I was in psychotherapy training in the 1980s, time of Jim Jones, EST, Scientology, etc. One trainee asked, “How can you tell if a group is a cult?” The answer was that if it was not a cult, when you wanted to leave, the leaders would wish you good luck and goodbye, but say you are welcome to come back if you wish or need more of what we offer. So how would your church or even congregation treat you if you wanted to leave?
Yeah; that’s good evidence of a cult. We studied cults when I was in seminary, but that was in the ‘60s and I don’t recall much.
The truly scary one is Scientology especially when one leaves or tries to.
I’m not talking about technical definitions.
I’m talking about common decency. Accusing someone of belonging to a cult is derogatory. It evokes stark images.
Technically, a person who believes in gun control is arguably a ‘terrorist’, but I spent days trying to discourage freepers from calling gun grabbers ‘terrorists’ because of the REAL definitition of the word in a practical sense.