Talking about religions...

[Scorpio]

Ok i have a question for the ones here who have a religion.
What makes a religion different of a cult?
That's one big question i've been asking myself those past years.

And what makes you choose a religion?
I'm all confused when it comes to religions so quite frankly, i'm pretty excited to know.
Steve

[Dzinerbear]

Wow! What a can of worms.

Okay, here's what the dictionary says, this is good place to start:

Oxford defines religion as: "the belief in a superhuman controlling power, esp. in a personal God or gods entitled to obedience and worship; the expression of this worship; a particular system of faith and worship.

It defines cult as: "a system of religious worship esp. as expressed in ritual; devotion or homage to a person or thing."

So, if I'm reading this correctly Christianity is a religion, so his Buddhism and Hinduism because they all fit under a "particular system of faith and worship."

But I would say that the United Church, the Catholic Church, the Baptist church all fit under the definition of cult because they are specific systems within the larger religion. Now this is going to upset some people because when we think of cult, we think of Moonies or others that we deem to be far out there.

Presently, the larger population doesn't consider Catholicism a cult because so many people have embraced that form of Christianity. In modern day language, I think we tend to reserve the word "cult" for any small, new, and emerging group of religious people whose beliefs aren't accepted by the larger population.

But remember, when Christianity began emerging in ancient Rome, it was considered a cult by the Romans. Now, we would consider any group subscribing to the Roman religion as a cult.

A big part of the problem in answering your questions is that the actual true meaning of the words "religion" and "cult" have changed in the minds of the populace, who aren't really using them correctly. It's like the people who use "impact" as a verb, most times they're using it incorrectly. "Michael Moore might have an impact on you," but he does not "impact you." It's one of those words where the incorrect use is taking over as common use. And the same thing has happened with religion and cult.

Cheers
Michael

[Lee]

No idea Steve im the most non-religious person i know

Regards,

Lee