<p>Right. The Catholic Church was corrupt, and was basically becoming a cult. I admit it. But I'm not Catholic :)</p>
<p>I'm a protestant, which means I follow in the tradition of Martin Luther and John Calvin, men who stood up to the pope and said "Um no. Read the Bible, stupid." lmao</p>
<p>^ But do you still consider the Catholic church a cult? Of course not. </p>
<p>Then again, taken out of context, would you consider "drinking the blood" and "eating the flesh" cult-like? Of course. And yes, some sects of Christianity believe that the wine and bread LITERALLY BECOME the blood and flesh.</p>
<p>Right. Once again, a Catholic belief, of which I'm not a member.
And yes, I do still believe that the Catholic Church has tons of huge problems.</p>
<p>^ Many other than Catholics believe in transubstantiation. </p>
<p>But my point is, what is cult-like to one person is faith to another. Where do you draw the line between cult and religion? You can't. Therefore this entire discussion is bogus lol.</p>
<p>Have you seen the movie "Bubble Boy?" Tell me the Bright and Shinies are a religion instead of a cult and I will throttle you haha. Sometimes you can just plain tell.</p>
<p>I've never seen Bubble Boy. Lol. (Ok, I did once. But I was too "gone" to remember it.)</p>
<p>But like I said, one person's cult is another's religion. And again, people will argue that Wicca is a cult, which obviously it is not. It's all a matter of perception.</p>
<p>I think the idea that a cult is a religion is postmodernism taken too far. The boundaries may be blurred a little, but does anyone truly believe L. Ron Hubbard or the Rev. Jim Jones headed legitimate religions? I realize that it's not the amount of time that it has existed that is the main difference, why is why I consider Baha'i a religion. While Christianity and other religions may have been similar in the past, the characteristics shared with cults were not part of these religions, but rather a corruption of them.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
This applies most most major religions
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>What other religion has a Fair Game policy?</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
Maybe they use this payment for the good of society? In that case, it qualifies as a donation, which isn't that much different from the Catholic "good works" requirement.
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>No, they don't use it for society, so it's not like tithing or the "good works" reuqirement. Even Catholic "indulgences" were designed for relatives, and were not required to move up spiritually. I admit that they were corrupt, but not in the same way.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
And religions are founded on ideas in the Bible, Koran, Torah, etc.
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>Although many (including) may believe the ideas in those books are incorrect, they are not patently absurd. Furthermore, those books were written after the founding of their religion, and their purpose was never to make money.</p>
<p>Thank you, Mr. Leon Trotsky, sir :p</p>
<p>Useful references from Wikipedia:</p>
<p>Cult</a> checklist - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cult</a> - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Religion</a> - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</p>
<p>Actually, now that I think about it, it may be true that all cults are religions but that not all religions are cults. This makes more sense than considering them mutually exclusive, since all cults have religious aspects.</p>
<p>To the person below - are you referring to me?</p>
<p>A cult is commonly defined as a fringe religion, one that has not yet become accepted in the mainstream (upon the acceptance of which one needs to give a non-ostensive definition of religion). Either way, what does it matter if cults are considered religions or not? It seems like a pointless squabble over semantics to me, and when one finally maneuvers through all the various word games and creates a coherent vocabulary, the veracity of the various belief systems remains the same -- whatever you considerations are regarding certain groups, the groups care not, and the respective arguments that said groups present are no more and no less valid.</p>
<p>Scientology is a cult because of its numerous criminal activities. Believing in the galactic overlord Xenu is harmless in itself.</p>
<p>I believe in Elves.</p>
<p>^ My friend saw fairies one time. And gremlins are real. Seriously I swear they take my car keys and hide them >.<</p>
<p>From Dictionary</a> and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online</p>
<p>Cult:
1: formal religious veneration : worship
2: a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also : its body of adherents
3: a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also : its body of adherents
4: a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator <health cults="">
5 a: great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book); especially : such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fad b: the object of such devotion c: a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion</health></p>
<p>I think 3 is most what we're looking for.</p>
<p>Back to the original topic, IMO a lack of skepticism rather than a lack of intelligence could cause a person to join a cult. Those things are pretty related to each other though.</p>
<p>Someone may have mentioned this but weren't the Heaven's Gaters a bunch of computer nerds? They were definitely one of the more fashion conscious cults to come along.</p>
<p>I liken the susceptibility to cults the same as I do hypnosis, some people are just more easily influenced.</p>
<p>To address the OP: Even in general, it's difficult to say that cults alone are indicative of any sort of correlation with intelligence. Somewhat, maybe, but the fact that one's in a cult does not necessarily mean much, unless conjoined with a multitude of other factors.</p>
<p>I've never felt that my belief in elves/pokemon/DBZ/games were of the slightest detrimental or any form of impediment to my "intelligence" or educational status (if I ever do have one...).</p>
<p>...Go figure, Harry Potter it is, indeed... </p>
<p>(Someone find a rollseyes emoticon yet?)</p>
<p>^ You mean :rolleyes:?</p>
<p>:rolleyes: </p>
<p>Yes, romani. I already knew how to post down the emoticon but I never imagined that it'd be the same on this forum as well. Gah, because I tried the exact same one on another forum/website kinda thing and it ended up becoming something really ridiculous. I guess I was just intoxicated that day or it was a typo. In fact, previously I tried the same method and it didn't work, but now it works.</p>
<p>Weird...</p>
<p>Oh haha, I forgot to post how to do it. Lol. </p>
<p>Well for everybody who didn't know: : rolleyes : without the spaces.</p>