I am curious as to what the differences are.  I am personally not a religious person at all and quite honest think they are just about the same.  I have no problem with them as for the most part most preach for the good of humanity like treating others with respec etc.  ssj12 called sciencetology a cult though I think is funny and is a nice punchline for many jokes what would make them a cult compared to a religion?  Is it because they are new?  Do "real" religions need to have some book behind it like Bibble to be legitimate? I heard that mormons where a made up religion or are they considered a cult? 

 In terms of cults I heard about them commiting suicides or being anti-social or reclusive and recruit people etc.  My roommate is a Jahovah witness and besides the suicides they are very similar hell they prefer you only date people within the religion etc.  I mean they are not mean or anything but they believe if your not a believer when the day comes your going straight to hell.  Guess cults just go straight to hell before waiting for that day to come.

 This may be too much to discuss especially on a gaming forum but I just thought it was interesting for ssj12 to ban someone for talking bad about a religion yet he talks bad about a "cult" though recognize by the IRS as a religion and is fine.  Guess MOD=Can say and do whatever I want without the fear of being banned :)

If you have some insight on the difference it would be helpful.

I knew a person called Lee who joined a cult. You don't think one of them weirdos who join could be one of your friends. Me and my mates just shake it off and laugh though.

i don't know but aren't cult and religion the same thing?
only difference is that they are seen from a different point of view

In SSJ's defense I don't recall a time where he's ever talked about Scientology's religion aspect, other than how it was founded(and for that matter why). The issue is with how the beliefs are spread.

There is actually a technical definition of cult. It's rather complicated and I don't have the patience to type too much this morning.

Google "DSM-IV" and "cult". You should pull up something from the DSM-IV, the psychologist's handbook.

Thanks rocketpig

 So, a long time ago there was this Planet, the galactic confederation or something, ruled by an evil emperor called Xenu. A beautiful day he decided his planet was overpopulated and loaded some airplanes with aliens and sent them to earth to kill them in the hawaii volcanoes.

And these aliens souls began to acend, but Xenu was ready and captured all these souls with big flying fridges and brainwashed them to believe Jesus, Buddha and stuff...

So these alien souls entered the body of the ancient homo sapiens and are causing us harm until today, the great scientology will be glad to help you get rid of these evil souls, called thetans, for a small weekly fee.

That's preety much it

What I want to know is when hearing a recruiter from a cult say

"yeah, so basically we are going to worship a giant flying invisible monkey and then commit mass suicide by drinking loads of coolade... interested"

What kind of drunk/mental state do you have to be in to say

"huh, that sounds like a fun idea"

 For more info look for uncyclopedia or watch the scientology south park episode. They both tell the real story about scientology without changing anything because it's funny enought by itself lol.

First guy - Looking for money or just plain crazy

Second guy - Looking for happiness/salvation or just plain crazy