this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2024
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Not into actors and out of the loop (besides the movie announcement)... Is that good or bad and why is it bad?
Bad.
As in alleged cult leader bad.
You mean alleged abusive religion leader bad. Cult in the definition you're currently using is a slur created by Christians to push the narrative that small religions are inherently abusive. Cult didn't mean abuse before the Satanic Panic.
What does cult mean, then? I for one am on board with not creating a euphemism to spare the feelings of "religions" where one person gets to rape all of the rest.
A cult is any small religion. Often pagan religions, the remnants of genocided indigenous religions, and many religions descended from the golden dawn. Oh, and it's also that thing Jesus had up until Rome declared it their state religion. And personally, I like the religion of Jesus a lot more than Post Roman Christianity.
If we're talking about abusive religions, there's absolutely no difference between one rapist's religion and an international religious organisation of rape apologism like the Church. There's no reason you need a different word to describe the two. They're both abusive religions.
All religions are cults as far as I am concerned
And here we have an example of an atheist picking up a weapon made by Christians to persecute indigenous and pagan religions... and using it to persecute indigenous and pagan religions but also big ones too. And that's what many people consider to be social progress.
I don't give a shit about what religion you believe in, big or small, monotheistic or polytheistic. You have the personal right to believe in whatever bullshit you want to believe in; that should be none of my business as long as you don't force it upon others or justify bigotry with it.
There are many definitions of cults, including some that only apply "unorthodox" religious or philosophical beliefs. And some more broad definitions, like (from Wiktionary)
and especially
And I think these definitions fit for all religions, unorthodox or not. All religions are cults, and I am not saying that derogatorily. All religions are equally valid (or invalid) because all of them rely on beliefs without evidence, just different ones. And one set of dogma is hardly any better or worse than any other set of dogma. Just don't force yours on others and keep to yourself, and I am fine with any set of dogma.
Ah, okay. I misunderstood you because you used the word cult in a very sweeping way right after I said it was a slur. I understand you now.
I would make the contention that at least one religion exists and has evidence: The worship of money. Money isn't real, it's a social construct given power and made part of our reality by our belief in it. It's mystical. Many people spend their entire lives worshipping it. They want it, they venerate it, and they seek wisdom from the people who have it. The worship of money is misguided, and unwise, and it fundamentally mistakes the point of life. But it is evidence-based. People worship money because they see its material power over the world and respect it as the giver of life, love, and happiness. That sounds like a religion to me, and there's no empirical proof which can dismiss these claims about money that are the core belief system of Mammon.