[On a video about wicca is a cult]
Atheist: And like christianity isnt? Just remember who is the christian wearing the mask.
The Fundy: You obviously do not know what a cult is, if you believe that Christianity is one.
39 comments
Cults are groups of religious extremist that brainwash people and make it almost impossible to leave.
And yes, christianity does have it's share of cults.
This so called "new religion" is nothing but a pack of weird rituals and
chants designed to take away the money of fools. Let us say the Lord's
prayer 40 times, but first let's pass the collection plate!
-- Reverend Lovejoy's church sermon, "The Joy of Sect"
One of my favourite quotes from the Simpsons.
You obviously do not know what a cult is, if you believe that Christianity is one.
http://www.cultclinic.org/qa1.html
Destructive Cult Characteristics:
1. Self-appointed messianic leader(s) who focuses followers’ veneration upon him or her, claims divine selection, and exercises autocratic control over members’ lives.
2. Use of deception and misrepresentation for purposes of recruitment, retention and fundraising.
3. Techniques aimed at controlling individual thought and personal privacy that frequently lead to a coerced reconstitution of personality.
A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO:
* Give total and unquestioning loyalty to a leader as a living deity or prophet.
* Use deception and manipulation to recruit and keep members.
HAS A LEADER (OR LEADERS) WHO:
* Is charismatic.
* Holds a uniquely exalted position.
* Claims an exclusive relationship with God, truth, happiness, etc.
THE GROUP EXPECTS:
* Complete and total loyalty and obedience to the leader.
* Complete and literal acceptance of the leader’s teachings.
* Unquestioning devotion to the group and its leader
The Fundy: You obviously do not know what a cult is, if you believe that Christianity is one.
Actually, you are correct!
Christianity is not ONE cult, it is comprised of several thousand different cults.
It is a rickroll... and that exchange did happen. Well, damn.
But I gotta say, it appears, from what Beeblebrox quoted, Christianity is quite cultish and my beloved Discordianism is very much not. That's... that's messed up!
Let's pay some respect to language here. The atheists who post on this site think that Christianity is complete BS and that's fine. Calling it a cult doesn't make that any more or less true and confuses the issue.
Cults are (usually esoteric) minorities within a larger religious grouping, isolated from the main body and unable or unwilling to engage in rational diaologue with it. They are exclusive, self-righteous and deeply hostile to all who challenge their credentials. I'd say that fundies have a cult mentality although not all of them are separatist and may belong to mainstream churches. Liberal Christians do their level best to be the exact opposite of all this and will make common cause with atheists on matters of justice (e.g. gay marriage) as no fundie will ever do. We might still talk BS, but spare us the "cult" label, it's just not accurate.
Fundie definition of cult:
Cult n. Any religion, belief sytem, or christian sect that isn't mine.
Actually, the Greek word 'cultus' means pretty much the same thing as 'religion'. The Greeks used the word cult to describe particular devotion to a single god, like the cult of Aphrodite, or the cult of Apollo. Early christians used the word to describe particular devotion to a particular saint, such as the cult of St. Gregory the Great, or the cult of St. Athanasius. It's only in modern American fundamentalist christianity that the word 'cult' has taken on a negative connotation. Like they say, though, a religion is just a cult with more members. So the fundy doesn't know what the word cult actually means, but I've learned that fundies don't know the meaning to alot of words, as a matter of fact, they're pretty linguistically and grammatically challenged.
Main Entry: cult
Pronunciation: \'k?lt\
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: French & Latin; French culte, from Latin cultus care, adoration, from colere to cultivate more at wheel
Date: 1617
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
*sigh* Christianity isn't a cult. There's a difference between a mere cult and a full-blown religion. Get it right, people.
Yeah, the size of the membership list.
Seriously, though, all the hallmarks of 'cultish' behavior are present in what you would call religion, tucked away under the veneer of respectability that comes with the political power and the vast number of adherents. You may not like it when we conflate your cult with Heaven's Gate, but they're hard to tell apart sometimes.
No, Christianity is not a cult. Sure, there are cults IN Christianity, but the religion itself is not a cult.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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