In the car this morning:
Son: What is a cult?
Dad: Why?
Son: I just wondered, is it bad?
Dad: Well, perhaps not. Depends on how you look at it. If you are a believer in the Constitution, The Bill or Rights, and what the really stand for, then all people are given the right to worship whom and what they choose. Therefore, as defined by the people that started this nation, there can really be no such thing as a cult.
Son: Do mean freedom of religion?
Dad: Exactly.
Son: So why do people call them cults?
Dad: Well, most any religion outside Islam, Hindu, Budists, Christianity, Judaism would be considered a cult. But, I think they fear that a cult brainwashes people into their beliefs and that they have no choice.
Son: Brainwash?
Dad: Yeah, like someone sticks something in your mind that isn’t your idea or, even it’s done without your consent. Probably it’s a cover up for many people’s bad behavior. In fact, there are other freedoms that we like but, criticize others for using, freedom of the press… you want a news paper to report news, yet when a sponsor is paying a newspaper to exist, they will probably never print a negative story about that sponsor. Or, freedom of speech, which we all want. But, tend to deny freedom of speech to anyone who speaks outside the boundaries of what we deem to be acceptable. Therefore, you have to, under any circumstance in our culture, extend the basic rights given to us. A murderer has certain rights, as does a doctor who has saved millions of lives. So a person who tells you to worship Spongebob Squarepants has a much of a right to do so as another who tells you to worship Jesus. In fact, several million people died to preserve those rights. Fought to the very death.
Son: Uh, dad… I gotta go, bye.
Dad: Right… c’ya