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As to the difference between a religion and a cult the following extract from "Accountancy" January 2001 may be of interest. It is headed God and mammon: |
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But don't care was made to care - just ask Microsoft. Because the German government regards Scientology as an 'unwelcome cult', Microsoft has been forced to develop complex instructions to remove a part of Windows 2000. The demon disc defragmenter (which helps hard disks run more efficiently) was written by Executive Software International, a US company headed by a Scientologist. |
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The owner and CEO in question, Craig Jenson, is less than impressed - in a statement, he has complained about 'the stench of religious intolerance'. |
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And the European office of Executive Software has said: ‘A company owner's religion has nothing to do with developing and selling software’. " |
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On the other hand a sociologist who wrote to me says sociologists endeavour to use the terms: 'sect', 'cult' and 'apostate' neutrally. Dictionaries may throw some light on how such words should be used today, but there is always likely to be differences of opinion because what is a true religion to one is a false religious cult to another ! |
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However the object of this article is to consider the major systems of religious worship. ‘A faith’ is slightly different and may be said to be a system of belief whereas a religion involves the practice that results from that faith - see the quotations from the Epistle of James above. |
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The religions of the world may be divided up as follows: |
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Some comments on the above may be appropriate. Judaism has been put first because although it is not a major religion on the basis of the number of its adherents, the two following major religions (Christianity and Islam) emerged from it. Originally mankind recognised one God, but having departed from Him fell into idolatry worshipping many Gods (Romans 1:21-25). Polytheisic religions arose which in some cases were no doubt very crude, while others were more sophisticated. Further these religions changed over time. Some, like Hinduism, had so-called holy books, whereas others were carried down the generations by word of mouth. The idea has been put forward that the many Gods were in some cases only the one true God under different names. However this idea may be countered by the statement in Zechariah 14:9 "In that day day shall there be one Jehovah, and his name one". This however does not mean that God's one name may not include a number of titles, as in Revelation 1:8, but that there is no idea that God may be known by one group of worshippers by one name and by a different group by another. Because Hinduism is so fragmented some would not regard it as a distinct religion, but rather as a culture. |
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As we know from Scripture God dealt with the idolatry that was found in Israel in the time of the kings. Josiah purged the land of it in his day (2 Kings 23) and the judgements that fell on Israel and Judah and their carrying away resulted in it being eradicated so far as God's earthly people were concerned. The Hebrew prophets had inveighed against it, particularly Isaiah (for instance, chapter 44). However, God not only dealt with it so far as Israel was concerned, but God also judged the gods of Egypt (Jeremiah 46:25). About the same time a number of new major religions appeared in the Eastern world. Zoroastrianism in Persia (now represented by the Parsis in India); Buddhism and Jainism in India (the former now practised mainly in countries other than India); Confucianism and Taoism in China. These religions to a large extent displaced the former polytheistic religions, though over |