Quote:
Originally Posted by Russ B
As much as I view Catholicism with distain, my respect for you has dropped quite sharply with that potentially libelous post 
Anyway, what's wrong with calling Scientology a cult? |
Limited thinkers <sigh>
I have no fixed view. I was simply musing on the fact that the definition of a cult does seem to vary greatly, and established religions often have the features of a cult but are not labelled as such because of, well, a few centuries of history.
Taking Catholicism... There's a fair bit of chanting and rituals, including one (common to Christianity) whereby wine and bread are believed to become the blood and body of a long-dead god - and are then consumed. Unsafe sex is advocated, endangering the health of believers. And I doubt any country has been left untouched by the scandal of abusive priests. Sounds very cult-like to me.