How many different cults are there in the world?

In answer to the question, there is absolutely no way of knowing how many different cults exist in the world as many are either unknown or practised in secrecy. However, there are many different types of cults that have been formed around various ideologies. There have been cults based on religion, philosophy, politics and even the practise of maintaining horses (Singer, 1992). The question is how many DIFFERENT cults are there in the world. The accepted psychological definition of a cults is a leader or organisation that dominates and dictates an individuals decision making process, usually be professing to have either discovered or been told an ancient wisdom for a better life, by a supreme deity, that is only known to them.

The person who replied has chosen to focus on one particular African faith that they clearly have no knowledge of. They provide us with the typically biased stereotypical answer, about the faith of Vodun. Based on this I can only assume their knowledge of this faith is based on the many movies that seem to take delight in portraying it as evil. The faith of Vodun is absolutely NOT a satanic cult, It is an ancient African faith that was initially brought to the colonised countries of north and south America, by the Africans that had been enslaved, which they were forcefully deprived of under quite brutal and savage regimes. As it was illegal to retain any aspect of their own spirituality, within these colonised societies, the Africans chose to secretly practice their faith, by using the Christian deities (saints and angels) as a substitute for the African deities, as they realised the similarity of energies for both sets of deities. I know enough about my own cultural heritage to provide this basic description of Vodun.

Ref – Singer, M.T. (1992) Cults in Our Midst. New York: Wiley