Cult(s)

cult/kəlt/

Noun:

A system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object. A relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister

Above is the definition given by Google.  This is also the definition given by a woman in my Christian-Pagan discussion group on Facebook.
Below is another definition, this time supplied by Miriam-Webster:

cult

noun, often attributive \ˈkəlt\

 

1: formal religious veneration : worship

2: a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also : its body of adherents

3: a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also : its body of adherents

4: a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator <health cults>

5 a : great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book); especially : such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fad  

b : the object of such devotion 

c : a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion

Pulled from howstuffworks.com (direct link), Another view of a cult is defined by sociologists:

Sidestepping the controversy, sociologists don't like to use the pejorative term "cult." Instead, they like to talk about new religious movements (NRMs), which can be more widely defined. NRMs hold beliefs that are far outside of the mainstream. They are often characterized by making strict demands on the lifestyle of their members, such as giving up possessions, professions and contact with family to live in a commune with other members. Many have charismatic, authoritarian leaders whose followers believe have special prophetic powers. These leaders often prophesize about an imminent apocalypse.

Anyway, I wanted to discuss the definition of the word cult as compared to the connotation of that word.  If you take the word by its dictionary definition, then any religion qualifies as a cult.  According to Wikipedia,  some established Christian denominations in the 1940s created a "doctrinal definition" of the word cult to mean religious groups that the Christian church deemed heretical.  I believe the list of cults by this definition would probably include the Mormon denomination of Christianity as well as possibly the Jehovah's Witnesses denomination.

Among other spiritual paths commonly thought of as cults are Wicca and Paganism in general.  This view by what many might label "the general public" is normally the result of misconceptions created by secrecy of those who follow these paths and by Hollywood creating a false image.  Ignorance to the falsity of Hollywood leads to these misconceptions becoming popular belief and creates the view, by the public, of a cult.

By the same token, there are those who criticize religions, or denominations of religions, as oppressive or controlling and thereby label them as cults.  I believe this is another area where Jehovah's Witnesses fall prey to the cult label.


I prefer to only use the word cult as defined loosely by howstuffworks.com because I find that many share that definition, only they seem to understand the term exclusively by that definition.  Because of this, and the negative connotation shared with it, I prefer to avoid stepping on toes by calling Catholicism or Islam or Mormonism a cult.


Conclusively, there are plenty more diplomatic ways to discuss the differences between religions and spiritual paths as well as a person's personal beliefs without labeling their belief system a cult and effectively insulting them.