TLDR - what’s the question mark in the following scale
Cult(-1)……………….Religion(0)……………….???(+1)
Long version (a.k.a my stupid mind’s question that is keeping me awake):
My understanding of cult is a group of people with an absurd or even possibly nefarious belief system. Like something negative.
By that definition I would put religion in the middle (though a majority of it leans towards the cult side). A group of people that is very serious about what they believe in, no matter how illogical it is.
So with this understanding what would you call the positive side ? A group of people coming together to have a tradition and belief system just for the fun of it ? Is there such thing ?
First and foremost, not all cults are negative. From that point we can have the scale be cult specific.
Negative Cult(-1) - Benign Cult (0) - Positive Cult (+1)
The opposite I would assume would be non spiritual groups of people who connect in another way outside of something “spiritual”, without a set standard for beliefs provided by a singular leader required to be member to the group.
Negative Group(-1) - Benign Group (0) - Positive Group(+1)
Ok, I’ll bite. Can you give me your definition of a cult? And then a positive and a negative example?
A cult is a group of people with extreme devotion to a person, place, object or idea.
Negative: The Peoples Temple
Positive: The Satanic Temple