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Cults, like sects, often integrate elements of existing religious theologies, but cults tend to create more esoteric theologies synthesized from many sources. [citation needed] According to Ronald L. Johnstone, cults tend to emphasize individual and individual peace. [32] Cults, like sects, can develop into denominations.
In the 1970s, the scientific status of the "brainwashing theory" became a central topic in U.S. court cases where the theory was used to try to justify the use of the forceful deprogramming of cult members [19] [60] Meanwhile, sociologists who were critical of these theories assisted advocates of religious freedom in defending the legitimacy of ...
The theory of religious economy sees different religious organizations competing for followers in a religious economy, much like the way businesses compete for consumers in a commercial economy. Theorists assert that a true religious economy is the result of religious pluralism , giving the population a wider variety of choices in religion.
Sociology of religion is the study of the beliefs, practices and organizational forms of religion using the tools and methods of the discipline of sociology.This objective investigation may include the use both of quantitative methods (surveys, polls, demographic and census analysis) and of qualitative approaches (such as participant observation, interviewing, and analysis of archival ...
It's murky; the American Psychological Association says a cult is "a religious or quasi-religious group characterized by unusual or atypical beliefs, seclusion from the outside world and an ...
Cult is the care (Latin: cultus) owed to deities and their temples, shrines, or churches; cult is embodied in ritual and ceremony. Its presence or former presence is made concrete in temples , shrines and churches , and cult images , including votive offerings at votive sites .
"Heaven's Gate: The Cult of Cults" (Max) In 1997, 39 members of Heaven’s Gate, a celibate religious sect, died in a mass ritual suicide timed to the approach of the Hale-Bopp Comet. The deceased ...
In a review, John Moryl writes that the book addresses the topic of cults from the viewpoint of an evangelical Christian.Moryl questioned Rhodes's inclusion of certain groups in the book, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jehovah's Witnesses, Unitarian Universalism, and Freemasonry, and attributed this to a unique evangelical perspective.