Beg to differ with you, Neil was entirely correct.
Any cult that believes they have the right to kill you just because you don't believe in what they believe....
Is nothing more than a cult and can not be called a religion.
You forget, if they have the right to pretend they are anything more than a cult, I (and Neil, and a lot of the civilized world) have the right to define them for their actions, and call it as I see it.
Absolutely.
I think we usually think of a cult as an organization that controls it's members with a form of mind control.
This seems to be blatantly evident with Islam - I wonder if they aren't subjected to mind control and kept there - like someone hypnotized - through the same 'trigger' mechanized method. The 'trigger' in Islam? The 5 times a day they must react to the bells and calls from them minarets to drop to the ground and play stinkbug, with butts in the air and heads toward mecca, for one example. None dare refrain for fear of being reported -
And they have an instruction to cover each and every act in their daily lives - EVEN step by step instructions on going to the bathroom. This is the truth. (go to this site and scroll down to the item #5 "Cleanliness". And read some of the others motion by motion instructions in just about every act in their days.)
http://www.dawanet.com/newmuslim/manual/entiremanual.asp
It's mind control through hypnotic triggers and raw fear, plain and simple.
Is that not a cult?
Out of curiosity, to the poster of #16, who says
Neal is being an idiot here. The only rational definition of a cult is "a religion I don't like." Why Neal gets to be the decider on what constitutes a religion is apparently left unanswered.
If you belong to a religion, do they tell how to wipe yourself?