More or less a "group". Most believe what they believe because that was what they were taught to believe wether they believe it or not.. *yes I said the word a few times there.
It annoys me when you ask a question without giving your own opinion/answer. cult (klt)n.1. a. 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.
This discussion might best be framed if we first defined Christianity. I will fire off my answer anyway. Technically yes and practically it depends. According to the dictionary definitions of cult Christianity, or any other religion cannot be distinguished from cult. Practically and according to the sociolgical definitions of a cult Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity and most of the protestant denominations of Christianity would not be a cult as they are mainstream, widely accepted, and widely practiced. You could also say that mainstream Christianity is becoming more cultish in that it is becoming more counter to our increasingly secular humanistic culture. You could further say that Christianity in pagan Rome was a full blown cult by the sociologic definitions.
No, Christianity itself is a sect of Judaism and a mainstream religious belief, not a cult. There are many religions within Christianity, a few of which are cult-like . . . some of whom are downright kooks--like Jim Jones' The Peoples Temple or the Westboro "Baptist" Church. All major religions have cults within them.
Figured you would say this... Okay, so technically it would be the religions within Christianity (Catholicism, Baptist, Methodist, etc).
The only difference between a cult & religion is the number of people who believe in it. Christian religions are no different than cults other than their popularity, which makes them seem less kooky.
Not exactly. The word has several definitions, the broadest of which would also describe religion: 1. a particular system of religious worship, esp. with reference to its rites and ceremonies. 2. an instance of great veneration of a person, ideal, or thing, esp. as manifested by a body of admirers: the physical fitness cult. 3. the object of such devotion. 4. a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc. 5. Sociology. a group having a sacred ideology and a set of rites centering around their sacred symbols. But there is also a more specific definition with connotations of extremism: 6. a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader. 7. the members of such a religion or sect. 8. any system for treating human sickness that originated by a person usually claiming to have sole insight into the nature of disease, and that employs methods regarded as unorthodox or unscientific.
