There used to be a maxim for taverns. Don't try to argue about politics or religion and everyone would get on fine. In other words, "Don't try to change my viewpoint and I won't try to change yours." That doesn't seem to work on the internet but it would be nice if it did.
IMHO ALL religions are "cults" to one degree or another. I had to attend "Sunday School" as a kid for many years. But at the age of 14 (I guess I reached the age of reason) I was learning science and attempted to engage my (presbeterian) minister in a discussion on the reality of God. I was puzzled between the charictarization of the vengeful god of the old testament, the loving God of the new testament and the presbeterian visualization as an angry God who would not forgive a sin. I also argued science and Natural Selection. After some arguement on both sides, I asked, "If God created the Earth with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, then why did he take so much trouble burying all the dinosaur bones in the ground that date to well before the supposed 5,000 BC Jewish date (corroborated by the King James Bible of "Eden" so beloved of the presbeterians) when the Garden of Eden supposely existed. At that he gave up and said, "You have to have FAITH!" Well, growing up poor, I didn't see where this magical commodity was going to appear from so I just gave it up as a complete fraud on the part of all organized religions. You either have FAITH or you don't. It seems to be as Karl Marx said, "Religion is the opiate of the masses." And organized religions of all persuasions are the drug pushers.