I think it is important to make the distinction. Cult is ritual, and really only one of the three major elements of theistic religions (Code and Creed being the other two.) But a religion in general may or may not have Cult. You can imagine forms which advocate enlightenment through meditation, or through personal contact with the gods without the interference from priests or without the need for rituals. Similarly, a Cult may or may not be a part of a religion. Sororities, Fraternities, and the Ku Klux Klan may be roughly referred to as cults, though it is hard to make the case that any is a religion.
fyi, Al Qur'an is best spelled like this:
ﺍﻠﻗﺮﺁﻥThe Q is a better transliteration for the arabic ﻖ. As the K is generally reserved for the arabic ﮏ. Each has a different sound. Of course transliteration systems are always rough, so I'll not quibble with Germans who spell Iraq as Irak, for example, but it is an important distinction. In English, we do not really have the sound that ﻖ makes. Nevertheless the since the word begins with a ﻖ sound, it should be transliterated by some character which indicates that it is not the ﮏ sound. Q works pretty well.
I voted for none of them, but that owes more to my own ignorance than to anything else.
Peas be upon you.
Poll
