But I'm also sure you'll find cult defined as an unorthodox religion and its followers. Truthfully, I think it's all in the cultural context. Today, a Christian in a Islamic land would be considered cultist, and vice-versa. We are all somebody else's aberration, right or wrong. I wasn't at Saturday's lecture either, but it seems to me that there is a need to differentiate between mainstream religious sects and newer, more spurious fringe groups.
All religions start as cults and retain some cultic behavior.
But it is that predatory aspect that makes them potentially dangerous. Wicca is a new religion that, while dreadfully annoying, pretentious, and silly, is not particlarly dangerous. But Heaven's Gate, born of the same New Age enlightenment silliness proved fatal. Our mainstream religions provide us with all the lunacy we need, thank you. There is no need to come up with newer and loonier ones.