If your for us then we are for you, is the cant of a personality cult.

and:

If you leave we will try destroy you by any means we can away with.

It is a pact. All to oft comes into play if doing things against the law for cults. Mafia stuff.

Religions tend to undercut their practices with consideration for local laws and rules… to the degree they do not dictate or sponsor belief.

This can be said for the US and Europe mostly if you decide your a Jedi few will want to cut your head off with a saw. In open and free societies the need for religions to defend themself are mute.

Cults are not religions and do not subscribe to the golden rule ‘Do unto others as you would have done unto you’.

Cults don’t view themselves or members as subjects of law and order.

This answers the question of when religion can trespass from good into bad. Like how politics can digress from the noble into profit, religion can digress into the cult ingredient to. But cults make a policy of doing bad and sticking by their own because they are their own. Even in the wrong.

Unfortunately cults bad ness tends toward the vulnerability of weaker minded people like children especially. So there is pedophilia, slave labour, child trafficking as well as drug and arms smuggling goes on… all in the name of the cause.

In an intimate group like a family, it is best to deal with issues internally and not involve the police. An underage daughter assaulting her father example. Do you call the cops on your 14 year old wain? Cults do this as a matter of institutional policy.

So herein lies the problem. Religions (to the degree laws do not restrict their function) don’t for the main try lower the moral floor.

Cults do not have a lower base level. They are amoral. They have zero ethical compass towards any society beyond survive and fight to the death for their version of life.

They are tyrants, authoritarian, Totalitarian and ultimately despicable. It can be said to make good people do bad you need religion. Cults is where the worse of them gravitate to.

Every religion does some prophesizing but beware the cults who aim for kids and the vulnerable.

They want them young and dumd or numb for a reason.