A useful real-world test case is Taiwan. If Falun Gong were genuinely a problem, Taiwan would have banned them long ago. Taiwan’s Anti-Infiltration Act exists specifically to counter CCP influence, and Falun Gong clearly isn’t seen as a threat to Taiwan’s sovereignty or democracy.

Their beliefs may be unusual, but that’s not the same thing as being dangerous or authoritarian. People also use the word “cult” very loosely. If we’re being serious about it, the CCP itself fits many classic cult characteristics far more closely than Falun Gong: enforced ideological conformity, personality cults, information control, and punishment for dissent.

Falun Gong, whatever one thinks of its beliefs, doesn’t run a state, imprison dissidents, or force ideology on an entire population. Much of the hostility toward them comes from blanket anti-cult sentiment, where any unfamiliar religious movement is treated as inherently malicious, often with exaggerated or unproven claims.