Pls correct me if I’m wrong, but how useful are the reassurances from a writer who harbors no qualms when it comes to suggesting that the real cultists are the Episcopalians?
Seriously? Episcopalians?
Oh my.

Dave, there is only one simple definition of what a religion is and what a cult is: a religion is what I believe, and a cult is what someone else believes. It doesn’t matter how large it is (i.e., Catholics and Eastern religions) or how mainstream it has become (i.e. LDS), if it isn’t what I believe…it’s suspect. See the writings of Pliny the Younger to see a real cult being discussed in derogatory terms…those wiley Christians who were starting to become a menice in the Roman world.

Appreciate the kind words about my piece . . . in which I do not call Episcopalians cultists. I say:
A cult becomes cut off from the mainstream of traditional religion and the global community of faith. It begins to converse only with self. This dangerous isolation is an important topic, as American religious communities such as the Episcopal Church drift in this direction. Mainstream global Christians do not delight in this drift as they recognize the temptations of the cult all too well from their own temptations to isolation.
The Episcopal Church USA is clearly “drifting” in the direction of cutting itself off from global Christianity. It is adopting positions that are extreme within global Anglicanism . . . leaving aside the majority of the world’s Christians. Adopting a “Western European/North American” mindset is a great way to get isolated . . . and isolation leads to cult-like behavior.
Of course, I did not say the ECUSA was there yet . . . and pointed out that traditional Christians recognize the danger, because we too face it in different ways.

Mr. Reynolds: “Adopting a “Western European/North American” mindset is a great way to get isolated” While I don’t exactly think of the Western Europe/North America “mindset” as isolated, you may. With that perspective, would you say the distinctively eclectic form of Christianity practiced in Haiti is isolated, and therefore problematic? How about African traditional religions, brought outside the continent only by the diaspora? How about Shintoism? Being a non practicing Episcopalian myself, I thoroughly enjoy and understand Eddie Izzard’s hilarious parody about Episocopalians. But the way you are dressing these distinctly Episcopalian tendancies just seems melodramatic.

I do think many regional religions get isolated and that this is not generally good for them . . . though there are some creative possibilities too. Isolation is a necessary, but not sufficient feature to create a harmful cult.
(The Washington Post question to which I was responding was on a horrific cult that killed a child by its beliefs.)
If I seem “melodramatic,” it is perhaps because of the great harm caused by going from a global church to a regional church is causing in ECUSA. It may also be because I read (for my living) too much Victorian literature where melodrama is a way of life!
John Mark

Thanks for the comments, John Mark. As an interesting contrast, the LDS Church has, over the last forty years, moved from being a regional church centered on the “Mormon Corridor” (stretching from Idaho through Utah down to northern Arizona) to becoming (or trying to become) more of a national or global church. One result has been toning down the “one true church” rhetoric that was very prevalent in earlier years, along with the overdue emergence of an ecumenical perspective within the LDS Church. Interfaith conferences and collaborations between LDS and other Christian groups or scholars are becoming more frequent; they were virtually unheard of before 1960.

Mr. Reynolds,
Thank you very much for your response. I’m concerned about these issues too, and I’m also a Victorian literature lover myself. (The cluttered and slightly faux interior decor I’m quite glad to not have to live with everyday…)