What's the difference between a religion and a cult?

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Priests and pastors are leaders.

But they're not singular. I think the analogy you probably wanted would be Pope.

autism is a cult.

just looking at you people makes me wonder what has been put in yo' koolaids.

Well, the question is, is it a christian cult, an atheist cult or any other type of cult? given the difference in beliefs seen here, it doesn't seem much like all would belong to the same cult, unless this is a different kind of cult, which is not linked to religion or positions/beliefs related to dieties?

yes but not in the same way as a cult leader. Religion (faith) is defined as "a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny" and Religion (organized) is defined as "an institution to express belief in a divine power".

Now cult used to be neutral and referred externally to an exclusive group of people. Such as the “Israelite cult” which referred to the priests, Temple, sacrifices, rituals, and other physical aspects of Israelite liturgy or religion. This is the definition I think you are partially going off of. In current day the word has changed and now refers negatively to sects holding extremist religious, political and philosophical views and practicing dangerous and abusive techniques. Also the term is generally no longer used for groups established before 1760, or for groups that do not claim religious monopoly (which is why Scientology is considered both a religion and a cult, because they pass and fail basic definitions of both). So while you are sort of right, cults did at one point refer to religion, they no longer refer to religion as the definition has changed.


Here is where I am getting my info from.
http://www.speedylook.com/Louis_Jolyon_West.html
http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=cult
http://www.dtl.org/trinity/misc/glossary.htm
http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/religion/gloss.php
http://www.kheper.net/topics/gurus/glossary.html
http://www.philosophy-religion.org/bibl ... -bible.htm
http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=religion

cults do not need to be based on religious beliefs. They can be political or philosophical.

closer, but not close enough to qualify Catholicism as a cult. As the Pope runs the church from far away and is replaced... but not venerated in the same way as cult leaders are. And he tends to not run things in the same way as cult leaders do.

This may sound weird.... but I really cannot tell the difference.
Members of religion and cults both believe, have a leader to their group/congregation, and take part in rituals. The only difference is the names, all faiths begin as cults, but as time goes on, they become religions and we become used to them. The new stuff that pops up these days are the stuff we are not used to and thus consider strange, and then give them the names of cults.... but if they continue for years to come, they will eventually become religions.
Many of the gods in ancient egypt began as cults (like the cult of bastet) but eventually became actual religions some time later.

I took a look at those links and they are very interesting... at least you are able to back up your arguments.

one refers to the belief (religion/faith) and the other refers to the organization(religion/church).



no prob. maybe in a few hundred years the word cult will have better connotations.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2DxyAGzGxM[/youtube]

This video gives the general idea on what a cult consists of or how to tell if you're in a cult.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnNSe5XYp6E[/youtube]