What’s the difference between a cult and a religion?

[j4763]

Is a religion a cult with more members or is it something more?

 

[IbnAbdulHakim]

Doesnt a cult normally involve all weird kind of rituals and sacrifices etc,

religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader.

:?

 

[azim]

Asalaamu alaykum.

Semantically speaking, theres no big difference between the meaning of cult and the meaning of religion except that religion usually refers to a system based around a diety(ies) whereas a cult does not require such. (i.e. Star Trek has a cult following etc...)

Regarding dogs and not keeping them in homes - dogs are generally dirtier than cats. That's both scientifically and anecdotally proven . Allah has decreed thats we shouldn't keep dogs, (although in the past this was allowed - see Surah Khaf). Touching one breaks wudhu - that is the main reason. Wudhu is broken by coming into contact with something najaas. Najaas is sometimes obvious and sometimes not so obvious. Since these are matters of the deen, we have to leave it to the instruction of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) who is our teacher.

The babies hairs weight in gold given to charity is symbolic of many things; giving thanks to Allah for a blessing being perhaps the most important.

I think the most important thing to remember is that our logic as humans is limited.

Ali (ra) once said that 'the deen does not follow our logic, if it did, we would do masha on the bottow of our feet and not the top'.

Assuming that it is illogical to not keep dogs placing your knowledge and logic above that of the Prophet and your creator.

Philosophers have all pretty much unanimously agreed that our logic is very limited, and is very restricted, a single piece of information can upset the logical conclusions we have come to. That isn't to say that we shouldnt use logic, but we shouldnt assume that our logic is the greatest and most fail proof method by which to life.

An example is the instruction of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) regarding drinks. He said if a fly lands in your drink, you should submerge it completely before taking it out.

By our logic, thats completely uneccessary since 'logically' we'd be putting more bacteria in our drink than before.

However, as human knowledge developed, we discovered that a fly contains bacteria and anti bacteria on either side of its body. Thus by submerging the fly, you are negating the effects of the bacteria. So that is completely logical afterall.

Wsalam.

 

[czgibson]

Greetings,

What an interesting question.

Difficult, though, as there is no standard definition of religion, and if you tell someone they're a member of a cult they probably won't like it. Scientiologists, for example, think of themselves as adherents to a religion, whereas for outsiders (well, in my view, anyway) they are members of a fraudulent and systematically extortionate cult. I think the wikipedia quote sums it up quite well, although I think size has a lot to do with it too. Christianity was certainly considered a cult in its early, formative stages - I wonder if the same is true of the other major religions?

As for the Islamic practices of dog-banishment and baby-shaving, I can't see any logical worldly reason why those would be good things for people to do. I think this thought sums it up very well:

I pretty much always get the answer "Just trust Allah. He probably does this just to see if you will follow." But to me I generally follow logic, and question things that are illogical.

That's the kind of vague answer I get from Muslims whenever anything like this comes up. "It's a test", essentially. But the question I always have at the back of my mind is: maybe there was a valid reason for these rules in a particular set of historical circumstances, and people have carried on following them out of tradition. Like eating pork, which would have been difficult to preserve in the seventh century, and which would therefore have posed serious health risks, whereas today people can eat pork perfectly safely.

A god who is very concerned about whether you have dogs in your house as well as managing the day to day functioning of the universe seems a very improbable being to me.

Peace

 

[Woodrow]

A simple explanation of cult, sect and religion from my old sociology 101 of 40 years ago.

Cult: A newly formed believe system compossed of a single group. Usually with the beliefs originator being still alive and an active member of the group.

Religion: A belief system with an established following. Specific rules of guidance and a system of continuity established.

Denomination: A group essentialy in agreement with a religion, but with different opinions as to some practices. Claims the same origin as the base religion

Sect: A group formed on the beliefs of an established religion. However, disagrees with the religion and forms a new religion based upon new belief.

Keep in mind that is from memory and it has been a long time since I been in school. I also was not a very good sociology student.

 

[snakelegs]

a cult is anything that the established religions don't like.
personally, i consider a cult as any group (including some of the established "respectable" religons.) that has selected a Leader to do their thinking for them.

 

[Muhammad]

Greetings,

This thread has been split. The topic of 'logic in religion' has been moved here:

http://www.islamicboard.com/comparative-religion/26134-logic-religion.html

Peace.

 

[Abdul Fattah]

I think a big difrence between most cults and religion is that usually cults tend to have lies and flawwed reasonings. Atheist might disagree with religion, but they'll have to admit that the paradigm isn't flawed. (And if they don't I challenge them to bring forth a single flaw in my paradigm) Cults usually have a set of questions that they preferably avoid, and twist words around and base on lies. And usually when you expose these lies to a follower, the whole belief comes crumbling down.

 

[جوري]

one word for cult.... scientology... though its members claim it a religion....

 

[Looking4Peace]

many cults sacrifice its own members and do group suicides, i think this is a logical and valid difference between religion and cult, anyone care to disagree?

 

[جوري]

or request large sums of money upon entry...

 

[czgibson]

Greetings,

many cults sacrifice its own members and do group suicides, i think this is a logical and valid difference between religion and cult, anyone care to disagree?

I disagree.

The Moonies don't do that. Scientologists don't do that. Those are two of the biggest cults around, and they wouldn't fit under your definition.

Peace