Speaking of cults and "working for god" too, why not check out this sight on an insidious cult.

http://www.odan.org/index.htm

This power and control seeking cult now effectively controls the "catholic" and thus its various "conservative" cultural and political agendas. So too with other right-wing "traditionalist" outfits in the said church. Many very influential people pretend that this phenomenon is the only way to "save" the West from its obvious decline and malaise.

How did this occur? Through a very systematic effort on the part previous pope and Ratzinger himself. The details of which are explained in great detail in the book Ratzinger's War by Matthew Fox.

We definitely should NOT be so tolerant of cults at all.

Any organized religious/spiritual group that exerts any kind of social pressure, threats, distinct brainwashing attempts on recruits or potential recruits, should be immediately banned.

Of course we, as individuals, should be intolerant of cults. By their very nature, they are the very antithesis of free will in operation, having found a way to tap into a person's insecurities in order to do their thinking for them.

I would have thought that mainstream religion-based cults would be the most powerful of all, since their background movement is in fact ubiquitous, and therefore familiar. But the question I was left with after reading the article was... so what?

We are all different, and react in different ways to the world around us. Unless it is actually breaking laws, I would suggest that exercising any form of control over the cult itself would be counter-productive. Martyrdom is a powerful symbol, and I doubt a cult worth its salt would hesitate to employ it.

Then of course there is the concept of individual free will. By what right would we move to prevent the person from joining, should they so desire?

An interesting article.

Is market capitalism a cult or simply a fetish?
When does a religion turn cult-like?
Are all religions necessarily cults writ large?

Are all cults bad? If I started a cult of tickling people or making people laugh, would that be a problem?

If there is compulsion to join a group, no matter whether its the Liberal Party or the Brethren, then it's a no no. I half think that many cults are no more cultish than the Freemasons, but they make good copy.

Green religion is among the worse of cults. It often ensleves people in their lusts while projecting a self righteousness morality. Being slaves to sin is certainly are lot harder than being free to serve Christ. Cult leaders like Al Gore have certainly led many astray while pocketing far more than most American evangelist. Many bands they have encouraged their disciples to rebel and hate their parents and have more than likely done far more damage than the many and varied religious cults that deceive people. Some parents pay big money for their kids to be perverted by the likes of Ga ga. The std's they are likely to catch ny emulating their heroes is far worse than a woman that wants to pray all her life. Have many kids have drowned in their vomit as a result of following the ACDC cult?

Like everyone else in our society, cults or members of cults, are subject to the same laws as anyone else.

If these cult members break the law, such as kidnapping, child abuse, sexual abuse, theft of money or property etc, in the name of that cult's beliefs or Gods, then they should be made illegal.

If a cult is not really hurting anyone, or breaking any laws, then they should be left alone.