The Cults of Paganism

26 05 2008

I have been thinking a lot of late, looking at websites and forums, in an effort to replace the mourned Avalonia forums, how much of modern Paganism is a cult? Or at least, even if they say they are not and believe they are not, might they still be a cult?

Using the Cult Evaluator created and developed by Isaac Bonewits, it would seem that many of the groups and traditions of Wicca indeed seem to be displaying cult like behaviour. If you don’t know Isaac Bonewits’ cult evalutor I am speaking about, you will find it http://www.neopagan.net/ABCDEF.html Using it as a general guideline, I found that many of the groups I encountered might be considered borderline.

So is being a cult dangerous? Are Pagan cults just as much a part of religious society as Christian cults?