LiveScience: Is it a religious sect or a cult?

Release Date: April 10, 2008 This content is archived.

Print

An article on Live Science on whether the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints compound in Texas is a religious sect or a full-blown cult quotes Phillips Stevens, associate professor of anthropology, what the term "cult" means. "The word 'cult,' up until the 1970s, was a respectable term referring to the central focus of a religious faith," he said. "You could speak of the Catholic cult, and in fact, people still do."

Media Contact Information

John Della Contrada
Vice President for University Communications
521 Capen Hall
Buffalo, NY 14260
Tel: 716-645-4094 (mobile: 716-361-3006)
dellacon@buffalo.edu
Twitter: UBNewsSource