In most, the main influence the members can exert is by leaving. Either switching to another church or just by becoming an inactive member in the one they were in. Once the cash flow starts drying up, whatever tune they were playing will change quickly.

Do you think it matters? i.e. has some influence in a religious structure?

Or is it akin to the shrinking (R) political party that plays only to their base? Many of whom are extremists of one sort or another.

The church my mom used to go to would split pretty much down the middle about every other decade. Usually one faction or another hated the preacher and if the ousting was successful the people that liked him would leave, if it failed the ones that hated him would either go start another church or switch churches and start trying to build a power base in the new one. Churches are less like political parties and more like message boards.

So even if they rely on a devoted base that they think is never going to go anywhere, eventually the power struggles will pare that off too.

I think the churches that aren't dogmatic on social issues are going to gain a lot more followers over the next decade or two, while the more conservative ones either get with the times or fade into obscurity.

It is totally driven by the laity worldwide. That is currently an issue where the leadership and the majority of member in many nations favor removing the prohibition on same-sex marriage, while very conservative opposition, particularly among members in Africa, has prevented further change.

Roman Catholic clergy.

it does. Young men and women, taken away from their family to lead a life apart from society with fealty to a grand leader. I also see that time and time again the clergy chooses to protect itself to the detriment to the congregation. IMO they see themselves as "the Church" and not the people in the pews.
Just because it has been around for a while doesn't mean it's not a cult.

Catholicism is a mature religion, so it's grown quite beyond cult status that way. And it's not terribly difficult to quit the priesthood in that all one has to do is say "I quit" and change clothes. Molesting children is, unfortunately, a less effective method of doing so. Certainly contact with people outside the Catholic faith isn't difficult.

A cult is what people make of it. Since there are millions of Catholic priests who want nothing more than to practice their faith, do good works in the world, and enjoy the occasional wee dram after a hard day's priesting, the term cult seems a bit of a harsh overstatement.

to be a bit less hyperbolic, let me say instead that I see the priesthood and the convent having many simalarities with a cult.

but then and dedicated sports fan would fill that bill.

but until they give up their life and promise complete obedience to their team, including living where ever the team manager tells them, it's a strained analogy.

Many of them worked for the company their entire lives.

with no possessions of their own? And the absolute belief that serving IBM was the highest calling for a person? while knowing indulging in anything for person pleasure was a sin and an a front to IBM?
And of course if they went to work for Microsoft it would bring discrace to their family.
Strained as well.

generally refers to something resembling the Branch Davidians. The Catholic priesthood ain't the same thing. It ain't in the same ballpark. Referring to it as such as a cult is merely caustic hyperbole.

there are many religions I would call cults, Scientology, hare Krishna, moonies, some Mormon sects, some christian sects. Don't expect others to agree, but in my estimation, the Catholic priesthood resembles a cult to me.

And by doing so you make the problem worse, not better.

use the word cult because that is exactly the word I mean.

in fact, your meaning is quite clear and unwarranted. You're coming through loud and clear, but mostly just loud.

but it's also not the worse thing leveled at the church.

like the military does? After all, the military has a distinctive garb, characteristic rituals and invocations, sacred objects, a completely top-down structure, chants, a demand for total obedience (sometimes on pain of death), et rather lengthy cetera.

I don't see most people who enlist doing so in their same way a priest commits the rest of their life, to the exclusion of any personal family as the same.
I also don't expect any Catholic, or practicing Christian to agree. If you want to compare the priesthood to the military, you are welcome to, I see it more as a cult.

I'm comparing your definition of a cult to the military. Let's add, while we're at it, that the military also expects its members to give their lives as necessary for its cause. That's less of a prospect in the Church now, except for parts of Central America.

after all, except superficially. I wasn't the one who made the comparison in the first place.
But the Catholic priesthood looks like a cult to me.

because that is exactly what they do.

The Catholic church really doesn't meet the generally accepted criteria for a cult and I would suggest that you are only using that word as a smear and not really to make a point.

Most religions intend to present special wisdom, insights; insights supposedly only from a given, special culture. By shamans, witches, priests.

This common assertion of some special insight, attained only by special devotion to a special god or religious regimen or "cult"ure, has lead some scholars to suggest that all religions were originally, and in effect still are, "cults."

and cult.

I'm going with that.

better?

Anybody can wear MARPAT, but the whole black and white robe thing? Smokin'.

you can have a family and private life. and it's only for the period of ones enlistment.
I wouldn't expect you to agree with my assessment, but to me the priesthood has many similarities to a cult.
you might think otherwise.

Once they told me they wanted something in particular done with one of their soldiers. His wife strongly objects and I informed the CO of this.

His response:

If we had wanted Sgt. Soandso to have a wife, we would have issued him one.

True story.

Oh,, and unlike a priest, they can't simply just leave when they feel like it.

I would guess also that you may not have spent a lot of time around priests.

That's not entirely true. My dad was in the US Navy for a combined total of 24 years, but he got out twice before his enlistment was supposed to be over and re-upped later. (Both times he got pissed off at being jerked around by his superiors and decided he'd had enough.) There's quite a bit of paperwork involved, naturally, and when he subsequently re-enlisted he went back in one enlistment grade lower than when he mustered out, but it's not impossible.

work with the military. Some of that involved trying to get people out who desperately wanted to leave.

It's not nearly as easy as you think and it involves a lot more than paperwork.

Maybe not impossible for everyone, but for some the consequences are not benign.

The military can.

Here again, your description of a "cult" comes closer to the Army than to the Church.

drafts people?
seems to me they lure people with a "higher calling" and the idea that the are following the true path of God.
But if people here want to call the Army a cult or the clergy an army, that's their call.

There are therefore, some interesting overlaps between religions, and the military.

I grew up in a denomination that had a representative national assembly where decisions where made.

But I'm not sure that the RCC or Mormons have anything like that.

search out and get active in specific local church groups / activities that represent socially liberal goals, "cafeteria" Catholicism (a choice many make, especially in the US), or simply leave and move on.

It's my experience that many Catholics, both regular mass attendees and the nominally Catholic take the Rome-based dogma with a grain of salt. Though many would welcome and support change.

Lots of opportunities for activism on a local level, even if it directly conflicts with RCC doctrine.

In the past, most churches have been top-down authoritarian regimes; not dissimilar to armies. However, that pattern is changing.

New theologies suggest that listening to many counselors, might be useful. Including listening to the people, and secular leaders, scientists.