Is Christianity a cult?

[Brian37]

I am sorry but this is a stupid question. YES every religion starts out as a cult. The only difference between a cult and a religion are numbers.

[ApostateLois]

I agree that a cult tends to have a LOT more control over their members than a mainstream religion. Cults restrict contact with outsiders, making it very difficult for members to maintain contact with even their closest family members and friends. Eventually, all contact is lost, and the individual is completely under the control of the leader and his minions. Cults keep their members busy with praying, meditating, fasting, and other activities that are likely to induce a mental state more conducive to controlling the individual; in other words, they do everything possible to break the individual's resistance and make them more obedient. Male leaders may require all female members to marry them. They may restrict food and water rations; not allow members outdoors or in public without a chaperone; require particular clothing and hair styles; and strictly regulate every waking moment--again, all the purpose of isolating a person and brainwashing them into slavery.

Mainstream Christianity isn't like this. Yes, most people do become brainwashed into believing the dumbest things, but they can leave their church and attend a different one, or leave the religion altogether. They are not generally forced to live in fenced-in communes, where outsiders cannot enter, nor are they forbidden from seeing family members--not even unbelieving family and friends. In fact, one of the commands of Christianity is to go into the world and make converts. There are some sects within Christianity that certainly qualify as cults; but the religion as a whole doesn't really fit the description, IMO.

[Teaspoon Shallow]

I am sorry but this is a stupid question. YES every religion starts out as a cult. The only difference between a cult and a religion are numbers.

You may consider this a stupid question but did you notice the divided opinions of your peers are?

I never considered Christianity a cult previously, but this bible passage struck a strange chord with me.
Thanks to all who contributed.

cult
/k?lt/
Noun
1. A system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object.
2. A relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister.

Definition 1., sure.
Definition 2. has now got me thinking that depending on your perspective then it does meet this criteria too.

Luke 14:26
New International Version (NIV)
26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.

If my kids advised that they were leaving and decided to hate me so they could become someone disciple I would consider that to be very friggin strange and sinister.  Very cult like.

In localised areas where Christians are the minority then that too fits the description.  In the future if Christianity slips in popularity behind another religion or lack of religion, then will it one day been seen by the general public as a cult?

Re-reading the bible with a different mindset makes me wonder why / how I was once convinced it was the word of a god. :-k

[Jutter]

How many cults murder (by divine law) those who leave the cult?

The only one I know of is Islam.

Maybe the KGB also counts.

[Davka]

The verse you cite is certainly useful to Christian-based cults, but most Christians don't actually follow the Bible. In fact, nobody ever followed the Bible - if they did, they'd be a psychotic wreck inside of a week. So while the Bible might contain all sorts of cultish nonsense, that doesn't make current mainstream Christianity a cult. Bronze-age YHWHism was certainly a cult, and some strains of Christianity have always been cults, sometimes more than others. But today? Most Christians use the Bible to justify their lives, not as a guide to living.

[_Xenu_]

The Orange Papers
http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-cult_q0.html

Seriously people, this is a cult
http://ocmb.xenu.net/ocmb/viewtopic.php?t=24064

Would you like to be a cult leader? Here's how to do it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnNSe5XYp6E

[baddogma]

A cult is a religion with no political power.

[_Xenu_]

A cult is a religion with no political power.

No, a cult is an organization that wields control over its members well beyond whats considered socially normal.

[GurrenLagann]

A cult is a religion with no political power.

No, a cult is an organization that wields control over its members well beyond whats considered socially normal.

The problem is, the fact that cults (in the case of most, simply an unfamiliar religion in that particular region) are not socially accepted would appear to be the very reason that many of them have "control over its members beyond what is considered socially normal". And basically all religions have gone through that. The Romans (and non-Christians Jews) certainly considered Christianity to be the then-equivalent of a cult, with the Romans even joking that Christians ate babies (the irony!)
In other words, social ostracism and unacceptance are the only distinctions of a cult that I can see.

[St Giordano Bruno]

It is thousands of "cults"

[WitchSabrina]

A cult is a religion with no political power.

Why is a religion with no political power a cult; and a religion with political power Not?

[Fidel_Castronaut]

A cult is a religion with no political power.

I think most people would argue that something like Scientology is a cult, and they wield considerable political power relative to their size in some areas (even here in the UK sadly).

[pr126]

I would like to see a list of those "Christian states".
Or better still, the command in the bible to kill those leaving Christianity.

[BarkAtTheMoon]

Matthew 10:37
King James Version (KJV)
37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

If anyone said something in line with that today, they would be seen as a cult member trying to alienate new members.
Even if the person preaching this claimed to be divine, we (society) would acknowledge this as harmful.

Is Christianity a cult?

I'm in the middle of reading the book written by the niece of David Miscavage about her life in the Church of Scientology. They heavily push church over everyone else including friends and family, even forcing Sea Org families to split up in different parts of the country to the point the kids and parents hardly ever see each other or talk to each other and are made to feel like they're wrong for missing each other.

So yeah, Christianity in its purest form is a cult. Very few Christian sects still take that verse to heart, though.


* http://www.amazon.com/Jenna-Miscavige-Hill/e/B0094KVGVE It's a good book and quite an interesting take on growing up amongst the highest levels of the church. I've read a lot about Scientology before, but some of the stuff in here is still blowing my mind.

[BarkAtTheMoon]

How many cults murder (by divine law) those who leave the cult?

The only one I know of is Islam.

Plenty including Christianity completely turn their backs on and outcast those who leave and have murdered in the past. Read some stories in the archives of this forum of people who lost friends and family for being an atheist. Islam still gets away with real murder because divine law = legal law in most Muslim countries.