Whats the difference between a cult and a religion?

[Zidneya]

Whats the difference between a cult and a religion to you guys?
Because for me those are just two sides of the same coin.


No…. Why I lie to you guys I'm gonna be honest for me theres no difference between those two.

[Rampant.A.I.]

According to comparative religion: the number of members.

That's it.

[eyemixer]

Time.

[paulpablo]

There's no difference in my mind. People call the big cults religions.
In reality though there are no religions that are very very big.
Christianity and Islam are the biggest but both are fractured.

It's interesting to me to see just how similar both religions are fractured and how they behave.

Both have 2 main splitting points. Sunni vs shia protestant vs catholic.
Both of these groups kill each other.
Both have religious groups that don't acknowledge this split and focus on the fundamentals of the religion I know the Islamic version is called quranism but don't know the christian version.
Both have racist American variations of their cults, Mormons, and the nation of Islam.

---

Time.

I was going to give this answer but thinking about it a lot of cults have become religions relatively quickly, mormons for example and scientology although I myself view both as cults in general they are though of as religions.

You don't even need to have been dead for thousands of years to be taken seriously enough to start a religious group.

[eyemixer]

Time.

I was going to give this answer but thinking about it a lot of cults have become religions relatively quickly, mormons for example and scientology although I myself view both as cults in general they are though of as religions.

You don't even need to have been dead for thousands of years to be taken seriously enough to start a religious group.

Nope, just long enough so no one is old enough to remember a/the prophet personally.

Just wait until all the people who know the details of how Scientology was established are dead and Elron's 'miracles' can't be personally refuted by anyone.

[Ryantology]

The only difference is that religion has better PR.

[Minimalist]

A "cult" is a religion other than your own.

[Zidneya]

I was going to give this answer but thinking about it a lot of cults have become religions relatively quickly, mormons for example and scientology although I myself view both as cults in general they are though of as religions.

Ironically the reason why I ask is because I heard a christian claiming that Mormons are a cult way below Christianity. Because he said christianity is a true religion claiming that there is a clear difference.

I just told him that I don't see any difference at all.
Christian myths, Mormon myts, Christian fanatics, Mormon fanatics, Christian preachers, Mormon preachers. Since none have any evidence of their deities for me all religions are simply glorified cults.

[jesus_wept]

Whats the difference between a cult and a religion to you guys?
Because for me those are just two sides of the same coin.


No…. Why I lie to you guys I'm gonna be honest for me theres no difference between those two.

A religion gets a tax exempt status.

[Elskidor]

I suppose they are all like massive cults, although some groups unknowingly create sub cults within the biger cult. Some can be dangerous and some only hurt them sellves, but I don't think the majority even realize the are in a cult at all.

When I was 19 I was court ordered to attend AA/NA after some trouble making, and after a couple of those meetings I realized all they were was an insane religious cult using dirty tactics to guilt you into feeling you were worthless and would never be anything unless you gave your self to Jesus. They called and harraassed you if you quit going to their hangouts and used whatever dirty tactic they could to try and get you back and keep you and all in the name of their god and version of the bible. I was stunned that the court would order anyone to hanging out with this strange jesus cult. That's the type of place I would figure people would want to get high before attending.