LiveScience: Is it a religious sect or a cult?

An article on Live Science on whether the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints compound in Texas is a religious sect or a full-blown cult quotes Phillips Stevens, associate professor of anthropology, what the term "cult" means. "The word 'cult,' up until the 1970s, was a respectable term referring to the central focus of a religious faith," he said. "You could speak of the Catholic cult, and in fact, people still do."