lilithu said:
Imo, a cult:
1. usually centers around a charismatic leader or a very small group of leaders, who has/have complete authority
2. requires that followers give up their individual self-autonomy to the leadership. This usually includes:
a. financial assets: called communal, yet controlled by leadership
b. social ties: members are encouraged/pressured to sever ties with non-members
c. information: members are discouraged from asking leaders questions
3. has no mechanism of accountability between its leadership and its followers
Some cults do mature into real religions.
The way i see it, any religion with a founder starts off like this.
So, for me, a cult would be the beginning of a new religion - when the founder of that religion is still alive.
Like someone already said though, this meaning is different to the word cult we use to describe ancient groups of people - like the cult of Osiris.
To explain my point, i'll take Christianity as my example using NT scriptures and show how lil's definition fits to the ministry of Jesus.
lilithu said:
1. usually centers around a charismatic leader or a very small group of leaders, who has/have complete authority.
Well we have Jesus Christ as the charismatic leader. With his small(ish) group of dedicated followers, of which 12 men and one woman were particularly important and later took over his mission.
lilithu said:
2. requires that followers give up their individual self-autonomy to the leadership. This usually includes:
Sheep and the shepherd. (John 10:1-16, 1Peter 5:4)
a. financial assets: called communal, yet controlled by leadership [/quote]
Judas carried the money purse for the communal group. (John 12:6)
None of the disciples worked and so relied upon donations from their followers. (Luke 8:1-3)
lilithu said:
b. social ties: members are encouraged/pressured to sever ties with non-members
Most of Jesus's followers were recruited during his travels, they left their families and friends to follow the mysteries stranger - one man was commanded to ignore the burial of his father and follow Jesus (Matthew 8:21-22).
At another time Jesus ignores his own family, saying that his followers are his real family (something common in modern cults) (Matthew 12:46-50)
lilithu said:
c. information: members are discouraged from asking leaders questions
This one doesn't fully apply to Jesus, he was always answering questions. However, as we are all aware he had a habit of being cryptic and allegorical, using parables to confound those he didn't see as mature enough to understand.
Like many "prophets" since, he would expand upon a subject, but not to the point of putting it into clear language - and those that didn't understand him he chastised (John 3:10-15).
lilithu said:
3. has no mechanism of accountability between its leadership and its followers
This is harder to place, but when you have a group of people believing Jesus is the Messiah, a prophet or even the Son of God - what accountability do they expect? Also, times were very different back then - no one in authority was accountable to their subordinates.
In summary, i believe that if Jesus, Muhammed, Joseph Smith or even Gautama Buddha had began their missions today, they would have been placed in the same category as the Branch Davidians. It's only because their cult beginnings have developed over the course of 100's to 1000's of years to become commonplace beliefs that we call it a religion.
Other religions such as polytheist, animist, Taoist or other indigionous and leaderless groups would have begun without the cult.