[Scully]

a sense of being involved in a community that is ideologically and spiritually at odds with the surrounding society.

I think this is a better definition of a "cult".

Thanks for the ping! :)

[edwin hubble]

"Toby Lester, the author of "Oh, Gods!" in the February Atlantic, talks about the Darwinian way in which religions evolve and mutate."

Actually, the evolution of human culture and institutions could more appropriately described as Lamarckian.

Behavior and belief patterns can change within a human lifetime in response to changing conditions. They are more like Lamarck's giraffe that stretched his neck to get the higher leaves -- and (so Lamarck believed -erroneously) had offspring with longer necks because of the behavior within a lifetime.

The deeply held beliefs that are held within the human psyche can change in response to new knowledge than alters belief-based culture. Galileo, Darwin himself, Einstein...all changed these institutions, each within a human lifetime.

While human biological mutation and selection certainly follows Darwinian processes, changes in religions and culture are more Lamarckian.