Throughout the entire world, the same words may have varying meanings by association. Words can convey more than the literal dictionary definitions they have. Over time, as words are used over and over again, they acquire additional meanings, which can be positive or negative. A religion, for example, is usually a large group of people with good intentions of spreading faith peacefully, while a cult is considered a worshipping that consists of brainwashing and converting people to follow a specific person or idea. Religious people tend to have set morals and traditions, whereas people within a cult might have looser morals. Religions do not go to the same extremes and sacrifices, that cults go to. Religion consists of larger groups of people, while cults are more exclusive groups. Both religion and cult follow specific beliefs and ideas, but the way they are executed makes them different. A religious group follows a God or gods and goes to churches, mosques, or temples to practice its beliefs. A cult follows a being that claims to have powers or a way of communicating with greater, God-like powers. It …show more content…
Jim Jones’s Jonestown cult based its belief on religious and socialist philosophies. When people tried to leave the leader’s cult, he would often end up killing them, feeling betrayed. He decided to sacrifice the cults’ members’ lives to preserve his church. His followers were given a deadly Kool-Aid mixture, while their leader shot himself in the head. This was a mass murder. No religion would not go to this extent to preserve their beliefs. In the Catholic religion, it is a sin to kill oneself or to kill others, so this type of sacrifice would not be made. The Jonestown Cult Massacre was an extreme case of a cult and did not contain the morals religions have. Because of cases like the Jonestown Massacre, society's views on words are shifting