Question: ''Is "fervent" considered derogatory?''

* "Cult" is, by many people.  And you listed the vast majority of languages in modern production use--which suggests that the word "cult" is not just pejorative, but flat-out wrong.

* ''It would have been more polite to explore the title and implications a bit before deleting. To automatically assume evil intent is not very diplomatic. ''

[true, although it is a pretty stupid title if you aren't looking to rub at least *someone* the wrong way]

My favorite techniques could also be called "cult". It passed the GoldenRule. I did not mean it to be an insult.

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The One...the Only....TuringLanguage. Absolute ProgrammingNirvana.

Easy targets:
* SmalltalkLanguage
* LispLanguage
* AplLanguage
* HaskellLanguage
* ErlangLanguage
* ForthLanguage
* EiffelLanguage

Really, these have to be "mainstream religions" with so many devotees.
* CeeLanguage
* PerlLanguage
* RubyLanguage
* PythonLanguage
* CeePlusPlus

How can EiffelLanguage be left out?

And, err, CeePlusPlus?  ''Would that be the cult with the purple KoolAid, or the purple blankets and the tennis shoes?''

''Regardless of whether the title of this page is offensive or not, do we ''really'' want another page on a the meta-topic of language advocacy? Or for that matter, another page about people's subjective and emotional reactions to particular programming technologies? How exceedingly tedious... where's the beef?''

Grazing at every node in EveryLanguageFixesSomething - but don't say it too loudly they are SacredCow''''''s