Few words in religion are as ironic as “pagan” and that’s saying a lot. Stung by Jewish accusations that they were Pagans (for having two gods) and intent on theologizing their differences from the Roman cult, the followers of Jesus eventually succeeded in folding him into their mother’s milk of Jewish monotheism. He was spooned into the mix by the formulaic categories of Greek philosophy and the heresy-slaying councils of Christendom.

The determinedly triune dogma of traditional Christianity was made more rigid by Protestantism’s turn in the kitchen. Demonstrating an even greater jealousy on their god’s behalf, Protestants evicted the saints, as well as broke altars and images. Even the Americans, who despised creeds in favor of “Bible words for Bible things,” could not cut this cream out of their diet, but have kept whipping it through the centuries. God’s singularity and radical unrelatedness to creation defined his sovereignty and his sovereignty was the measure of his power to save.

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Pope Benedict’s preference for the Latin Mass is a good way to enter the question of what makes for good worship. I like the Latin Mass. I love the combination of sound, sight and scent that is the medieval rite in a cathedral setting.

But, I am not a Catholic and I do not rely on the rite as an instrument of grace. Rather, I appreciate it as art: art that stirs, not saves my soul. The Eucharist is, however, the central rite of salvation for billions of worshipers. What is it that communicates to its participants the hope of salvation, even immediate divine presence, and what impedes it? My Tennessee neighbors drive considerable distance from the parish around the corner to attend a Vietnamese mass. They are not Vietnamese and as close as he has gotten to Asia in his 92 years was Guadalcanal. So, why not Latin?

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The common definition of cult is captured in the common joke: my faith is a religion, yours is a sect and that guy over there whom we don’t like, well, his is a cult.

In its more scholarly usage the term tries to measure socio-cultural distance. The greater the mismatch of the customs between believers and their host culture, the more likely the believers are deemed somewhere on the spectrum between sectarian to cultish.

This doesn’t capture the negative connotations of the word cult, however. The Amish, notwithstanding their oddly old-fashioned and standoffish ways are, today, never referred to as a cult. The Latter-day Saints, notwithstanding their modern ways and successful integration with their host societies throughout the world, are frequently called a cult.

Obviously, then, separation from culture is not the definitive aspect of cult. Rather, the word has become a means of asserting separation, even if it doesn’t exist. Cult asserts religious difference in value-laden terms at the expense of one religion and for the benefit of another. Cult is a way of saying “you are not like us, the good guys, and don’t you forget it.”

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