The word "cult" derives from Latin cultus, "worship." In English it has two quite distinct meanings:
- The beliefs, rituals, sacred places, and everything else associated with a particular object of worship or veneration. In this sense, we can speak of the cult of St. Patrick or the cult of the Yellow Emperor.
- A small group of people devoted to an unconventional religious system, usually under the leadership of a charismatic figure who claims special religious knowledge or a privileged place in history. By extension, this sense may also be used in non-religious contexts, as when we speak of cult films.
Sense 1: When dealing with a polytheistic religious system, as in China, it is often convenient to confine the term to its first sense so as to be able to speak of the contrasting cults of different gods without implying that different people are necessarily involved.
Sense 2: However some sociologists of religion, focusing especially on Europe and America, usefully contrast a cult with a sect. In this contrast, a sect is a branch or spin-off of a large, established religious group, sometimes created by dissidents within that group, but a cult is something created whole-cloth, based on a new religious insight or synthesis, and not part of an established religious organization or tradition. In this context one might speak of a Mormon sect, but of a cult of turtle-worshipers.
In popular parlance, perhaps influenced by the use of the terms by American sociologists, the term "cult" is often derogatory or dismissive, and a statement such as, "She joined a cult," is heard by most people as ominous.
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Content Revised: 2005-04-04
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