These days, I believe political cults are the most popular among young people.
Maybe in the West. But Da’ish and other varieties of militant Islam are basically doomsday cults, and have all the usual marks of same. Note that there are in fact flavors of “strict religion”, even in Islam (consider the “quietist sects”), that are not nearly as dangerous in practice, either to the individual or to the surrounding community—and the “red flags” seem to make all the difference there. A “quietist” Muslim might know that he’s supposed to “pray five times a day every day, no matter what you were doing at that time” and “shun the infidels” at some level, but he won’t take these things nearly as seriously as someone who’s actually dangerous—the “cult” is not totalizing for him and real-world concerns will obviously take over at some point.
Maybe in the West. But Da’ish and other varieties of militant Islam are basically doomsday cults, and have all the usual marks of same. Note that there are in fact flavors of “strict religion”, even in Islam (consider the “quietist sects”), that are not nearly as dangerous in practice, either to the individual or to the surrounding community—and the “red flags” seem to make all the difference there. A “quietist” Muslim might know that he’s supposed to “pray five times a day every day, no matter what you were doing at that time” and “shun the infidels” at some level, but he won’t take these things nearly as seriously as someone who’s actually dangerous—the “cult” is not totalizing for him and real-world concerns will obviously take over at some point.
Heh. When chaos said “the 9/11 of cults” I thought “wait, wasn’t 9/11 the 9/11 of cults?”