Religion 101: Confusion over word 'cult' can be blamed on 'wordnapping'

Saturday, Nov. 05, 2011

By Clark McCall

When Robert Jeffress, a Dallas evangelical megastar, introduced Rick Perry at a gathering in Washington, D.C., he told reporters afterward that Mitt Romney belonged to a "cult" and a Christian "should always prefer a competent Christian to a competent non-Christian like Mitt Romney."

The firestorm Jeffress ignited makes me think that some of the modern definitions for "cult" might be examples of what I would term "wordnapping." I suggest this because an obsolete word, "napper," meaning "thief," is the term from which the well-known "kidnapper" has been derived. A wordnapper would be someone who takes the original meaning of a word and turns it into something that conveys another intent.

When I turn to my Britannica-Webster Dictionary, I find "cult" is defined as "formal religious veneration." It also tells me it represents "a system of religious beliefs and ritual of those who practice it." A wordnapper would be someone who takes the original meaning for "cult" and turns it into a term conveying a different and negative intent.

Clark McCall, pastor of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Merced.

In the 1950s, Walter Martin, a prominent evangelical scholar and author, started a modern usage of "cult" when he wrote a series of books, "The Kingdom of the Cults." He suggested that some groups who considered themselves Christian were really only cults. They may have some beliefs in common with evangelically oriented churches, but were divergent enough in their doctrines to not qualify as true Christian organizations, from Martin's perspective.

The word "cult" continued to evolve until it developed into an evil connotation for fanatical groups, such as Jim Jones and his People's Temple followers. On Nov. 18, 1978, more than 900 people died in a murder-suicide tragedy at a remote South American compound in Jonestown, Guyana.

The word "cult" continued to solidify into something sinister when David Koresh and 75 Branch Davidians perished in flames at their Waco, Texas, compound on April 19, 1993, after a lengthy standoff with federal authorities.

Consequently the word "cult" has changed from "a system of religious beliefs" to something deemed heinous by many Americans today.

We don't know what version of the word "cult" Jeffress meant when he said Romney's faith disqualified him as a presidential candidate. We also don't know the essence of what Romney believed he was asking Perry to "repudiate" in Jeffress' remarks. Nor do we know what Perry was thinking he disagreed with when he simply said he did not "agree" with Jeffress' remarks.

This whole unfortunate incident may have come from a history of wordnapping surrounding the word "cult."

What is most sad is the whole matter should have been a nonissue. It involved shooting down a straw man because when the founders of our Constitution put Article 6 in place, it was designed to prevent a religious test for anyone pursuing political office.

The author is pastor at Olive East Seventh-day Adventist Church, 2222 E. Olive Ave.

Source: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2011/11/05/2109506/religion-101-confusion-over-word.html#ixzz1dTFpLjT4