TLDR - what’s the question mark in the following scale
Cult(-1)……………….Religion(0)……………….???(+1)
Long version (a.k.a my stupid mind’s question that is keeping me awake):
My understanding of cult is a group of people with an absurd or even possibly nefarious belief system. Like something negative.
By that definition I would put religion in the middle (though a majority of it leans towards the cult side). A group of people that is very serious about what they believe in, no matter how illogical it is.
So with this understanding what would you call the positive side ? A group of people coming together to have a tradition and belief system just for the fun of it ? Is there such thing ?
The key difference between religions and cults, is the level of restrictions on outside information.
On that scale cults are at one end, religion in the middle, and science at the other end.
I don’t like to see science presented as a belief system. Science is a tool for establishing fact about the natural world in a methodical and reproducible way. For debating the existence of gods, you need philosophy.
Eeehhh, unless you read every paper ever, you are kinda trusting the process like a black box in most cases, aka, believing. The most papers you have read in your lifetime, the less true that statement is. There is also a whole section of philosophy about this topic.
I agree. Science is a tool, people don’t believe in science. You use science. You don’t believe in gravity you accept it and our current understanding of it. Which may change as our tools to measure and understand our environment get better.
That’s partly true.
Religion was the original way to explain the natural world.
Eventually, religion led philosophy, which in turn led to science.