NOT just a small religion. Wicca is a smaller religion, but it is less cult-like than most political parties (one is expected to write their own holy book [book of shadows] one is free to worship whatever divinity they want to, be their own priestess or priest and can live cradle to grave without even meeting another Wiccan why being a fantastic Wiccan themselves)
A cult is based on control by a central charismatic authority, away from which the end goals of the belief system are impossible to achieve, and a central authority that is unquestioned. Catholics talk smack about the Pope all the time, but they are still considered Catholics. Cults also control the lives of their members beyond spiritual matters, interfering with their personal lives, having the central authority invade their personal life etc. Never heard of the Methodists sending agents to read their congregants mail...
There actually is a cult checklist right here that makes sense:
And this youtube video also brings up another important part about cults: indoctrination. Unlike religions, cults usually don't tell potential members everything up front. One can go to any mosque and ask about the Miracle of the Koran or Mohammad's donkey, and the Imam will answer. No church hides the virgin birth. Cults tend to hide things, including their structure...I have yet to hear the Catholics not answer questions about the Pope or college of cardinals.
Can't we skip spirituality and go straight to rationality?
While we're at it why not skip emotion and go straight to reason, and say "good-bye" to everything but that which serves a utilitarian purpose. Skip art, and go straight to engineering. Skip music and go straight to mathematics. Tear down every painting and replace them with posters of the periodic table of the elements or charts of the molecular structure of swamp gas.
Spirituality is fun, reason is not. Hence I like spirituality.
Thanks, that list does make a lot of sense. It is also uncomfortable, because while I don't feel like I escaped a cult, a lot of that applied at least to a certain extent to the religious environments I grew up in. I found myself making excuses for things ( like, "Well, we were guilted into stuff, but it wasn't THAT bad, was it?") that surrounded me, but it was a little creepy reading that list... I felt like my upbringing was mainstream fundamentalist, but there were a lot of boxes that I could tick off or at least give 'em a 5 out of 10...
Thanks, that list does make a lot of sense. It is also uncomfortable, because while I don't feel like I escaped a cult, a lot of that applied at least to a certain extent to the religious environments I grew up in. I found myself making excuses for things ( like, "Well, we were guilted into stuff, but it wasn't THAT bad, was it?") that surrounded me, but it was a little creepy reading that list... I felt like my upbringing was mainstream fundamentalist, but there were a lot of boxes that I could tick off or at least give 'em a 5 out of 10...
-NoCapo
I think it isn't really a matter of "this is a cult, and this isn't" as much as it is a spectrum of "cultdom", with Wiccans and Deists on one end and Heaven's Gate on the other. Catholics are more cult like than Methodists, and Mormons are more cult like than Catholics, and the Brethren are more cult like than Mormons.
And within religions there are cults and not-cults. Both the Branch Davidians and the United Church of Christ are Christians, but one was a cult and one certainly isn't.
I think it isn't really a matter of "this is a cult, and this isn't" as much as it is a spectrum of "cultdom", with Wiccans and Deists on one end and Heaven's Gate on the other. Catholics are more cult like than Methodists, and Mormons are more cult like than Catholics, and the Brethren are more cult like than Mormons.
And within religions there are cults and not-cults. Both the Branch Davidians and the United Church of Christ are Christians, but one was a cult and one certainly isn't.
I get the spectrum thing, it was just a bit unsettling how many of those tickboxes my upbringing covered. Looking from the outside in, my experience was much further down the spectrum than I thought it would have been. But I guess that is part of the nature of the beast, you assume that the insulated, rarified world you live in is normal...
-NoCapo
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