One person's religion is another person's cult.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
One man's cult is another man's religion.
You can look at anything as a cult. Churches are cults in their own way.
A cult is a religion with no political power.
When people leave cults, they don't know that they left a cult.
Many cults start off with high ideals that get corrupted by leaders or their board of advisors who become power-hungry and dominate and control members' lives. No group with high ideals starts off as a 'cult'; they become one when their errant ways are exposed.
The trappings of a religious cult tend to fall into candlelit ceremonies and robes and group chanting and singing and prayer.
Religions have a strong binding function and a cohesive element. They emphasize the primacy of the community as opposed to the individual, and they also help set one community apart from another that doesn't share their beliefs.
Most religions live from a narrative that shapes their relationship with the divine other, God or the gods, and with the human other, the stranger.
I don't think it takes much for a cult to be a cult. Many parts of our society are cultish, and you only need a charismatic leader and some teachings, and before you know it, you have a cult.
What's a cult? It just means not enough people to make a minority.