YECism: sect or cult?

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Young Earth creationism (YEC) is a form of the religious belief of creationism[1] which holds that the universe, Earth, and all life on Earth were created by direct acts of God less than 10,000 years ago.[2] Its primary adherents are Christians who subscribe to a literal interpretation of the creation narrative in the Bible's Book of Genesis and believe that God created the Earth in six 24-hour days.[3][4] In contrast to YEC, old Earth creationism is the belief in a metaphorical interpretation of the Book of Genesis and the scientifically-determined estimated ages of the Earth and Universe.[5]

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Since the mid-20th century, young Earth creationistsstarting with Henry Morris (1918—2006)have devised and promoted a pseudoscientific explanation called "creation science" as a basis for a religious belief in a supernatural, geologically recent creation. ...

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The rise of fundamentalist Christianity at the start of the 20th century saw a renewed interest in proposals that the Earth was thousands of years old, as a part of the movement's rejection of evolution. ...

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YECism is fairly young compared to other traditional (denomination) beliefs, a "form of the religious belief of creationism" and my question is whether this "form" is a sect or a cult?

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A sect is a subgroup of a religious, political, or philosophical belief system, usually an offshoot of a larger group. Although the term was originally a classification for religious separated groups, it can now refer to any organization that breaks away from a larger one to follow a different set of rules and principles.

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... In the church-sect typology they are described as newly formed religious groups that form to protest elements of their parent religion (generally a denomination). Their motivation tends to be situated in accusations of apostasy or heresy in the parent denomination; they are often decrying liberal trends in denominational development and advocating a return to true religion. The American sociologists Rodney Stark and William Sims Bainbridge assert that "sects claim to be authentic purged, refurbished version of the faith from which they split".[4] ...

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As a fairly recent group that relies heavily on a fundamentalist interpretation of Christianity, YECism certainly qualifies as a sect outside the mainstream umbrella of (denominational) Christian beliefs.

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The term cult usually refers to a social group defined by its religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs, or its common interest in a particular personality, object or goal. ... In the sociological classifications of religious movements, a cult is a social group with socially deviant or novel beliefs and practices, ...

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Beginning in the 1930s, cults became the object of sociological study in the context of the study of religious behavior.[11] ...

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The term "new religious movement" refers to religions which have appeared since the mid-1800s. Many, but not all of them, have been considered cults. ...

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There seems to me to be a fine line between sect and cult, particularly when the beliefs are strongly fundamentalist, insist on having their own facts and interpretations which are at odds with mainstream beliefs and particularly when they are at odds with the reality of the world around us. There certainly are a number of people that can be classified as charismatics (or used car salesmen ... ).My position is that YECism is a cult that uses convenient lies, comfortable misinformation, and selective half truths mixed with fantasy, and it relies on general uneducated ignorance to push a set of beliefs that are at odds with reality (the earth is not young, there was no flood).It crossed the line when it began advocating religious misinformation be included in science texts and building monuments to ignorance (the Creation "Museum" and the Ark "Encounter" theme park).Let the howling begin.Enjoy

Correction: claimed to be historical, as part of the religious belief.From the Urban Dictionary I found several definitions of cult that are appropriate for this thread:

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First:

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A group, often times though not always religious or spiritual in nature, that is led by a single or small group of leader(s).

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Members are often recruited or by some means persuaded to join, rarely if ever knowing how destructive and harmful a cult can be -- rarely knowing that it IS a cult. Though they usual come off as being generous, caring and in the best interests of their members, cults are inherently based on furthering the desires of cult leaders.

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Cult leaders commonly use thought reform or "brainwashing", in conjunction with other methods, to slowly and deliberately reel in more control of said members. In many cases, members may eventually forsake their friends and family (non-members are viewed as "wrong" or "bad") and give up their careers, homes and/or money to the leader.

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Second:

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A cult is an organisation that has a set of beliefs in which the cult is viewed as being the one true organization, everyone else is wrong.

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Usually they promote some kind of religious belief - usually made up by themself - but not always, some cults can be athiest, such as Amway.

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Usually members have black-and-white thinking, and see their organization as being infaliable.

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Members of a cult can be known as followers.

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Followers will obay the cult leaders instructions and believe the propaganda without needing to verify it with much proof.

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They are usually superstitious.

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Cult members can be of average intelligence.

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When people wonder about how a cult works, they usually focus on what the leader is doing. Usually the leader is just a charasmatic con-artist.

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The real mechanics of how a cult works can be understood by focusing on the psychology of the follower.
The cult had over 1,000,000 members, each of whom, believed that the leader knew the secret of power, and by following him, and by buying all of his products, they too, would understand the secret.

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Cult B had 1,000 members, and members believed they were with the right way because so many around them were following the crazy ideas, and the leader seemed so powerful.

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Third:

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a religious group which promotes worship of a human leader and devotion of one's life to a specific purpose.
Some have members practice certain rituals or follow a set of principle rules. The group usually believes its way is the only correct way to live life, and all non-members are doomed to some horrible fate if they cannot be persuaded to join..

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Mormonism could easily be seen as a cult. Jesus is the savior, and unless you devote your life to following his teachings you will suffer a firey torture in Hell.

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Yep that pretty well defines YECism.Enjoy

There fixed it for you.Claiming these beliefs are actual fact is only confirmation of the cult mindset of YECies.If it were fact there would be all kinds of evidence that just does not exist. For instance, IF there were a world wide catastrophic flood, THEN there would be AT LEAST ONE (1) world wide continuous layer of the same type of sedimentary deposit. There isn't.Even your rather pathetic attempts to shoe-horn actual evidence of old age and long term geological processes into an imaginary young world do not work, do not convince anyone not a YECie. As you keep finding out whenever you attempt to present your falsified concepts in the other threads. Except that there are other standard orthodox Protestant sects that do not agree with a young earth and an actual flood. And Protestants are not the only Christians, there are many flavors of Christianity.That make YECism an extremist subsect of Christianity as a whole, like the Branch Davidians. The main leaders are shysters (Ken Ham especially, building amusement parks to scam the gullible).YECism fits the definitions for cults.EnjoyEdited by RAZD, : world wide layer of sediment