Cult??

So I am going to Brazil next month...one thing i was told to do by my school was to find out the difference between Catholicism and a cult.. as I was looking up thoughts and definitions of cults I came to the conclusion that in the past, during the crusades and the time Alexander the Great, it would be considered a cult. They could not go against the Pope or they would be killed. They discouraged reading the Bible by putting in a language that was not common to their own people and they took money from their followers. However now I would have to say that I do not think that what the Catholic Church has become is now considered a cult...Am i sure at this point, no but thats what I think...

As I continued my search for this information for and against this idea of a cult idea I ran into another idea.. All religions are cults, they are the same thing and have the same definition...

Main Entry: cult
Pronunciation: \ˈkəlt\
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: French & Latin; French culte, from Latin cultus care, adoration, from colere to cultivate — more at wheel
Date: 1617
1 : formal religious veneration : worship
2 : a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also : its body of adherents
3 : a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also : its body of adherents
4 : a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator
5 a : great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book); especially : such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fad b : the object of such devotion c : a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion


now... I have seen many definitions of cults...but this is not one I have seen before. And this is the merriam-webster definition.



I will say I do not believe in a religion, I believe in a lifestyle. God is a tri-being that I worship, but He leads to a lifestyle not just worship and its definitely not a ritual, though so many Christians get that wrong. (go to church, pray daily, worship but live like they don't have a relationship with God, but thats another blog for another day)

Anyway,thoughts? Reflections? Comments? I want to know what people think