Cult
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A Cult is a social group that involves indoctrination and coercion.
- Context:
- It can (often) have a Cult Leader.
- It can be a Relgious Cult.
- …
- Example(s):
- Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, led by Jim Jones.
- United Federated Forces of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), originally led by Donald David DeFreeze.
- Scientology.
- a Religous Cult, such as an Ancient Athens Cult (such as a Dyonisian cult or Orpheus cult).
- …
- Counter-Example(s):
- See: Terrorist Group, Religious Movement, Deviance, Intentional Community.
References
2016
- (Wikipedia, 2016) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cult Retrieved:2016-10-7.
- Cult is a controversial term that has divergent definitions in popular culture and in academia and has been an ongoing source of contention among scholars across several fields of study. In the sociological classifications of religious movements, a cult is a religious or social group with socially deviant or novel beliefs and practices. However, whether any particular group's beliefs and practices are sufficiently deviant or novel is often unclear. [1] [2] [3] The word "cult" has always been controversial because it is (in a pejorative sense) considered a subjective term, used as an ad hominem attack against groups with differing doctrines or practices, which lacks a clear or consistent definition. [4] [5] Beginning in the 1930s, cults became the object of sociological study in the context of the study of religious behavior. [6] From the 1940s the Christian countercult movement has labelled as cults and opposed some sects and new religious movements for their unorthodox beliefs. The secular anti-cult movement began in the 1970s and opposed certain groups, partly motivated in reaction to acts of violence committed by some of their members. Some of the claims of the anti-cult movements have been disputed by scholars and by the news media, leading to further public controversy.
The term "new religious movement" refers to religions which have appeared since the mid-1800s. Many, but not all, have been considered to be cults. Sub-categories of cults include: Doomsday cults, political cults, destructive cults, racist cults, polygamist cults, and terrorist cults.
Governmental reactions to cult-related issues have also been a source of controversy.
- Cult is a controversial term that has divergent definitions in popular culture and in academia and has been an ongoing source of contention among scholars across several fields of study. In the sociological classifications of religious movements, a cult is a religious or social group with socially deviant or novel beliefs and practices. However, whether any particular group's beliefs and practices are sufficiently deviant or novel is often unclear. [1] [2] [3] The word "cult" has always been controversial because it is (in a pejorative sense) considered a subjective term, used as an ad hominem attack against groups with differing doctrines or practices, which lacks a clear or consistent definition. [4] [5] Beginning in the 1930s, cults became the object of sociological study in the context of the study of religious behavior. [6] From the 1940s the Christian countercult movement has labelled as cults and opposed some sects and new religious movements for their unorthodox beliefs. The secular anti-cult movement began in the 1970s and opposed certain groups, partly motivated in reaction to acts of violence committed by some of their members. Some of the claims of the anti-cult movements have been disputed by scholars and by the news media, leading to further public controversy.
- ↑ OED, citing American Journal of Sociology 85 (1980), p. 1377: "Cults[...], like other deviant social movements, tend to recruit people with a grievance, people who suffer from a some variety of deprivation."
- ↑ Dr. Chuck Shaw – Sects and Cults – Greenville Technical College – Retrieved 21 March 2013.
- ↑ Olson, Paul J. 2006. “The Public Perception of 'Cults' and 'New Religious Movements'." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 45 (1): 97–106
- ↑ Dr. Chuck Shaw - Sects and Cults - Greenville Technical College - Retrieved 21 March 2013.
- ↑ Bromley, David Melton, J. Gordon 2002. Cults, Religion, and Violence. West Nyack, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.
- ↑ Erwin Fahlbusch, Geoffrey William Bromiley – The Encyclopedia of Christianity: P-Sh, Volume 4 page 897. Retrieved 21 March 2013.