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It's glib, it's flip, but it's also true: The Difference between a religion and a cult is PR.
A little more deeply, though (strangely, I was pondering this on the way home from work today), a religion is of a size that it provides it's primary function of obviating its member's alienation by inclusion in itself. A cult, on the other hand, obviates alienation by transferring the alienation of the individual member to the group as a whole, thus setting itself against society at large. Religions drive society (sad but true), cults do not.
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Light a man a fire, and he will be warm while it burns.
Set a man on fire, and he will be warm for the rest of his life.
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