Cult vs. Belief System… your analysis

cult

-a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object.

-a relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister.

Definitions from Oxford Languages

 

belief system

-a set of principles or tenets which together form the basis of a religion, philosophy, or moral code.

Definitions from Oxford Languages

 

Lots of difficult questions today:

Question 1. 

Based on the above definitions, what would you say is the difference between a “cult mindset” and a “belief system mindset”?  

For example, does the difference involve notions like: indoctrination, religious affiliation, central figurehead(s), size of membership, greater societal acceptance, group agendas, other, etc.?

Question 2. 

If indoctrination is a necessary part of cult activity, but not of belief systems, what about the fact that virtually all parents (caretakers) indoctrinate their innocent children with the parent’s own religious, as well as secular, belief systems? Are not both (religious and non-religious) a form of indoctrination?  Which begs a follow-up question:

Question 3. 

What’s the difference between indoctrinating and teaching?

Question4.

Is the following statement true or false?

“A cult has a belief system but having a belief system does not necessarily make an organization a cult.”  Explain your answer. 

Question 5.

a) Are the Christian Nationalists a cult or a belief system?

b) Are The Branch Davidians a cult or a belief system?

c) Are the politically oriented Oath Keepers a cult or a belief system?

d) Are the Democratic and Republican Parties a cult or a belief system?

Question 6.

Do you still stand by your original “difference” definitions?  Do you wish to revise them in any way?

Thanks for posting and recommending.