Religious cult

Religious cults are religious groups that use mild control to manipulate members and which harm members through these controls. There is no hard and fast definition of a Religious cult. Rather there is a continuum with some religious groups being more cult-like and others less so. It is widely believed that some religious groups like the Scientologists, the Moonies, Hare Krishna] and others are cults. Naturally members disagree.  In other cases the situation is less clear.  Many [[Christian Fundamentalists appear cult-like to outsiders.  This is particularly noticeable in the Bible Belt of the United States.  Within the Bible Belt relativlely small rural communities are often dominated by religious fundamentalists and residents may know little about alternative viewpoints.