I have been pondering a thought about belief systems. What does it take to make a belief system considered valid? To me if even one person truly has faith in something, then it should be valid. For example, if someone had true faith that a piece of charcoal created the universe and guides us all, then to that person their belief system is a valid one. True faith all comes down to an individual's devotion to a belief system, whatever that may be.

Thoughts?

Exactly Raph, your are onto my line of thinking. You whole heartedly believe in your system. And even though you are the only one who follows this exact path because you custom tailored it to your needs, it is still a valid belief system.

And there is nothing wrong with that. For some the established belief systems work fine. Be it Christian, Buddhist, Wiccan, Hindu, Santaria, etc. But for others no one single system has everything they need. A true spiritual path to me is about individual self discovery.

Very interesting topic, very complicated answer! 

I have mixed feelings on the topic.  For me as a person, I give the most credit to religions that evolve with their time, yet have strong, old roots.  However, I know that this does not make a religion 'valid.' 

I believe that people should be able to believe in what they want, something that reflects their life's experiences.  However, I have very strong conservative tendencies and am very hesitant to say that something such as the Cult of Billy is worth being considered a religion.  In order for something to become a valid religion, it has to be, or become, something that is at peace with socially accepted values.  It does not have to be liked by everyone in that society, but it has to be at peace with the socially accepted values enough to where it would be able to survive for a good number of years as an accepted faith.  The majority of cults would doubtlessly not fit with this operational definition. 

Now, cults are a different matter all together.  Not all cults fit under the "cult mentality" as everyone knows it.  They simply have to be a gathering of a several people who have a common belief system.  However, they do not always possess the numbers to be an accepted religion, or are deviated from societal values enough to where they are 'secretive' at least, malicious at worst.  If I wanted to, I could create a cult today (not that I would want to do such).  All religions we know as religions today started as a cult, including Christianity. 

Archaeologists, theologians, anthropologists, etc. debate on how to operationally define a religion and a cult.  Fair is fair, I guess.  I am only speaking my opinion.

Sincerely,
ResplendentSeraphim

That is a great point. And unfortunately, it seems there will always be that one.