CJ, beware the dangling modifier...

>>As one of OLO's most obdurate Christian boofheads, I generally ignore him...<<

Shurely not?

A cult is a loosley organised religious movement that is independent of the religious tradition of the surrounding society.

Unlike the sect, which attempts to revive or reinterpret older doctrines, the cult emphasizes the new, drawing symbols and rituals from beyond the religious mainstream.

The cult tends to be the most temporary of all forms of religious organisation. It usually has few coherent doctrines and imposes minimal demands on believers: like the denomination but unlike the sect, it is open to almost anyone who wishes to participate. The members tend to have relatively low commitment to the organisation, and people drift in and out of the group.

Cults are often centred on specific prophets or other leaders and generally lack trained officials. They appeal to people who, disenchanted with traditional religion, participate for the personal benefits or experiences the cult offers them.

Contemporary cults currently include such loosely structured groups as, spiritualists, believers in astrology, or transcendental meditation.

cont'd

The Methodists, started out as a spontaneous, unrestrained sect
of the poor, but today they are amongst the most affluent and respectable of the Protestant denominations. Similarly, the Mormons were once an oppressed sect, persecuted in state after state in the US until they settled in the area that became Utah. But as the Mormons became more prosperous and successful, they abandoned some earlier fundamentalist teachings (notably that permitting polygamy, which they gave up in order to gain statehood for Utah).

The Seventh-Day Adventists, too began as a sect prophesying the end of the world on a specific date. That day having come and gone, they have developed from a sect into a denomination with an increasingly middle-class membership and a trained clergy.

Pericles: "beware the dangling modifier..."

Ha! Would you believe that I actually considered it, then thought that nobody could possibly mistake me for a Christian? ;)

Very droll nonetheless.

thank you Gibo- your confronting of your demons has surely saved the public purse....smothered and bitten? you are one brave hombre.

Yours is a world that has much in common with animistic beliefs. From central Oz to Africa and beyond, witch doctors and Ngangkari are doing such work.

Keep it up.

My world Palimpsest is only an average christian world.
Its pentecostal and will speak about evil spirit powers.
We dont run from them.
We dont go looking for contact with demons either as do witchdoctors. Openning those doors is evil and maximum dumb.
Parents with kids watch what your children do with Harry Potters witchcraft...its so dangerous.
Sometimes evil spirits come to us to frighten us away from some event or other. I happened to be a christian writer so they targeted me from time to time.
I wasnt deterred just strengthened in my faith in The Lord.