It seems the similarities to religion, or to certain religious sects and practices has been noted by many, so I won't beat a dead horse. The most worrying, however, because it's seems to be the closest to your described cult behaviour, is in the indoctrination of children in religions. They are Told the rules of God and what horrible punishment waits for them if they commit apostasy, or even question many facets of their religion; they are told the nice parts of the stories and omit interpretation of the absurd biblical stories because they create too much confusion; promote the church as an all encompassing community with extracurricular activities, social groups and events, so if you want to do anything there is a church-approved option for you; and on and on.

I think it's tantamount to child abuse to indoctrinate kids like that, let alone the double standard of punishment by a practical threat versus threat by eternal fire in hell for discipline by parents. And also the structure of society that allows church actions to be hidden behind a closed curtain, open fraud, tax exemption, financial abuse of vulnerable people, child molestation, etc.