Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Cult is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "A relatively small group of people having (esp. religious) beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister, or as exercising excessive control over members."
Howard Becker introduced a continuum of types ranging from the cult to the sect, the denomination and the ecclesia, and John Milton Yinger delineated a sixfold typology: the universal church (e.g., the Roman Catholic Church), the ecclesia, by which he meant established national churches (e.g., the Church of England, the Russian Orthodox Church ...
The academic study of new religious movements has been noted to be unusually hostile, with scholars holding strong opinions as to the influence of cults on society. [1] [2] A 1998 article in the magazine Lingua Franca reported on the acrimony of the scholarly debate on the topic; in the "cult-anticult debate", [3] scholars have been described as exhibiting a "toxic level" of suspicion toward ...
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 anti-cult movement, abbreviated ACM and also known as the countercult movement, [1] consists of various governmental and non-governmental organizations and individuals that seek to raise awareness of religious groups that they consider to be "cults", uncover coercive practices used to attract and retain members, and help those who have become involved with harmful cult practices.
For premium support please call: 800-290-4726 more ways to reach us
The cult is also marked by the intensity of the people's feelings for and devotion to their leaders, [107] and the key role played by a Confucianized ideology of familism both in maintaining the cult and thereby in sustaining the regime itself. The North Korean cult of personality is a large part of Juche and totalitarianism.
For premium support please call: 800-290-4726 more ways to reach us