Most antiquities scholars think that the New Testament gospels are "mythologized history." In other words, based on the evidence available they think that around the start of the first century a controversial Jewish rabbi named Yeshua ben Yosef gathered a following and his life and teachings provide...
I wish people would stop saying this. Research into the BITE Model and High Control Organizations have given specific criteria to the sorts of groups people would call “cults”. Some of the more fanatical sections of the Catholic Church qualify just as much as a multi level marketing scheme that started 5 years ago.