Return of the “Cult”

Abstract

Recent years have seen an apparent “return” of normative religious and cultic language in political and media discourses, often adopted in pejorative and confrontational contexts. Arguably driven by contemporary political divisions and debates surrounding COVID-19 restrictions, terms including “cult,” “brainwashing,” and “groupthink” have reignited discourses surrounding so-called “cultic” behaviour and beliefs. We argue, however, that the “cult debate” has not returned, but rather transitioned into new and implicit conversations surrounding “good” and “bad” religion. In this special issue of Implicit Religion, we seek to avoid re-treading old ground concerning definitions of “cults,” and instead adopt a renewed approach to the academic study of normative cultic language—placing an emphasis on the ways in which these terms are used, negotiated, and understood in contemporary discourses.