They are one and the same. They both require blind obedience and to never question!

Brainwashing usually happens but not always. Paganism, Buddhism, pantheism, UU, and some others don't program a narrow version of reality into people's minds or instruct that people can only believe certain things or deserve punishment for example. I don't differentiate most religious sects from cults as both have a history of being just as crazy and harmful at various times. However, most participants are fine people who were indoctrinated from youth. Also many sects teach tolerance.

A cult is a collective, reactionary response to a society. It is not directly related to religions

A sect is a reaction in opposition to the tenets of a religion or fundamental idea

In my opinion they’re all death cults. Only religions through their various ways of indoctrination teach children from the age of understanding to focus on what happens when they die.

Size.
If a film is a massive blockbuster then it is no longer a cult film. Similarly, if a small religion takes young people and secludes them away, denying them access to their families until they are totally emersed, devoted and focused on only the ideology. Then it is called a cult. When the catholic church does it, it is called an established religion.
I remember my dad (an atheist too) showing me round the places he grew up. He pointed out the corner where once a month young girls would wait for the bus to take them off to a convent. Describing the heartfelt tears from their families that often would never see them again. If that ain't a cult I don't know what is?

According to Wikipedia a cult is: "In modern English, the term cult has usually been used in reference to a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs, or by its common interest in a particular personality, object or goal. This sense of the term is controversial and it has divergent definitions both in popular culture and academia and it has also been an ongoing source of contention among scholars across several fields of study.[1][2] It is usually considered pejorative. ."

The parts I am interested is 'philosophical' beliefs and 'goals'. It seem you could even define forms of government as a cult. I would suggest, in it's broadest form, we all could be said as being cultists.

As for religious cults go what is defining? Many cults are just take offs from some larger group. Many sects may start out as a cult (like during the great schism) but then gain higher status as it becomes larger and more popular. Again, for me, I would think a defining item of a cult is it's proclivity for violence. Maybe we are going backward right now in that some sects/cults which became mainstream are now heading for more discrimination and violence and more like cults.

It's a matter of degree - religious groups always devolve into different sects & cults & then into an acceptable group.

The only difference is age and size!

Wow, thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. The only difference really is the size, absolutely. Although some religions seem generally less extreme for sure.

I would never be able to comfortably admit outside of here that there is no difference between the two without getting attacked. Nice to have this space. Scary to think how we are outnumbered and watching it pop up in daily life even. Cop culture, corporate culture comes to mind of the top of my head. Where else do you see it?

United states of America is the secret RELIGION of the Masonic lodge secret religion racist devil worshippers which is the CULT that won freedom from England July 4th, 1776 to rape this land from the original indigenous inhabitants calling it America to establish their secret religion capitalism wage slave labor government and beginning the establishment of the mark of the beast 666 began by requiring birth certificate, social security card and photo identification for taxation and government control.

Revelations 13:16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads,

We could look forward to future generations being forced to worship the devil (leadership) and the beast (laws of government) and "In God We Trust". Everyone in Agreement says, "God bless America ".

Religion is a death cult plain and simple. In Christianity your life does not really start until you die and then you sit around praising your god forever and ever. Trumpers are doing that already and they are still alive!

I think that organized religion is simply a more widely accepted cult. Of course not all religion and cults are equal, but at their core, they are the same thing.

Religions and cults claim to have the answer that you need. The only difference that really matters in this discussion is that more people believe in the answers provided by a religion versus that of a cult.

Christianity, the most widely accepted religion, could have been considered a cult at the time of its beginnings since the Roman pantheon of gods and goddesses was the dominant religion. If you view Jesus as a real historical flesh and blood person, then his crucifixion could be looked at through the same lens we use for cult leaders. Just like Jim Jones after him, the powers that be (in those days the Romans and Jews that owed their power to Romans) saw Jesus as a cult leader with his radical views. Therefore he had to go because he was seen as a threat.

However, unlike Jim Jones, Jesus had a good public relations team after his death and his message was more universal in nature. Thus his cult was eventually widely accepted enough to be a religion.

Same concept, different name, different connotation.

The only difference i consider is that a cult is more extremist and controlling. leaving a religion may have social and/or mental consequences, but leaving a cult can have financial and even physical consequences. it’s a blurry line though, and both are awful.