Theveneration,devotion, and religious rites given to a deity (especially in a historical polytheistic context), or (in a Christian context) to asaint; asubset ofworship.
Two formercult members explain the difficulties they had extricating themselves from it.
1985, Rodney Stark,Religious movements: Genesis, Exodus, and Numbers, Paragon House Publishers,→ISBN, page167:
Werner Erhard's highly successful estcult is partly derived from Scientology. Erhard had some experience with Scientology in 1969. Then he worked for a while in Mind Dynamics, itself an offshoot of Jose Silva's Mind Control.
1996,John Ankerberg, John Weldon,Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs, Harvest House Publishers,→ISBN, page216:
There are scores of modern religiouscults and sects that have been influenced by Hinduism to varying degrees. Werner Erhard, founder of 'Landmark Education's 'The Forum',' and 'est' seminars, which have about 700,000 graduates, was influenced by Hinduism through Swami Muktananda, one of Erhard's principal gurus.
1997, Len Oakes, “Followers and Their Quest”, inProphetic charisma: The Psychology of Prophetic Charisma, Syracuse University Press,→ISBN, page137:
Outsiders often criticize the extreme commitment of group members. But what is really happening is that leader and followers are conspiring to realize a vision that is falsified daily. For thecult is not paradise, and the leader is not God. Hence the follower is embattled; to squarely confront the many failings of the leader and the group is to call into question one's own great work. Only by daily recommitting himself can the follower continue to work toward his ultimate goal. Each follower works out a secret compromise, acknowledging some things while denying or distorting others. Clearly this is a high-risk strategy that may go awry.
1998 June 17, Scott McLemee, “Rethinking Jonestown”, inSalon.com[1]:
The difference between acult and an established religion is sometimes about one generation.
1998 June 17, Scott McLemee, “Rethinking Jonestown”, inSalon.com[2]:
If Jones' People's Temple wasn't acult, then the term has no meaning.
2000, Philip Jenkins,Mystics and Messiahs : Cults and New Religions in American History, London: Oxford University Press,→ISBN, page180:
Another potent element of the newcult milieu was the therapy sect, which offered believers the chance to achieve their full human potential through personal growth and self-actualization by taking total responsibility for one's actions. The prototypical movement of this kind was est (Erhard Seminar Training), in which intense and often grueling sessions forced followers to confront a new view of reality.
He sounds like acult leader about to demand his followers drink poison. And it frankly doesn’t help that he looks like Jim Jones to a genuinely creepy degree.
2023 November 25, Richard Waters, John Thornhill, quotingMarc Andreessen, “Tech's philosophical rift over AI”, inFT Weekend, Big Read, page 6:
Marc Andreessen, a venture capitalist who has become one of Silicon Valley's most outspoken opponents of regulation, has described people who warn of existential risks from AI as acult, no different from other millenarian movements that warn of impending social disasters.
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2008 August 8, Ronald Bergan, “Don't confuse cults with classics”, inThe Guardian[3]:
To a certain extent, thecult movie and the classic are opposites, appealing to vastly different audiences. Whereas a film can become an instant cult, and then forgotten, a film cannot become an “instant classic”, which is only critical shorthand for “excellent”.
2021 April 21, William Grimes, “Monte Hellman, Cult Director of ‘Two-Lane Blacktop,’ Dies at 91”, inThe New York Times[4],→ISSN:
Monte Hellman, whose terse action films, epitomized by the 1971 road movie “Two-Lane Blacktop,” made him acult hero of the American independent film movement, died on Tuesday in Palm Desert, Calif.
The term has a positive connotation for groups of art, music, writing, fiction, and fashion devotees, but a negative connotation for religious, political, therapeutic, and business groups.
