Religion vs. Cult

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Due to the way words can affect people’s emotions, the words religion and cult can lead to joy or wincing depending on how the denotation and the connotation are viewed. The denotation of a word is the literal meaning of a word which is accepted as the official definition all around the world. The definition of religion is, “the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, esp. a personal God or god.” (Source; “wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn) Religion is a huge part of almost every culture. It has been around since the beginning of mankind and has taken many different shapes over the years, such as; Christianity, Buddhism, Muslims and Wiccans. There are many more religions that have also been formed but these are just a few of the most wide spread religions. Cult, has somewhat of a similar definition differs just a bit, “followers of an unorthodox, extremist, or false religion or sect who often live outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.” (Source; “wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn) Cult seems to have a deeper rooted meaning of darker origins even in definition, but depending on when and where these words are used they can have different affects. The connotation of a word is the emotional side. Let’s take a look at religion; it’s a highly sensitive subject amongst the majority of the population. With many that have very opinionated religious beliefs, lots of conversations skim the surface talking about the good things that happen during a service, or a fundraiser that a church did. This brings feelings of pride and happiness in being part of a large social group with similar believes on creation and how life should be lived. But on the flip side of that is the dark past of religion. Looking back to the dark ages or the Knights Templar and thinking of all the death that was caused due the conflicting
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