For instance, Lutheran is a sect off of Christianity, just like the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints) is a radical sect that broke off of mainstream Mormonism. Whereas a cult is a little bit more complex than a sect, due to the various criteria that may be met to define a religious group as a cult. The Webster Dictionary defines a cult as,
“A relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister.”
To add, a healthy religious affiliation must confirm an individual’s freedom, by allowing one to explore and question the current religion that they reside with (Halperin xx). However, that concept of self-freedom is lost within a cult. By extension, some of the criteria that can be described as “destructive” can be told by, the author David A. Halpern in his book Psychodynamic Perspectives on Religion Sects and Cults,
1. A leader claims divinity or special relationship with God.
2. A leader who is the sole judge of a member’s actions or faith.
3. Totalitarian