Robert, I think one of the difficulties you (and we) are having in responding to your post concerns the word, "cult." It is not as simply defined as one person suggested below in this thread.

If you will take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult , you will see the word has many interpretations, based on what it is being applied to. Some of those interpretations/meanings are very much "over the top." Some are positive. Some have negative connotations.

I, for one, have no idea which definition you have adopted in your post. Further, I am personally unfamiliar with the phrase, "Cult of the South" and have never seen it used in Southern literature I am familiar with.