I'm a rationalist, a person who believes the *real* mysteries of existence are quite sufficient, thank you very much, without bothering with superstitious waffle about spirits and gods and other stuff that cannot be pinned down.

So, from my point of view, not only can cults become mainstream religions, there is no distinction to be made between the two in terms of their subject matter or ambitions. The subject matter is whatever the priesthood says it is. The ambitions are to control folk via an enforced dependency on a supernatural parent figure.

That goes for all religious rackets, from Judaism, thru Xianity and Islam; and not forgetting Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and all the other dismal, immaterial, unprovable and worthless superstitions. The catechisms of the Catholic Church, the mental contortions of Sharia or the Torah are all equally worthless, damaging and downright immoral.

But although (to my dangerous mind) there is no distinction to be made between cults and mainstream religions in terms of their subject matter or ambitions, there is a *major* distinction to be made in their methods. Sharia and the Catechisms are publicly available, open to anyone to discover for themselves and debate. And likewise, it's public knowledge that part of Judaism is to regard fellow religionists (not fellow humans in general) as special and chosen by The One True God.

Not so the real message of Rawatism (devotion to Rawat absolves his followers of moral responsibility); or the real teachings of Scientology (we are aliens that need to recover our true memories with the aid of expensive help from the Church). Those beliefs, firmly held by the faithful, are concealed from outsiders and the newly recruited.

So a cult is just a religion which keeps its teachings secret, except to the initiated. Mainstream religion or cult, the goods on offer -- superstition, unreason, dependency -- are the same. With a mainstream religion, the punters know what they are buying into; but with a cult people are tricked and suckered into the belief system. That's the only difference.

Can cults become mainstream? Sure, when a cult's absurd belief system becomes so prevalent that it is no longer mocked with dropped jaws and suppressed smiles, then it can become mainstream. When its beliefs are regarded as "normal", then a cult can come out of the closet and come clean about its teachings.

That, I should hazard, is how all religions get started.