Chaplain,
Here is the problem with those terms. Nobody other than those of us who have studied other religions uses the terms as anything other THAN a perjorative.
I’m pretty sure that the Huckabee story in the NTY this weekend about the LDS and the Christ/Satan brother thing is going to start another round of ‘cult’ comments for the LDS. And nobody will be saying it in a nice way.
My experience has been that sociology has not been all that kind of religion of people of religion despite the generally valid definitions you’ve put forward.
(Full disclosure to everybody else: I’m not LDS. I’m not related to anybody LDS. I’m not formerly LDS. I live in Las Vegas so I obviously know lots and lots of LDS. And I’m not supporting Mitt Romney. I’m NOT forwarding anybody elses agenda. K?)
The entire fields of sociology, social psychology, and psychology use these terms in these ways.
They are clear and measurable and are not pejorative.
They are used to describe religious movements.
As mentioned, Christianity was once a Jewish cult/sect.