Quote:
Originally posted by Tophat665
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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If I understand correctly you are saying organized religions make the members feel part of their internal group and try to get their organization to fit into the greater community. Cults try to get their members to feel part of the cult but in the end alienate their group from society as a whole. Interesting take.