Cult
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See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult for more info
This article does not discuss "cult" in its original sense of "religious practice"; for that usage see Cult (religion). See Cult (disambiguation) for more meanings of the term "cult".
In religion and sociology, a cult is a cohesive group of people (often a relatively small and new religious movement) devoted to beliefs or practices that the surrounding culture or society considers to be far outside the mainstream. Its marginal status may come about either due to its novel belief system or because of its idiosyncratic practices.
However, in common usage, "cult" has a negative connotation, and is generally applied to a group by its opponents, for a variety of possible reasons.
