Our server costs ~$56 per month to run. Please consider donating or becoming a Patron to help keep the site running. Help us gain new members by following us on Twitter and liking our page on Facebook!
Current time: December 22, 2024, 6:24 pm

Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Religion vs Cult - What are the differences?
#15
RE: Religion vs Cult - What are the differences?
(February 3, 2015 at 10:05 pm)IanHulett Wrote: Are there any real differences between a religion and a cult? Thanks a bunch.

It depends on what sources you're citing and whether you're using a religious definition of a cult, or a secular one, and how you determine which of the many religious/secular definitions you choose to employ.

As a very broad-brush general definition, a cult is a group that shows religious veneration or devotion to a particular person or object. In that sense, almost every religion could justifiably be a cult (every religion I can think of, anyway).

A religious definition will distinguish Us from Them by defining cults as a religious group that is unorthodox, spurious, or denies one or more of the basic tenants of the parent religion. In that sense, mainstream Christianity wouldn't be a cult, but Mormonism would be because they deny basic tenants of the Christian faith, such as the doctrine of the trinity. And to Mormons, they're not a cult, but the FLDS would be because the FLDS doesn't accept the mainstream LDS prophet (Monson) as the Prophet of God.

A secular definition of a cult would be a group that "manipulate, exploit, and control its members. Specific factors in cult behavior are said to include manipulative and authoritarian mind control over members, communal and totalistic organization, aggressive proselytizing, systematic programs of indoctrination, and perpetuation in middle-class communities."[source] They often trick members into joining under false pretenses, introduce the "real" doctrine only after the member has joined and is "proven worthy" and make leaving an arduously difficult task.

While the links below do not list the criteria to be a cult, they provide information about techniques that cults heavily rely on: mind control and thought reform. If the group you're thinking of joining or the one you're investigating meets the criteria on these lists you might be looking at a dangerous or destructive cult:

Steve Hassan's BITE Model of cult mind control
https://www.freedomofmind.com/Info/BITE/bitemodel.php

Here's a link to Robert Lifton's 8 Criteria of Thought Reform
http://www.exitsupportnetwork.com/artcls...lifton.htm

Margaret Singer's 6 Conditions for Thought Reform
http://www.csj.org/studyindex/studymindc...singer.htm


(February 3, 2015 at 11:06 pm)vorlon13 Wrote: It's clear by what is and isn't available for historical review in the Mormon archives that the church hierarchy is aware they are sitting on a huge pile of incriminating bull shit.

[snip]

Makes it a cult, a damn successful one too. Probably enough success to really stick in the craw of the Scientologists.

In terms of cultish behavior, Scientology is skewed WAY more toward the obviously destructive side since they have the structures in place to isolate people from wider society much more so than the mainstream LDS church has now, but the LDS church does exhibit a lot of very disturbing behavior that is indicative of the behavior of cults.
Teenaged X-Files obsession + Bermuda Triangle episode + Self-led school research project = Atheist.
Reply



Messages In This Thread
Religion vs Cult - What are the differences? - by IanHulett - February 3, 2015 at 10:05 pm
RE: Religion vs Cult - What are the differences? - by Chad32 - February 3, 2015 at 10:14 pm
RE: Religion vs Cult - What are the differences? - by AFTT47 - February 3, 2015 at 10:23 pm
RE: Religion vs Cult - What are the differences? - by Chad32 - February 3, 2015 at 10:26 pm
RE: Religion vs Cult - What are the differences? - by Tonus - February 4, 2015 at 9:04 am
RE: Religion vs Cult - What are the differences? - by Clueless Morgan - February 4, 2015 at 10:59 am

Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Overcoming shame of being duped by a cult Won2blv 11 1647 December 22, 2020 at 1:26 pm
Last Post: Angrboda
  "Cult-speak" lines Silver 24 3329 September 15, 2018 at 5:35 am
Last Post: Abaddon_ire
Exclamation New religious cult in rise? UnLocal 32 7446 November 28, 2016 at 7:17 pm
Last Post: axiom of congruence
  Are You A Slave To Some Cult? sanebrain 147 15150 August 6, 2016 at 6:30 pm
Last Post: account_inactive
  Religion hurts homosexuality but homosexuality kills religion? RozKek 43 12315 March 30, 2016 at 2:46 am
Last Post: robvalue
  Terrorism has no religion but religion brings terrorism. Islam is NOT peaceful. bussta33 13 5549 January 16, 2016 at 8:25 pm
Last Post: The Grand Nudger
  Religion's affect outside of religion Heat 67 21535 September 28, 2015 at 9:45 pm
Last Post: TheRocketSurgeon
  Jehovah’s seem to be trying to get my 85 year old father into their cult hogwash 23 6769 July 24, 2015 at 12:38 am
Last Post: hogwash
Rainbow Gay rights within the template of religion proves flaws in "religion" CristW 288 59415 November 21, 2014 at 4:09 pm
Last Post: DramaQueen
  Whats the difference between a cult and a religion? Zidneya 74 25385 May 24, 2014 at 9:08 pm
Last Post: Zidneya



Users browsing this thread: 2 Guest(s)