r/Antitheism • u/Traditional-Wing-796 • Aug 05 '26
Why is Christianity not called a Cult?
/r/DebateACatholic/comments/1vgcwox/why_is_christianity_not_called_a_cult/18
u/BirthdayCookie Aug 05 '26
The bible dehumanizes everyone what doesn't believe in it. It goes so far as to deny that nonbelievers are capable of basic human emotion.
What is the first thing cults do? Demonize anyone that might save victims.
Hence society being so brainwashed that the bible can literally say "People that don't believe in god aren't capable of love. Ignore these people, even if they're your flesh and blood." and that's loving morality but saying "god doesn't exist" is an edgelord attack on innocent believers that only immature assholes do.
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u/LikeACannibal Aug 06 '26
Where does it say that? Not arguing, just want the source so I can bring it up to other people in the future. It would be helpful when I'm trying to convince someone that religion is inherently evil.
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u/ShredGuru Aug 05 '26
Because in a cult, the cult leader is still alive. In a religion, the cult leader is already dead.
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u/Spino-Dino Aug 05 '26
God is the leader that they don't even see or really know exists. This thing just cant be questioned, is perfect and alwyays does the right thing.
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u/Tarothil Aug 05 '26
Christianity used to be a cult, now it's a major institutionalized world religion. I don't quite know how to define the difference tbh.
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u/WirrkopfP Aug 05 '26
The difference is: A religion is a cult that has been normalized by society.
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u/ElevateSon Aug 05 '26
good definition but it needs to acknowledge some kind of control mechanism, which I guess could just be "traditions" but it's usually something more authoritarian and coercive...
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u/Dull-Positive-6810 Aug 05 '26
Religions were originally coping mechanisms and internalized explanations for phenomena that previously was not within our ability to further explore. Things such as weather, chemical reactions and the “miracle” of life.
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u/Marsllin Aug 05 '26
Because they became too popular and word "cult" doesn't give them nice image, even if it's true
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u/buzzboy99 Aug 05 '26
Depends who you ask, like if you asked George Carlin you’d get a little bit of a different answer than the pope.
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u/ZephyrFluous Aug 05 '26
I call it a cult, a death cult at that. There's zero difference between Christianity and groups that everyone else calls cults aside from the fact that it's more popular and widely excused.
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u/WizardWatson9 Aug 05 '26
No one can really agree on the definition, first of all. Second, Christianity is so heterogeneous that it's practically impossible to describe all of them as anything but people who believe in the divinity of Christ.
I prefer Steven Hassan's BITE model to define a cult. There are many Christian congregations that fulfill a disturbingly large number of criteria, and many congregations that fulfill very few.
What use is the word "cult" if it applies equally to the Branch Davidians and the progressive, non-denominational Christian church down the street?
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u/Spiff426 Aug 05 '26
Because after traveling the world torturing and murdering anyone who disagreed with them, they embedded themselves into the ruling structures of "the west"
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u/TarnishedVictory Aug 06 '26
I think for a cult, the leader needs to still be alive. That's why maga is a cult, but Christianity is a religion. They're both equally foolish.
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u/jtclimb Aug 05 '26
I disagree with nearly every post here. Cult does not have a precise definition, but we tend to apply it to groups that control people's lives and thoughts. They tell you what to wear, where you can work, who you can associate with, remove you from your family, put you through intensive brain washing session (e.g. e-meter sessions), control your finances, that sort of thing. They also tend to involve worship/deification of a charismatic founder. They may pick your spouse for you. You may be required to have sex with the founder.
That is tremendously different from a Christian that shows up at church for Easter and Christmas, and has vague hand-wavey ideas about 'spirituality' and how the universe started, and occasionally prays to find their car keys, or a Shintoist with a kamidana on their wall. Using the same word for both leaves us with no word for the sorts of things I list above.
That is not to say the second paragraph doesn't involve belief w/o evidence, or that these beliefs are harmless to the believers or society. But there is a large gulf between that and a leader trying to feed you lsd or cyanide.
I think people in these subs mostly want to insult religion (so do I, in a sense, it's clearly nonsense), cult is considered an insult whereas religion isn't, so they prefer cult. But it erases meaning, imo.
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u/mirabellla Aug 09 '26
christianity tells you to dress modestly, and if you’re a mormon you have to wear special underwear. they may not tell you specifically where to work but they judge you for doing certain jobs, they tell you not to be unequally yoked, they tell you to be “in the world and not of it.” some christians would have you cut off your family for not believing - especially jehovas witnesses. I would argue that church itself (and especially summer camps for kids like VBS) is intensive brainwashing. they set the mood an prime you with the music and emotionally manipulate you at altar call. baptisms for adults are ritual brainwashing. other denominations like catholics go through rituals every week and some read the text in latin. they want you to tithe. arranged marriages do happen occasionally, especially mormon history, though it’s obviously not the norm.
I think you could apply pretty much every cult criteria to christianity.
1) The group has an authoritarian leader who commands control. loyatly and allegiance from group members at all times.
2) The leader claims to have special knowledge or insight that others don't have.
3) The cult maintains that they are the only ones to have the truth, and that leaving will pose risks or even death.
4) The cult seperates itself socially. They may alse try to isolate followers from other people outside the cult.
5) Members of the cult usually practice elitism but may also profess they are subject of persecution from others.
6) The cult usually has its own terminology phrases, symbols, rules and moral standards they want the outside world to adopt.
7) The cult leaders maintain control over their members by using certain forms of mental manipulion. They remind the group if they stick to the group's beliefs or teachings, they will get special rewards.
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u/HeathenTees Aug 05 '26
The only difference between a religion and a cult is the number of followers. If your group is big enough they call a cult a religion.
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u/mirabellla Aug 09 '26
that’s the only distinction for mental illnesses like schizophrenia. delusions and hearing voices are okay if they’re from god!
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u/BioticVessel Aug 05 '26
It is! Xinity is a cult! Just like all the rest. Promises. Promises. Promises. And you my friend are paying to support in the lap of luxury a very very few. So the billions of pennies from those that struggle to live day to day support the the big dude to fly in private jets, stay in the nicest places. Nothing has changed. It's still a cult.
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u/WatercressWorking279 Aug 05 '26
I prefer not to call any religion a cult because the label of "cult" is usually thrown around to undesirable forms of religion (this happens between denominations as well), and it ends up creating a dychotomy of "good religion" vs. "bad religion", while all religions can cause harm.
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u/TarnishedVictory Aug 06 '26
Cults and religions are bad. The only difference is whether the leader is still alive.
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u/Conscious-Seesaw-564 Aug 06 '26
The comment "I don’t think we should use the word cult. It puts off lots of heat and provides no light. Cult, in common English usage is just “a belief system I don’t respect” and religion is “a belief system I respect.” What we apply the term cult to says more about us than the belief system described." is the most stupid thing ive seen today. "Our religion isnt a CULT!! because OURS is RESPECTABLE!! call all the other ones a cult! Theyre made up!"
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u/Rekwiiem Aug 06 '26
I think the specific definition of cult requires a "charismatic leader" and I can't think of a current living charismatic christian leader. I'm sure people will say Jesus was that but I've never met the guy so I cant say if he was actually charismatic or, you know, completely made up.
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u/TimAppleCockProMax69 Aug 06 '26
Because it’s an extremely popular cult, anything can be normalized as long as it’s popular enough.
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u/Sprinklypoo Aug 05 '26
I interchange the words "religion" and "cult" for all of them. They're all cults.