Are all cults 'bad'?

I was discussing this with a friend and she believes that all so called 'cults' are bad, wrong and every attempt should be made to help someone get away from tht environment. The way I see it is that yes there bad cults that do take advantage of people when they are most vulnerable and are only in it for personal gain, but then there are also cults (whether or not thats the right word I don't klnow) that do help people out when they need it most, perhaps for personal, social or whatever reason. Just because something is labelled a cult and the mind and the media automatically assume brain washing, is it always that bad? If someone is struggling with religion or what to believe in and a 'cult' helps them find inner peace so to speak, and it doesn't harm them or anyone else - is it bad??

What do you guys think?

 

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cults es are bad, but some things are labeled as cults that really ent cults.
cults themselves though, real cults are all about the overinflated ego's of the cult leaders..the religiosaspects distorted & twisted in order to gain control of the followers..they prey on confusion..ive known a few people who have been in cults, or grew up in cults & i've never heard of 1 who was helped in any way by them

while in a cult though it is possible to believe that its helping you, that without the cult youd be lost, but thatsa result of having been lost before joining the cult, being told that all the answers you saught were to be found there..but isnt that just brainwashing?
ofcourse theres not alot of difference between cults & most organized religions, except in most cults the cult leader elevates himself to godlike status.

Ofcourse someof the things that the cult database (yes theresasuch thing) list as cults but bear nothing in common with any cults except a spiritual aspect can be very good indeed.
but anytime theres an over glorified leader, then its an actual cult, & i dont think theresever been one that really was good.

 

Yes...

 

even though I think this is too gray for a straight answer, I think it would be safe to lean towards yes

but I do agree that sometimes they can be good for the individual

it depends on so many things from how you define a cult to how you define bad or beneficial

 

Could someone give an example of an organization that has been called a "cult" that one might suggest is either beneficial or at least not harmful to an individual? I've tossed it around in my head, and I can't think of anything...

 

are all cults bad? of course not, but a lot of things that arn't usually though of as cults, or called cults, really do amount to cults, and the not so wonderful kind at that.

=^^=
.../\...

 

All cults aren't bad. Christianity started out as a cult, Judaism started out as a cult, Islam started out as a cult, Hinduism started out as a cult, Bhuddism started out as a cult. I learned in school that a cult is a religion with a very small following, and it causes the members to live outside the conventional way.

 

If all religions started as cults, then all religions are cults.
More wars have been started because of religion, therefore, we need less cults, and less religion, not more.

 

But another essential characteristic is mind control. Your definition fits groups that are sects, but cults include mind control.

 

AA?

 

So, you think the Church doesnt practice mind control? tell me why millions of Africans die every year from AIDS when the only organization with the power to stop the spread refuses to distribute condoms, because they are unholy?

 

Some cults include mind control.

A cult is a minority religion. That's it. There are negative connotations given to the word cult, but that doesn't mean they're accurate. Not all cults are distructive and they don't all use mind control.

 

Wicca and most New Age religions are considered to be cults by a lot of people (and those people include sociologists, so you can unknot your panties), Hare Krishna, and Voodoo (and by that I mean the REAL Voodoo religion).

 

Technically that isn't mind control. The people are told that if they have AIDS to not have sex.

 

Well actually a cult isn't even a minority religion. Cult comes from the Latin cultus meaning care or adoration. That is why you have the Cult of Mary in the Roman Church. It isn't that those people are a minority religion within a religion, they just have a special Adoration of Mary. Same goes for the cults of St Christopher, Anthony, Catherine of Sienna, etc.

I just pwn'd you BTW. Cult in the modern sense, and in the sense being used in the context of this thread and forum generally refers to those religious and para-religious organizations that are viewed as spurious and have questionable practices (read "fraud") and questionable recruitment techniques (read "brainwashing meaning denial of food and water, and emotional battering that leads the person open to suggestion").

 

all religeons that make their revealer an object of worship are certaily cults and that certainly includes christianity.

but it isn't actually religeons that wars are STARTED over, they just make warfare possible. or rather, misunderstandings about them do, which are then used to recruit the gullible and justify conflict to them.

=^^=
.../\...

 

That's the Catholic church, not the millions of other mainstream and independent churches around the world... Condoms aren't unholy to me... To me, if you're not ready to be a father, you wear a damned rubber and you damn well better not whine about it. If you're not ready to be a father and you don't wear a rubber and chance it, you're an idiot.

I'm a Christian, and I just put that the most blunt and brutal way I can.

 

me and a friend were arguing about this the other day, they said that as religion has caused so much hurt we should get rid of all religion, especially as we can substitute all the good its given us with another motivation. however i said that even if that happened people would start asking the same eternal questions. then the answer was to just have one cult / religion, but we all know that what works for one person doesn't neccessarily work for another so therefore we need a broard range of religions and we get to where we are today because they fight.

 

That would be an yes bob for 100,0000.00 please