What is the basic definition of a cult?

The word cult can be broadly defined as "formal religious veneration," "a system of religious beliefs and its body of adherents," "a religion regarded as 'unorthodox or spurious,'" "great devotion to a person or idea" as well as "persons united by devotion or allegiance to an artistic or intellectual movement or figure ...

Heaven's Gate was a group that started in the 1970s. They were known as a "UFO religious" cult. It was a tightly knit group that required members to give up almost all of their possessions.

The group is focused on a living leader to whom members seem to display excessively zealous, unquestioning commitment. The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members. The group is preoccupied with making money. Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished.

They teach emotion-stopping techniques to block feelings of homesickness, anger, doubt. They make the person feel that problems are always their own fault, never the leader's or the group's fault. They instill fear, such as fear of the outside world, enemies, leaving or being shunned by the group.

Usually, a cult leader is a person of tremendous charisma who makes followers feel loved and accepted. It's often suggested that cult leaders use brainwashing tactics to attract and keep followers. In many instances, cult members deeply identify with and admire their leader.

Individuals high in narcissism, like cult leaders, often inflate their own sense of importance and behave in ways that are destructive to others. Similarities between narcissists and cult leaders include a tendency to lie and turn others against each other for their own ends, along with little tolerance for dissent.

Cult leaders are usually psychopaths with a desire for power and often take ideas from politics, religion and psychology to fulfill their purpose, he said. Through mind control, they are able to filter their thoughts and behaviors into "fanatical faith and belief" among followers.

In the United States the religious activities of cults are protected under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, which prohibits governmental establishment of religion and protects freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly.

Opposite of a group of people following a unique or specific set of beliefs or practices. agnosticism. disbelief. atheism.

coven, basic group in which witches are said to gather.

Opposite of an assembly of people with a common interest. pariah. outcast. outsider. castaway.

In this page you can discover 10 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for sisterhood, like: Ya-Ya, friendship, unity, sisterly, sorority, sodality, bond, sistership, sexual love and brotherhood.

adjective [usu ADJ n] A woman's sisterly feelings are the feelings of love and loyalty which you expect a sister to show.

13/03/2013 · Slang terms for the sibling consist of “sis” or “sissy. Login to respond the responses Post; lady q.