LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Cults: Lutheran Church
built 184 days ago
Cults have some of the same characteristics as sects. In fact, some scholars prefer not to make a distinction. There are... some noteworthy differences. Cults do not, at least initially, view themselves as rebelling against established churches. Actually, the practices of cults are often considered to enrich the life of the parent church of which they may be a part. Cults do not ordinarily stress doctrinal issues or theological argument and refinement as much as they emphasize the individual's experience of a more personal and intense relationship with the divine.
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[S]ome researchers have criticized the newer phrase on the ground that some religious movements are "new" without being cults, and have expanded the definition of cult to non-religious groups. Furthermore, some religious groups who have been seen as cults by some are no longer "new"; for instance, Scientology and the Unification Church are both over 50 years old, while the Hare Krishna came out of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, a religious tradition that is approximately 500 years old with roots going back much further.
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Wollersheim, of Boulder, ran a computerized "library" on religious cults. The Church of Scientology had accused Wollersheim and Bob Penny of Niwot... a former Scientologist, of illegally posting copyrighted, confidential church teachings on the Internet to discredit the church, founded by the late science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.
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