cult

01. Their son joined some weird religious [cult] after being approached by a couple of people in an airport.

02. Some people fear that [cults] try to recruit large numbers of young people into their religious groups by using deceptive techniques.

03. In a recent survey, 43% of the people interviewed said they believed that brainwashing is required to make someone change from organized religion to a [cult].

04. Her parents are afraid that she has joined some strange religious [cult].

05. The Falun Gong movement has been banned in China, where it is considered to be a dangerous [cult].

06. On Nov. 18, 1978, more than 900 members of a [cult] led by Rev. Jim Jones died in Guyana, either shot, injected or poisoned by the deadly punch he had ordered them to drink.

07. Some traditional, established religious groups seem to be targeting new religious movements, believing them to be largely criminal, mind-controlling, dangerous [cults].

08. All religions that exist today were once regarded as a strange [cult].

09. This film, while a total box-office failure, has achieved [cult] status in the home video market.

10. Research suggests that [cults] are most common in areas where conventional churches are weakest.

11. The god's [cult] statue is housed in the main room of the temple.

12. He is not a very popular singer, though he has a small group of dedicated, [cult] followers who go to all his shows and buy all his recordings.

13. The Christian religion began as one of many Eastern [cults] in the Mediterranean region.

14. While he was alive his career was going nowhere, but he quickly achieved fame and became a [cult] figure after his death in a car accident.

15. The band is relatively unknown here in North America, but has a huge [cult] following over in Japan.

16. The gang is known and feared for its [cult] of violence.

17. Tom Wolfe once observed that a [cult] is a religion with no political power.

18. Philip Zimbardo recently noted that [cults] are attractive to some because their leaders offer simple solutions to the increasingly complex world problems we all face daily.

19. Anthony Campbell once suggested that one person's [cult] is another's religion.

20. Leo Pfeffer once remarked that if you believe in it, it is a religion or perhaps 'the' religion; and if you do not care one way or another about it, it is a sect; but if you fear and hate it, it is a [cult].