PAT MATHEWS wrote:
From: David Hobby <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Is there an actual definition of "religious cult" lurking
here? I'd say that the main difference should be how much
interaction is allowed with the outside world. A cult
would be a group where interaction with outsiders was
severely circumscribed and limited. This doesn't match
with how the word is often used, but seems one of the few
ways to get a useful meaning out of it. Otherwise, "cult"
may wind up meaning "young religion", and you'd be losing
your argument with Charlie.
Google for Isaac Bonewitz Cult Definition. He has I forget how many
points. A list in much use.
Pat--
I googled for that, but wound up reading the Wikipedia article
instead. There certainly are some groups that take the "mind
control cult" model to the extreme, and in so doing, conform
to almost all the points in popular anti-cult checklists. But
then there are a lot of groups that only partially fit. I'd
say this includes the splinter group of Mormon polygamists
that started this discussion. (I don't believe they aggressively
proselytized, for instance.)
What I've been thinking about is the future state of world
society (if all goes well). We could get to a place where
there was one larger society on Earth (with LOTS of diversity
within it). And then there would be small groups that were
not part of it, in the sense that the groups would not tolerate
people being "half members". For instance, the Amish will
probably still be farming and driving buggies in Pennsylvania,
200 years from now. I don't know if you'd call them a cult,
but certain groups certainly practice shunning in a way that
makes it hard to be "part Amish". Groups that do this kind
of thing, and don't die out, will probably be around for a
long time.
The issue I'm mulling over is, how should the larger society
deal with these small self-isolating groups? I'd argue that
there is a moral duty to make sure that individuals would
have a path to leave them, but that otherwise they should
be left pretty much alone to go their own way.
---David
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