“Where religions fail, cults appear.”

— Daniel Bell , book The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism

Source: The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism (1976), Chapter 4, Toward the Great Instauration, p. 168

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Daniel Bell 24

American sociologist, writer, editor, and professor emeritu… 1919–2011

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“Why not make me an Hon. teacher in the Religion Department for teaching the cult of Lord Caitanya which is the living religion of the world. All other religions of the world are carried by more sentiments than philosophy but Caitanya cult is full of philosophy and transcendental sentiments or emotions.”

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896–1977) Indian guru

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“Among other things Jonestown was an example of a definition well known to sociologists of religion: a cult is a religion with no political power.”

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“With regard to religion, the emperor's promotion of the cult of the Emesene sun-god was certainly ridiculed by contemporary observers, but this cult was popular among soldiers and would remain so.”

Elagabalus (203–222) Roman Emperor

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Context: Scholars have often viewed the failure of Elagabalus' reign as a clash of cultures between "Eastern" (Syrian) and "Western" (Roman), but this dichotomy is not very useful. The criticisms of the emperor's effeminacy and sexual behavior mirror those made of earlier emperors (such as Nero) and do not need to be explained through ethnic stereotypes. With regard to religion, the emperor's promotion of the cult of the Emesene sun-god was certainly ridiculed by contemporary observers, but this cult was popular among soldiers and would remain so. Moreover, the cult continued to be promoted by later emperors of non-Syrian ethnicity, calling the god The Unconquered Sun (Sol Invictus).
Elagabalus is best understood as a teenager who was raised near the luxury of the imperial court and who then suffered a drastic change of fortune brought about by the sudden deaths — probably within one year — of his father, his grandfather and his cousin, the emperor Caracalla. Thrust upon the throne, Elagabalus lacked the required discipline. For a while, Romans may well have been amused by his "Merrie Monarch" behavior, but he ended up offending those he needed to inspire. His reign tragically demonstrated the difficulties of having a teenage emperor.

“Islamic State (IS) is a perversion of the religion of Islam - a poisonous death cult that poses an existential threat.”

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Cameron is not asking the big question on Islamic State http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33344454 BBC News (2 July 2015)
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“Almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.”

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“Appear to know only this,—never to fail nor fall.”

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“The evolution of earth-cult to sky-cult shifts woman into the nether realm. Her mysterious procreative powers and the resemblance of her rounded breasts, belly, and hips to earth’s contours put her at the center of early symbolism. She was the model for the Great Mother figures who crowded the birth of religion worldwide. But the mother cults did not mean freedom for women. On the contrary […] cult objects are prisoners of their own symbolic inflation. Every totem lives in taboo.”

Camille Paglia (1947) American writer

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“I would like evolution to join the roster of other discredited religions, like the Cargo Cult of the South Pacific. Practitioners of Cargo Cult believed that manufactured products were created by ancestral spirits, and if they imitated what they had seen the white man do, they could cause airplanes to appear out of the sky, bringing valuable cargo like radios and TVs. So they constructed “airport towers” out of bamboo and “headphones” out of coconuts and waited for the airplanes to come with the cargo. It may sound silly, but in defense of the Cargo Cult, they did not wait as long for evidence supporting their theory as the Darwinists have waited for evidence supporting theirs.”

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“The debate as to where "magic" ends and "religion" begins is an old one, and it appeared to have been settled some decades ago when scholars concluded that no discernible boundary was to be found.”

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Context: The debate as to where "magic" ends and "religion" begins is an old one, and it appeared to have been settled some decades ago when scholars concluded that no discernible boundary was to be found. As a result, the two were often lumped together in the adjective "magico-religious"...

“If we fail to instruct our children in justice, religion and liberty, we will be condemning them to a world without virtue, a life in the twilight of a civilization, where the great truths have been forgotten.”

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[The Goals Program. How to Stay Motivated, Volume III, chapter 5, Zig Ziglar]
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“Where religions fail, cults appear.”

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