Difference between Religion, Sect and Cult.

Hello All!

I'm wandering on spirituality matters.

First, I want to know what is Religion?
How is a Religion created?

What is the problem with Sects and Cults?
Are they dangerous or evil for people?
Are there "Right" Cults and Sects?

Thank's
Happy.

reply to post by Happyface


Anything that tries to restrict free-will is bad.

I'm not in a religion, but I read the Bible and try to follow Christ. No one told me what's going to be good for me. No one told me to do this because it's supposed to be good. I do it because it's good for me and I did it out of my free will.

We are supposed to find happiness and share it. Not finite happiness like those offered by drugs, alcohol, unrestricted sex, you get the idea.

reply to post by Happyface


When I was in college, I took a world religions class, and at least from the Christian point of view, these are more or less the techinal definitions:

Relgion--A belief system that people around the world follow that answers these three questions: Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going?

Sect--A religion is made up of different sects. They more or less believe the same thing with minor differences. Examples would be the denominations in Christianity and Islam.

Cult--A cult is only a faith that distorts orthodox Christian teaching. Usually, this takes the form of denying either Christ's divinity or humanity. They also claim that they're Christian and they're the only way to go to heaven. [Other religions do deny the former things about Christ, but, since they don't claim that they're Christian, they're not cults, but religions.]

reply to post by ahnggk


Thank's ahnggk.
Do you think that its no needed a religion to live in the right way?
Bible didn't come without Religion, I think.

Peace
Happy

Anything that restricts free will is bad?That is the most idiotic statement I have ever heard.We need laws and here in America they once were based on Christianity buy not so much anymore.

reply to post by octotom



"Sect--A religion is made up of different sects. They more or less believe the same thing with minor differences. Examples would be the denominations in Christianity and Islam. "

Good point octotom.
Do you have any idea how Christianity began?
Well, it's too much.
What do you think on modern religions, scientology ?

Happy.

[edit on 11-6-2009 by Happyface]

I would say it's the size that makes the difference in what the groups are called.

Get enough cult members and it soons ends up a religion.

I'm sure i don't have to name any names.

As for anything that restricts free will is bad. I agree we do need some rules, but doesn't the ten commandments restrict free will?

CX.

What do I need to begin or create a Religion?

Maybe is easier to create a Cult.
What do I need?
How can I deal with Free Will to get more followers?

Happy.

Originally posted by Happyface
Thank's ahnggk.
Do you think that its no needed a religion to live in the right way?
Bible didn't come without Religion, I think.

Christ didn't come to promote a religion. From the message he gave, he didn't actually revealed the whole truth yet, but he gave the means to seek the truth.

Anything that restricts free will is bad?That is the most idiotic statement I have ever heard.We need laws and here in America they once were based on Christianity buy not so much anymore.

Yes, it is! If you try to restrict someone's free will, that makes you a bad person. If you steal something that doesn't belong to you against the owner's will, then you are doing a bad thing! The same can be said if you spoil your child that he/she fails to reach his/her potential, thus limiting his/her ability to find happiness on their own and to correctly practice their free will.

That statement I made doesn't only apply to a religion or law, it applies to all of us. So if a law or religion, attempts to justify free will equally for all, then it's good.

hello heres what deffinations of the three terms are according to dictionary dot com. my thoughts on the terms follow after .

re-li-gion
–noun 1. a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.
2. a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects: the Christian religion; the Buddhist religion.

sect
–noun 1. a body of persons adhering to a particular religious faith; a religious denomination.
2. a group regarded as heretical or as deviating from a generally accepted religious tradition.
3. (in the sociology of religion) a Christian denomination characterized by insistence on strict qualifications for membership, as distinguished from the more inclusive groups called churches.
4. any group, party, or faction united by a specific doctrine or under a doctrinal leader.

cult
1. a particular system of religious worship, esp. with reference to its rites and ceremonies.
2. an instance of great veneration of a person, ideal, or thing, esp. as manifested by a body of admirers: the physical fitness cult.
3. the object of such devotion.
4. a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc.
5. Sociology. a group having a sacred ideology and a set of rites centering around their sacred symbols.
6. a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.
7. the members of such a religion or sect.
8. any system for treating human sickness that originated by a person usually claiming to have sole insight into the nature of disease, and that employs methods regarded as unorthodox or unscientific.

now these definitions do not require that cristianity be the religion of refrence for the terms. they are not specific to just one religion.

id have to agree with the poster ahnggk that restriction of freewill and fredom of thought are bad things in general. sure there is plenty of things positive about the idea of rule of law, there are negatives as well such as the fact that most laws are made by the elite and hence able to be easily used by them to keep there station above the commoners.

but you dont need a book or church of any kind to be a good person and live a good life. particularly if the book or institution in question trys to use negative reinforcment of its teachings and values by use of fear. fear is most likly mans oldest and most powerful of emotions and those who wish to control others are well aware of the fact that its a exelent motivator and use it with out hesitation. you shouldent need to fear your god, i personaly worship many gods with thanatos as my personal patron god and i cant imagine my life without him but also i cant comprehend the idea of fearing him even though he is the god of death and seen by many as scarey.

in my mind a religion is a belife system that helps form your perception of reality with out restricting personal growth or freedom.

a sect is a off shoot of a religon that has a slightly altered way of worship then the standered version of the belife system.

and a cult is a group that is ofton but not allways small in number that restricts the free will and personal growth of its members and ofton times requires its members to be almost slaves to the person who runs the group who usually claims some form of self divinity.

well there you have it a answer to your question from an non christian point of view. as with everything concerning spirtuality your millage may vary.

reply to post by krill


Thank you Krill.

Nice speech!
What would we have instead of Religion?
Is it possible to live without Religion?

I like your angles.

Happy

Free will can be a very bad thing.Maybe I am misunderstanding what you mean.If my two year old wants to stick his finger in light socket and I stop him,did I infringe on his free will?

If I want to have an affair on my husband of 16yrs and I do so because of my free will,is it not bad?

reply to post by debz325


free will isent bad the choices you make while using it are. thats like saying knives are bad because they are used to stab people when its not the knife thats the problem its the psycho running around shanking people with it thats bad.

you cant blame free will for what someone does with it. i breath air, but you know what so does a serial rapeist , is the air bad because it keeps him alive? or is he bad for what he does with that life? i think the answers are apparent.

reply to post by Happyface


Yes, I know how Christianity began. People originally viewed it as a sect of Judaism because it was made up of Jews. Eventually, it established itself as a separate entity.

I personally view Scientology as a cult, because of it's brainwashing practices. But, according to the technical Christian definition, it would be a religion because, it doesn't claim to be Christian. The same goes for other modern religions as well.

Well that is true but Chrisianity gives free will but warns of consequences.I think it is a cult when religion destroys human rights.Inslaves there women and children and so on.I don't think any of the big religions are cults except islam.Look at how they treat there own people?Very sad for the women and children there.

reply to post by Happyface


its not only possible to live with out religion id go as far as saying it can be easier living with out a religion. the way i see it is faith no matter what form that faith takes is a double edged knife. sure it provides strength, hope and a feeling of being connected to the reality around you. but it also clouds your perception of that reality by making it easy to use the religion as a filter to see that reality. take for instance the old parable of the three blind men and the elephant.

en.wikipedia.org...

the story is ment to show that percption of reality does not allways equal the truth of that reality. now put that story in a religion context. 3 men come across a man with wings flying above them. the cristian immediatly says that its a seraph, the shinto follower sees it and yells that it must be a kami of the winds, while the pagan immediatly thinks that he has seen (using my own faith as example) thanatos rising from the underworld to claim the souls of the dead. each of the three let there religion color their percption of reality. sometimes a winged man is just that , other times he may be one of the three divine beings the men claim them to be. the trick is learning to not go with preconcevied notions and instead observe reality openly to see as much as you can rather then ignoring the parts that dont mesh with your belifes.

Relgion--A belief system that people around the world follow that answers these three questions: Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going?

I would agree with that definition, but also that it doesn't necessarily need to be "global" to be classified as a religion. Voodoo, for example, is fairly regionalized.

Sect--A religion is made up of different sects. They more or less believe the same thing with minor differences. Examples would be the denominations in Christianity and Islam.

I would agree with this. A sect is simply within a larger, more recognized religion, that has certain different viewpoints or interpretations on specific points within that overall religion.

Cult--A cult is only a faith that distorts orthodox Christian teaching. Usually, this takes the form of denying either Christ's divinity or humanity. They also claim that they're Christian and they're the only way to go to heaven. (Other religions do deny the former things about Christ, but, since they don't claim that they're Christian, they're not cults, but religions).

I would disagree. A cult is not only within one religion. A true cult tends to isolate believers from society and is typically led by a charismatic leader for an end purpose. For example, some classify Scientology as a cult, but by definition (and it's recognized status), it only has some (not all) of the earmarks of a cult. However, there are sects within Scientology (and many other religions) that would fit the bill.

The problem I have with most organized religions is this: in order to be right, everyone else has to be wrong. Therefore, if you state that only your followers are rewarded in an afterlife, then all others are (by default) damned. That means for any given religion to be correct, over half of the world's population is pretty much doomed. No matter how you slice it, that doesn't really sound like a (nice) deity....

reply to post by Gazrok



Thank you Gazrok you have a very good point.
What about politics?
Could we see our charismatics lideres as a deign Messiahs?
Some terms you post fit the picture.

Thanks.
Happy

In most cults, the charismatic leaders are claiming to be messiahs...(David Koresh, for example, Jim Jones, etc., etc.)