Are all religions cults?

[I_am_not_mafia]

My brother has joined a cult now, although he denies that it is a cult. IIRC he says that a cult is devoted to a single person. It's called The Last Reformation. But a lot of Xtians refer to his group as a cult. It does not have established churches but tries to get back to the initial days of Xtianity when there were no religious hierarchies and structures.

He has changed as a result of joining it. I used to be able to have good conversations with him if we stayed away fro religion. Now he has become even more zealous and the only thing he thinks and talks about is religion.

That's really terrible!  I'm truly sorry to hear that.  That level of brainwashing and indoctrination is scary to see in a loved one.  I hope he finds his way out, someday.

Thanks. Oh the leader has got a link on rationalwiki now.

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Torben_S%C3%B8ndergaard

I only meet my brother now when I visit my parents. I don't know if my mum is scared of alienating my brother but it normally happens that he brings up religion and I (or my husband which also means me by association) get the blame for starting an argument. This despite clearly and explicitly telling my brother that we do not want to talk about the subject. Last time I got the blame when I discussed my scientific research and my brother objected to it. I got the blame because religion hadn't even been mentioned. I understand that my mother doesn't want to lose her son, but it ironically means that I never actually bother visiting anymore.

What's more, because he is always working on something in his spare time to promote his cult, he ends up asking everyone for advice on how best to achieve this, whether it's a T-shirt design, essay or book cover. But he never accepts advice so you have to argue it. I'm actually morally opposed to deliberately spreading ignorance, so I am most certainly not going to push for the best ways of doing it. I'm a scientist. My career is devoted to better understanding the nature of reality. Yet last time he basically lied to me about what he was working on to get my advice, so I can't even trust him anymore. Of course because he's always been so honest in the past my mother didn't acknowledge this at all.

It's not like I really have much family but it's got to the point where now I am more concerned about having to walk on egg shells around him than anything else.