Christianity can’t really be a cult because it isn’t centralized at all. There are definitely christian denominations with some cult like qualities, like the mormons and jehovah’s witnesses, but christianity as a whole is definitely not a cult.
To be clear I’m definitely not saying christianity is good, it has as many problems as any other religion, it just isn’t really a cult, if we apply the word cult so broadly it loses it’s usefulness. If we say christianity as a whole is a cult, then we need a new word to refer to the actual individual groups within christianity that we would usually call cults. It doesn’t really make sense to say that mormons and jehovah’s witnesses are a single cult, so what would we call them? There’s an important distinction to be made between a single group with strict control over its members and a general set of beliefs.
There is no requirement that a cult be centralized. Christianity and other religions are essentially fandoms(or tribes) organized (somewhat loosely) around shared principles. The major difference between a cult and a fandom is if it is deemed socially helpful or harmful by society (or the ruling class) at large.
Christianity can’t really be a cult because it isn’t centralized at all. There are definitely christian denominations with some cult like qualities, like the mormons and jehovah’s witnesses, but christianity as a whole is definitely not a cult.
To be clear I’m definitely not saying christianity is good, it has as many problems as any other religion, it just isn’t really a cult, if we apply the word cult so broadly it loses it’s usefulness. If we say christianity as a whole is a cult, then we need a new word to refer to the actual individual groups within christianity that we would usually call cults. It doesn’t really make sense to say that mormons and jehovah’s witnesses are a single cult, so what would we call them? There’s an important distinction to be made between a single group with strict control over its members and a general set of beliefs.
There is no requirement that a cult be centralized. Christianity and other religions are essentially fandoms(or tribes) organized (somewhat loosely) around shared principles. The major difference between a cult and a fandom is if it is deemed socially helpful or harmful by society (or the ruling class) at large.
cults only recently got negative connotations.
most cults are harmless.
where did you get that definition of a cult?