I meant it opposite of your interpretation. “Why do you think it excludes big religions from the cult definition?” I completely agree with you, just wanted to make a small joke about big religions also just being some cults that survived a bit longer.
Understandable. I checked the Wikipedia definition, because I didn’t know a proper definition for cult.
The word “cult” is derived from the Latin term cultus, which means worship.[1] In modern English the term cult is generally a pejorative, carrying derogatory connotations.[2] The term is variously applied to abusive or coercive groups of many categories, including gangs, organized crime, and terrorist organizations.[3]
An older sense of the word cult, which is not pejorative, indicates a set of religious devotional practices that is conventional within its culture, is related to a particular figure, and is frequently associated with a particular place, or generally the collective participation in rites of religion.[4][1] References to the imperial cult of ancient Rome, for example, use the word in this sense. A derived sense of “excessive devotion” arose in the 19th century, and usage is not always strictly religious.[a][1]
So it isn’t exactly wrong to call all religions cults, according to the old meaning, even before it meant small religions. But out was more aligned to certain places, like the cult of Apollo in Delphi with its oracle.
I meant it opposite of your interpretation. “Why do you think it excludes big religions from the cult definition?” I completely agree with you, just wanted to make a small joke about big religions also just being some cults that survived a bit longer.
Because cult means “small religion”, or at least it meant that before the 1970s, and I refuse to let monotheists decide the definitions of words.
Understandable. I checked the Wikipedia definition, because I didn’t know a proper definition for cult.
So it isn’t exactly wrong to call all religions cults, according to the old meaning, even before it meant small religions. But out was more aligned to certain places, like the cult of Apollo in Delphi with its oracle.
I’ve got a better definition for you, from line 1:
What is common is not unusual.