Clashes between Muslims, Christians kill 5 in Cairo

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

What distinguishes a cult from a religion?

You know what, if you go by most dictionaries you could argue they are one in the same. Historically I guess cults were religions, such as the Mystery Cults of the Roman Era.

I think the way we use the term cult in the last 100 years you could define a cult as one that either keeps religious practices hidden from the main body and or makes it impossible for a person to leave. Throw in some economic structure like a pyramid scheme and you have a modern cult.

[The Dude 206]

You know what, if you go by most dictionaries you could argue they are one in the same. Historically I guess cults were religions, such as the Mystery Cults of the Roman Era.

I think the way we use the term cult in the last 100 years you could define a cult as one that either keeps religious practices hidden from the main body and or makes it impossible for a person to leave. Throw in some economic structure like a pyramid scheme and you have a modern cult.

The term cult is generally used as a pejorative. I don't really make a distinction between religions and cults. Both ask you to believe in something that can never be substantiated or proven, and live your life accordingly.

[Danno 1,228]

The term cult is generally used as a pejorative. I don't really make a distinction between religions and cults. Both ask you to believe in something that can never be substantiated or proven, and live your life accordingly.

Kool, we just decide what words mean based upon our personal views.

cult |kəlt|

noun

a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object : the cult of St. Olaf.

• a relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister : a network of Satan-worshiping cults.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Cults are fairly distinct from mainstream religions in that their practices are often exclusory, relying personal interpretation of belief and esoteric application of those beliefs.

That's not to say that denominations of mainstream religions can't be cults. There certainly are plenty of wacky groups out there (like those Westboro folks) that would call themselves Christian, just as Jihadist terrorists call themselves Muslim.

It gets a bit less clear if you start talking about sects - which often get confused for cults, but which differ in that they derive from conflicts within a parent religion, not because L Ron Hubbard decided to write a book one day about space aliens.

[The Dude 206]

Kool, we just decide what words mean based upon our personal views.

cult |kəlt|

noun

a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object : the cult of St. Olaf.

• a relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister : a network of Satan-worshiping cults.

Danno, can you distinguish between a cult and a religion? It appears, even the official definition only differentiates the two by relative size. Insignificant, much like yourself.

[Sofiyya 1,687]

Kool, we just decide what words mean based upon our personal views.

Yea, words like jihad, Islamist, Islamic, etc., all defined by the personal views of ignorant non-Muslims.

[Vi-Jay 218]

Yea, words like jihad, Islamist, Islamic, etc., all defined by the personal views of ignorant non-Muslims.

Did you accidently spill over from the other thread?

Wait. What thread is this?

Oh $hit! Did I go back to the death match thread and not know it?

___________________

Phew, I'm on the right thread.

Do you have "Danno" radar or what?

Edited May 10, 2011 by Vi-Jay

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

She likes to challenge any word that qualifies a certain type of terrorism and hence control the words used to describe it.

I think if we are honest, we can agree that the people who perpetrate that type of terrorism have a distinct tendency to justify their activities in religious terms, even though those justifications are totally alien to mainstream believers.