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Destructive cult is a term frequently used by the anti-cult movement. [18] Members of the anti-cult movement typically define a destructive cult as a group that is unethical, deceptive, and one that uses "strong influence" or mind control techniques to affect critical thinking skills. [32]
The term "cult" first appeared in English in 1617, derived from the French culte, meaning "worship" which in turn originated from the Latin word cultus meaning "care, cultivation, worship". The meaning "devotion to a person or thing" is from 1829. Starting about 1920, "cult" acquired an additional six or more positive and negative definitions.
The term derives from preachers thumping their hands down on the Bible, or thumping the Bible itself, to emphasize a point during a sermon. The term's target domain is broad and can often extend to anyone engaged in a public show of religion, fundamentalist or not. The term is frequently used in English-speaking countries. [4] Cafeteria Christian
Montell argues in Cultish that cults and cultists can be identified in particular through their non-standard use of language – as scholar Scott Lowe put it, "the technical terms, the redefined words, the shorthand, the clichés, the euphemisms, logical distortions, and so on […] set members apart from (and above) their pedestrian neighbors, families, and coworkers". [2]
The application of the labels "cults" or "sects" to (for example) religious movements in government documents usually signifies the popular and negative use of the term "cult" in English and a functionally similar use of words translated as "sect" in several European languages.
The term has been around in Black American communities since the 1990s, appearing as early as 1992 on "It Was a Good Day" by Ice Cube, who raps: "No flexin', didn't even look in a n----'s direction."
A cult of personality uses various techniques, including the mass media, propaganda, the arts, patriotism, and government-organized demonstrations and rallies to create a heroic image of a leader, often inviting worshipful behavior through uncritical flattery and praise. [1]
Cults range from the relatively benign to those that exercise extraordinary control over members' lives and use thought-reform processes to influence and control members. While the conduct of certain cults causes nonmembers to criticize them, the term cult is not in itself pejorative but simply descriptive.