"Cult" was originally an innocent and benign word denoting a system of ritual practices (source: Wikipedia). But, recently, cult usually refers to an upstart religious movement with few members, which, in that sense, is a neutral word, or to a religious movement advocating beliefs or practices considered abnormal or bizarre by mainstream religions, which, in that sense, is a pejorative term. Today, its pejorative connotation overshadows its neutral meaning; so that any person would resent it very much, or would cause your early demise, if you called the group to which he or she belonged a cult. Of course, its pejorative use is purely subjective; so that we would hear members of one long established religion call a rival, but equally long established, religion a cult, and vice versa. Subjective as it is, there are religious movements indorsing doctrines and ideas which are so bizarre that any modern, decent and moral person would have no difficulty calling it a cult. Even worse are religious movements which are outright violent or destructive that even the most antiquated, indecent and immoral person would have no difficulty calling it a cult. The last kind usually takes the form of what are called Doomsday Cults, and the more famous of these are the Peoples Temple at Jonestown, the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God, the followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, the Aum Shinrikyo, the Order of the Solar Temple, and the Branch Davidians. (Source of list: Wikipedia) Preoccupation about the doomsday is healthy and is an integral part of our religious belief, regardless of our religions. But Doomsday Cults carry their preoccupation of doomsday to the extreme. They either kill their own members, perhaps in the hope of putting themselves first in the queue to heaven, or kill non-members whom they perceive are not preparing for the end time.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Jun 2013 03:06:09 +0000
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