Cult comes from the Latin cultus and has several uses and meanings. As an adjective, the educated term allows to name someone who is endowed with the knowledge that comes from instruction or culture. For example: “Don Ramírez is a very cultured man who reads a book a week”, “In the middle of a job interview you must express yourself with cultured language and avoid rude terms”, “This is a cultured town since more than a decade that regulated compulsory secondary education”.
In this sense, rudeness, vulgarities, obscenities and all those issues that reveal a lack of culture are opposed to the notion of worship.
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A cult is also an external homage that the Christian dedicates to God, to the Virgin or to the saints. The cult is made up of the rites and ceremonies with which said homage is paid: “Juan professes an unusual Umbanda cult in these lands”, “The Secretary of Cult of the Nation reported that the patron saint festivities will take place at the end of the month with events in various parts of the country.
However, the fact that homage or honors are not only paid to virgins and saints, but also to other beings, should not be overlooked. Thus, for example, when those are performed for the angels, it is what is known as the cult of dulia.
On the other hand, there is also the cult of latría, which is the one that is carried out in honor of God, and finally we find what is known as external cult. This basically differs from the previous ones not because of who it is addressed to but because it is based on very specific pillars such as sacrifices, processions or even offerings of a very diverse nature.
All this gives rise to another very important term within the religious sphere and that is closely related to everything exposed. We are referring to freedom of worship, which would be the right that is recognized for people to participate in the entire set of acts that are carried out publicly within what would be the religion they profess.
In the same way, we cannot ignore the existence of what is called tolerance of cults. In his case, it becomes a right that makes it clear that any individual has total freedom, as established by the relevant law, to be able to carry out in his home, privately, all those acts that do not belong to the religion that is considered the official religion of the country in which you live.
The cult is, on the other hand, the admiration that certain things are the object of : “The singer paid homage to youth on his new album, with lyrics about those happy years”, “The landscapes of the province constitute a cult of beauty and to nature”, “Some people seem to worship stupidity and reward the most degrading proposals”.
Cult, finally, can be used as a synonym for cultivation to refer to cultivated plants or land.