(May 13, 2014 at 11:34 am)Clueless Morgan Wrote:(May 13, 2014 at 11:05 am)RaisdCath Wrote: It seems that within a cult, the "leader" is almost always charismatic - it is rare indeed to find a cult leader with a "beige" personality.
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In a religion, many of the leaders are anything but charismatic. However, the "leaders" within fundamentalist or radical brands of religion do indeed take on the charisma of a true cult leader.
Regarding your statements about cult leaders being charismatic and present religious leaders not always being charismatic, perhaps, as RobbyPants points out with his unsourced quote,
(May 13, 2014 at 9:01 am)RobbyPants Wrote: I don't remember the source, but I remember a quote that explained the difference.
"In a cult, there's a guy at the top that knows the whole thing is a scam. In a religion, that guy is dead."
that's where one of the distinctions between cults and religions occurs.
Quote:It seems that within a cult, there is little history supporting the present ideology of the cult. Therefore, almost any idea/theory/ideology the leader wishes to enforce is fine.
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In a religion, there is some history - or lots of history - used by the religion to support its position (see muslim, jew, catholic/christian, shinto, budahism, and the rest).
Not sure if I fully agree with this; some religious movements invent false histories they sell as true (like Mormonism), or reinvent history to suit their own ends (Christianity making David and Solomon more renounced kings than archaeology actually implies they were) while some cults could take "real" history and reinterpret it to their own ends. I think there is a decent argument for cults not having a lot of history to support their ideology, but that's based on the couple cults I'm aware of. There definitely could be exceptions.
I completely agree with you....but they were just thoughts...not dogma.
People don't go to heaven when they die; they're taken to a special room and burned.
