Posted by notfred on August 4, 2006, at 16:39:41
In reply to Re: Are there similarities between Babble and a Cu, posted by notfred on August 4, 2006, at 16:10:43
I found some intresting defs for cults at
http://www.religioustolerance.org/cults.htm
"...if you believe in it, it is a religion or perhaps 'the' religion; and if you do not care one way or another about it, it is a sect; but if you fear and hate it, it is a cult." Leo Pfeffer. A humorous quotation, but one that is uncomfortably close to reality.
"Cults are claimed to be deceitful. They are claimed to be harmful to their members. They are claimed to be undermining American values. Cults are claimed to be just about every bad thing in the book these days, and with the pervasive images of Manson and Jim Jones hanging over us, any group that is called a cult is immediately associated with those two people." J. Gordon Melton.
"My working definition of a cult is a group that you don't like, and I say that somewhat facetiously, but at the same time, in fact, that is my working definition of a cult. It is a group that somebody doesn't like. It is a derogatory term, and I have never seen it redeemed from the derogatory connotations that it picked up in the sociological literature in the 1930s." J. Gordon Melton.
"A cult is a church down the street from your church." Anon
poster:notfred
thread:673565
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20060802/msgs/673718.html