computerblue77 said:

those three sects happen to be small compared to many other, so just curious...do you consider catholicism a cult as well? methodists? buddhists? jews? evangelicals preach that even good people who don't believe in jesus may go to hell...are they a cult? teaching children about people in eternal torment? every religion has ideas that can be seen as out of whack by others.

i understand that to some, EVERY religion is a cult, but the ones you mentioned are small and a bit out of the mainstream. so are all religions cults to you? or just some? from your above comment it sounds like you might think all religions are cults
[Edited 5/27/16 4:37am]

Bluu said:

You must be scurrying away as I type to debunk my post on chemtrails.

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What will I get? Cursing? Public shaming and humiliation? Angry disapproval? Attacks to my intellect or that I'm gullible? Disinformation web sites with names like Wiki in them to make them sound legitimate and academic, while the content is designed to character assasinate the subject and cast aspersion on anyone who identifies with a stance that goes against your employer's propaganda? Go 'head Lanachan. We all gotta work and pay them bills.

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Trolls are so predictable. So tired.

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Come at me. Prove me right and reveal your true colors in front of everyone.

i feel you! bullies frequently show up on threads they know they will dislike, such as this, in order to vent their life-frustration on strangers and ideas they disagree with

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we have some truly toxic people active at the org. it's best to simply ignore these folk once you identify them.

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just remember that quite a few of us, as you can see on this thread, actually enjoy discussing far out topics

[Edited 5/27/16 4:49am]

cardinal said:

It's easiest to make the distinction - if you want to - thus: a religion affects the state, a cult affects the individual. 'Religions', those not identified as cults, have State power in at least one country, or have had. 'Cults' have never had that, or likely remotely come close, or are ever conceivably likely to, and prey on the individual within a State(s).

By this distinction, of course, a religion is way more dangerous than a cult to the world at large. But the cult is way more dangerous to the individual.

I would say that the JWs would definitely come under cult, despite their ties to Christianity. They have too many peculiarities, strict codes, and most importantly of all, freely invent their own prophecies. Which Prince, of course, told Tavis Smiley should dictate public policy, with seemingly no concern at all that many of these prophecies had passed their explicitly named dates without happening.

McD said:

VERY interesting criterion for distinction...,the effect on person/state etc. there are perhaps small religions that do not have a large effect but are not cultish whatever that means....Jainism comes to mind...very small group but not considered to be a cult in any way.

one other thing that i would add is that cults are very person centric....koresh, jones, jeffs, the guy who was in charge of that group in the blue robes who all killed themselves thinking they were going to space.....there is always a usually,living person who the group focuses on more than God or a life vision...its about that person.

i am always uncomfortable defining cults by their beliefs, because we will not agree on which beliefs are ok and which are wacko...but some try and define the differnce that way. i think that tends to get tricky.

also the contolling nature of cults...isolationism, mind control, same dress code, etc is a warning for me.

maybe i am biased because of prince, but i do not consider jw to be a cult. prince, while reclusive, was free to hang out with whomever he wanted, he wore what he wanted, he lived in his own home, etc. if he was different from mainstream, i think it was him being him and not because of jw. he had some interesting ideas way before 2001. also, i grew up around some jw people and if they hadn't told you, you would never have known.

i thought prince's comments to tavis were very interesting....but outta time! will try and get back to comment on that later..