Cult facts for kids

A cult is a group of people who have a religion or a set of beliefs. The term "cult" often means not a mainstream religion, but a group set up "in opposition to a centre of established authority". New Age religions were often called cults because they were thought to be deviant social movements.

The word cult originally meant a system of ritual practices. It was first used in the early 17th century to mean homage paid to a divinity.

A cult is often a small, newly started religious movement. Cults have beliefs or practices that many people think of as being odd, or that have practices that most people in the world do not practice. More than that, cults have often been led by people who are not elected, and control the group according to their own wishes.

Images for kids

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  Max Weber (1864–1920), one of the first scholars to study cults.

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  Jim Jones, the leader of the Peoples Temple

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  Cross burning by Ku Klux Klan members in 1915

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  An anti-Aum Shinrikyo protest in Japan, 2009

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  Falun Gong books being symbolically destroyed by the Chinese government