The Scent of a Cult

In his extremely helpful essay, "The Scent of a Cult" (http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=3977), Benjamin Wittes argues the defining, and distinguishing, characteristic of a cult is its use of what George Orwell called "doublethink" to control its members. In other words, the difference between a cult and a religion, political party, or philosophy is that a cult insists words mean only what it says they mean, and thereby make meaningful conversation with other points of view impossible.