What ways do religious cults and sects resemble or differ from the societies they operate in?
This is just my opinion (never having joined a cult or sect). By their definition, cults and sects don’t have a fair cross-section of any community, but seem attractive to those who are at a low ebb or are easily suggestible. They’re run not just as a theocracy, but also as a dictatorship, with one person in charge. Certainly in our society communities are much more democratic, with elected representatives who can be removed from power quite easily. The communities we live in also have diverse and long-term goals, whereas cults and sects tend to have much shorter-term and more focussed goals (from what I’ve seen these tend to involve death and rebirth). Certainly they have a much narrower idea of right and wrong. I’m not sure, for the purpose of this question, whether to include such societies as Freemasonry and the Orange Lodge, as they are also quite focussed, but I’ve decided they don’t fulfil all the definitions of a cult or sect.
