What are some differences between a cult and a traditional religion?

Question

From what I can tell, the only difference seems to be who they worship (i.e. cults tend to worship an individual (the cult leader) whereas traditional religions defer to some sort of god).

Answer 1

Legal status. A cult is not recognized as a tax-exempt entity, a religion is. Social stigmas come with the lack of government recognition. Other than that, cults are no different than religions...although some will argue the number of members separates them, but thats all relative, and thus, subjective.

Answer 2

I can tell you the difference from sad experience. I joined a church 2 years ago. It seemed very friendly at first. Then I mentioned I was going to have a party for my grandson on one of the nights they have a service. One of the people at the head of the church asked if I had asked the pastor for permission to have the party. In a cult, the leader demands obedience to him or her. They insinuate themselves into your lives, even at home. They give you orders and if you dont follow them, you're brought before the entire congregation and forced to beg forgiveness. I actually saw this happening.
When I backed out of the church, the leaders came to my house and called at least 10 times every day to try to convince me to come back. The pastor also claimed to talk to God-who gave him things to say and do. In other words, cults go way beyond religion. I now belong to a wonderful church. There is no pressure, no push for money and the pastor doesnt order me to do anything.

Answer 3

A layman's definition of a cult is a set of human beings who've self assurance in or do something distinctive than I do. yet heavily, as quickly as you mixture 3 tenets you create an fairly risky and risky subject: a million) the team is extremely secretive 2) in difficulty-unfastened words contributors can understand all the team's ideals and practices 3) as rapidly as a member joins, there is not any longer any thank you to go away now no longer attempting to declare any particular team does a million) via way of three) above, quite defining what a cult somewhat is.

Answer 4

Technically, all religions are cults. The term used to simply mean a group of believers, and has only fairly recently taken on a negative connotation. In the modern usage, I personally break it down to one overriding factor: how easy is it to leave? In my church, if someone wants to quit, they just quit. Nobody's going to come after them. The door is always open for them to come back, too. In a cult, there will be great social pressure exerted upon anyone who tries to leave, up to an including the person actually being hunted down and harassed. There is also the matter of being ostracized by the group, including by one's own family who remains within the group (it's not uncommon for parents to refuse to speak to children who leave, and so forth). It's all about control.

Answer 5

Well, by everyone else's definition, it's nice to know that my religion is no longer considered a cult!!!! Nice to know, so you can all stop calling us that.

We now have over 12,868,606 members. So, we aren't small anymore. We are tax-exempt, so that that means we are considered a religion, and we are called a religion by wikipedia. If we were a cult, then we wouldn't have any of these, right?

Answer 6

cult is usually small and doesn't have a holy book

Answer 7

the religion worship in a megachurch

Answer 8

a cult is nothing that has to do with Jesus. Its all has to do with satan

Answer 9

the size of the congregation... thats about it

Answer 10

nothing