Contemporary usage of the word "Cult"

Contemporary usage of
the word "Cult"

Note that the word "cult" is currently being used by Western society in a way vastly different than it has been used in the past. The word used to mean the same as "religion;" contemporary usage now denotes derogation: a "cult" now means "A destructive religion." Very often, the word is used to mean "Any religion that is not my own and which I personally object to; a 'false' religion.'" In these web pages I use the word to mean what is has meant for at least two hundred years: usages numbers 2 and 3 below. Where I mean usages 1, 4, 5, and / or 6, I will state so explicitly. The vast majority of cults do not fit the contemporary dictionary entries: dictionaries give usage, not definitions.

CULT (n.)
1.a. A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader. b. The followers of such a religion or sect.
2. A system or community of religious worship and ritual.
3. The formal means of expressing religious reverence; religious ceremony and ritual.
4. A usually nonscientific method or regimen claimed by its originator to have exclusive or exceptional power in curing a particular disease.
5.a. Obsessive, especially faddish, devotion to or veneration for a person, principle, or thing. b. The object of such devotion.
6. An exclusive group of persons sharing an esoteric, usually artistic or intellectual interest. --attributive. Often used to modify another noun: a cult figure; cult films.
[Latin cultus, worship, from past participle of colere, to cultivate. See k^wel-¹ below.] --cul·tic or cult·ish adj. --cult·ism n. --cult·ist n.
k^wel-¹. Important derivatives are: colony, cult, cultivate, culture, wheel, cycle, cyclone, bicycle, collar, pole1, pulley, bucolic.
k^wel-¹. To revolve, move around, sojourn, dwell. I. Basic form *k^wel-. Colony, cult, cultivate, (culture); incult, inquiline, silvicolous, from Latin colere, to till, cultivate, inhabit.