If being saved or guided is the value you're talking about then I guess you're correct. But in reality the only thing of value in a cult or a religion is the leader's point of view. They establish your thinking and your behavior, what is right and what is wrong. I feel it is the weak that needs someone to determine these things for them. If I choose to smoke a pipe, I do so knowing that it's self destructive. If I join a cult that says pipe smoking is wrong then I give up pipe smoking but I do so because I have let it be determined for me. As bns said;

"We all want to be "special." So we do something that's unusual. Pipe-smoking or linux or whatever"

While taking up either of these you're certainly joining a community but ultimately you've made the decision for yourself which is why I say that this different from joining a cult since what you do in a cult is done to the satisfaction of the cult leader who will tell that you're a better person for it but it takes a weak person to believe this. The tech writers who call me a moron because I'm not using Linux in a manner that satisfies them are irrelevant to me because this is not a cult and they're not my leaders.