What is a cult?

I don't think cults are limited only to religious groups, or at least not to the "mainstream" religions. A cult to me, is just a group of people who follow the same ideal and disregard rational thought for the purposes of following these set rules and regulations. =)

it does not denote any particular religious group, it is basically a group of people with different religious beliefs from a larger group to which they belong

I think all organized religions are cults. I am an atheist though so my opinion is du=ifferent than people that are involved in these cults. They will say they aren't but from the outside looking in they sure seem like a cult. They do the same things.

Well a cult is a group or an organization that conduct rituals. They do certain ceremonies and they also offer something.

A cult is a religious organization outside of the mainstream of that religion. In fact you could say that Christianity is a Jewish Cult.

I think a cult is when some organising or structure is formed solely for the purpose of controlling people, brainwashing them, and making them give up their belongings and posessions. Usually the 'leader' of the cult has a vast amount of money collected from this. I think a genuine religion is an organisation where no one person owns anything, and that the religious service is provided for free.