1610s, "worship, homage"
1670s, "a particular form or system of worship"
from Latin cultus "care, labor; cultivation, culture; worship, reverence"
What is religion and what is cult is evidently in the eye of the beholder. Purely by definition, religion is merely the conventional label for a cult. Whereas, it is not the only one. There are many more labels which merely act as fronts or personas for the cult.
A term related to cult is deprogram (v.) "release from cult brainwashing"
~☉~ | lucid definition; added layer of lucidity, or aethereal context |
⚜ | classic definition |
☣ | artificium definition; usually words which have undergone a warped evolution, or a complete perversion of the original sense |