Atheism

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This is a support and conversation community for people who don't believe in gods.
Superstition hucksters have no reason to subscribe or post here at all.
If you are looking to debate or proselytize, options will be linked lower in the sidebar.

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We're not allowed to forget they exist. (lemmy.world)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago (2 children)

There is no requirement that a cult be centralized. Christianity and other religions are essentially fandoms(or tribes) organized (somewhat loosely) around shared principles. The major difference between a cult and a fandom is if it is deemed socially helpful or harmful by society (or the ruling class) at large.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I usually use the BITE model when thinking about cults, and it's kind of difficult for something without any central government to be very culty with that definition. It definitely could be with a different definition though

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

Looking it up, BITE stands for Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotional control.

I still think Christianity and religion can be a cult because it is a shared belief in a higher power. And if you mention anything that they perceive as contradicting that belief they will mentally discredit you.

Using the bite model, it is still a cult. The only difference is the degree. The bible clearly labels certain behaviors as bad and others as good. Christians claim the bible to be the one the one true source of authority for the christian faith (for protestants). The implication is that any other source of information that challenges it is wrong. The bible clearly labels certain thoughts as sins and active discourages those thoughts. By labeling even thoughts as sinful and therefore bad it encourages feelings of guilt, and by calling all humans sinful it encourages fear of others. Hence controlling our emotions.

Of course, different denominations will vary in how they think Christianity should be put into practice, but I would wager it is trivally easy to find elements of behavior, information, thought, and emotional control no matter the denomination.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

cults only recently got negative connotations.

most cults are harmless.