What is the difference b/t a religon and cult?

What is the difference b/t a religon and cult? I hear people calling small religous groups and I wonder why they don't consider "established" religons cults. After all they share many of the same characteristics.

My perception is any religion that has indoctrinated Dogmatic-esque punishments for contradictory ideologies. extremist mentalities they are often adverse denominations of interpertation of a mainstream

religion

Sciencetology- Is a cult is it assimilates people for a money-oriented goal whilst illusioning them with inane and blatent ignorant spiritual ground

6 entries found for cult.

1.

1. A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader.

2. The followers of such a religion or sect.

2. A system or community of religious worship and ritual.

3. The formal means of expressing religious reverence; religious ceremony and ritual.

4. A usually nonscientific method or regimen claimed by its originator to have exclusive or exceptional power in curing a particular disease.

5.

1. Obsessive, especially faddish, devotion to or veneration for a person, principle, or thing.

2. The object of such devotion.

6. An exclusive group of persons sharing an esoteric, usually artistic or intellectual interest.

Religion:

1.

1. Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe.

2. A personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship.

2. The life or condition of a person in a religious order.

3. A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader.

4. A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion.

[Hexadecimal]

Essentially, cults worship something material, while religions worship the immaterial. They're still all whackjobs though.

[ilbastardoh]

Yea but in a sense religions end up worshiping the material as well, since they have no direct link to the supernatural.

[Craftian]

It's purely a matter of opinion.

A cult isn't politically acknowledged, while a religion is.

That's the basic definition. The rest is general stigma (wicca's a cult, but it has no indoctrination at all - almost every wiccan believes something slightly different, because most don't know anything about the original wicca!).

A Cult is created by one person or a very small group of people solely to benefit the creators.

The congregation of believers must be relatively small.

[Schizophrenic Styrofoam]

no, size has nothing to do with whether or not it is a cult. Constantine created a cult because he and a small group of people decided what to tell people to believe and they did it to keep control over the people. The fact that the group of people happened to be the entire Roman Empire does not change that it was a cult at the start. Whether it still is i am open to debate about.

Generally, the media uses "religion" for anything mainstream and "cult" for anything that deviates from the mainstream.

Nothing

[The Marksman]

its weither or not its widely accepted

if it causes you to do phyical violence to yourself or others, its a cult. if you do it by yourself in the name of your god, w/o ne 1 telling you to, its a relign

Does tax-exempt status have anything to do with it?

http:../../www.religioustolerance.org/cultmenu.htm

Every religion on earth started out as a cult.

[bkc]

Very good

[Dark_Magneto]

quote:Originally posted by Jesus:

What is the difference b/t a religon and cult?

Number of people who take it seriously.

The difference between a religion and a cult is that a religion is supported by the majority and a cult isn't. The word cult was created by segrigationist religions to make new unorthidox religions inferior, much like a racial slur. Basically it was used to dehumanize the followers of a new religion to make it exceptable to persecute, usually to death. The same thing was done to black people in the slavery days, but i'm not gonna write that word here since i'm sure everyone knows it anyway. The origins of racism our found in our still modern religions. Criminal, another good word that was created for this purpose. I could go on and on.

[ilbastardoh]

Hinduism was the first religion to implement segregation by implementing a caste system. The Elites had white dots on their forheads, and the Untouchables had a black dot. Hinduism was one of the first major religions, it's vedas were written in sanskrit. That's the language that created greek, latin, and english.

quote:Originally posted by theBishop:

A Cult is created by one person or a very small group of people solely to benefit the creators.

and you dont think that so called 'religions' were created to benefit the creators?

quote:Originally posted by Armed&Angry:

If a faith is viewed as small, loony, and authoritarian, it's a cult.

If a faith is viewed as large, accepted, and authoritarian, it's a religion.

Probably the best definition I've seen yet.

I consider Christianity a cult. A really, really big cult, but a cult nonetheless.