... resident messiahs or gurus (Stoner and Parke xi). Counter cult groups have called the new religious cults the "freakish fringe- of religion (Stoner and Parke cover- leaf). Stoner and Parke define a religious cult as "a minority religious group regarded as spurious or unorthodox- whose members give "great or excessive devotion or dedication to some person, idea or thing- (3). For thousands of disapproving ... parents of cult members those two phrases alone are enough to define a cult. But when a person encounters a new religious movement, such a simplistic definition may not be enough to...

• Word Count: 2469
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School