Sorry, that just sounds arbitrary. After all, many of those criteria are arguably fulfilled by many world religions that are tolerated by the broader society.
I think it's a matter of extent and purpose, rather than the specific presence of any one thing on the list, because like the man says in the video, a lot of organizations that get called cults by outsiders defend themselves by saying that they don't have features 1, 2, and 3, so they
can't be a cult...while they may engage in features 5, 6, and 7 to a degree that makes the relative absence of other warning signs seem like cold comfort.
Also, that's all these are meant to be: warning signs. I don't think Dr. Hasan (who I've only seen in interviews on Leah Remini's scientology series, just for full disclosure; I've never read his books) is even saying "If you're in an organization that has these, you're in a cult", but rather "these are some features that a cult might have, so if they're engaged in to a degree where you see this model as fitting your organization, it might be a cult."
For instance the bit about chanting...well, that's the normative way of praying (at least historically; for some, still currently) in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, etc. Does that mean that Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, etc. are all cults? No. But if you had a smaller sect from within any of these that made it a rule that all members must chant for 8, 10, 12 (whatever) continuous hours per day in order to prove their devotion to their gods or to their leaders or organization, then yeah...that's pretty cult-like.
Besides, maybe I'm crazy, but I think that any of us -- even in mainstream, traditional, theologically-orthodox churches that people don't usually call cults -- should be able to take a model like the B.I.T.E. model (or any similar model, if you don't like that one) and seriously evaluate whether or not we ourselves may be in a cult. I know if I was in a cult, I'd want to know so I could leave. I tend to think of it like the Coptic Orthodox Church had plenty of opportunities to show if it was a cult during the three years I was studying it before I was able to even go to a liturgy, and then more time after that, especially since I was coming from Roman Catholicism, so I knew exactly the kinds of things that I wouldn't accept in a Church (the heavy-handedness, the dryness, the political stuff; not to dig at the RCC, which I don't think meets the definition of a cult even with all that...these are just the things I experienced that I personally didn't like). Yet I didn't actually find any of that, and seven years on it still hasn't manifested itself. I would still question if maybe some Coptic parishes wouldn't still qualify, more on the grounds of the "cult of personality" that can be cultivated by particular priests who are aware of their popularity and reach, but still that says nothing of the religious organization as a whole. And yet there's more chanting, longer services, more in general "to do" (daily prayer rule, fasting, etc.) than in Roman Catholicism, all of which would seem to make it more 'cult-like', if we are to interpret the B.I.T.E. model that way...the difference being that in the RCC, I was told things like "Missing mass is a mortal sin", or "Voting for this bill/this politician is a sin", etc.. while in the Coptic Orthodox Church, regarding their own practices, I was asked "Are you able to do the reading today?" (they liked to have me read because I was the only native English speaker in the congregation who was an adult man, and hence could be blessed to read the Pauline epistles before the congregation, my physical condition permitting), and when I said "No", I was not castigated or looked down upon in any way, but in fact given the same blessing as everyone, and father moved on and asked someone else. Similarly with fasting, while it is the rule in the Church, there have been times when I've been explicitly told not to fast by my priest. And so on and so on.
The point being: arbitrary or not (and I sort of agree with you, but I don't see how it could not be, since religious practice is not like a science where you're dealing with naturally occurring phenomenon that can be measured in standardized units), it does provide some framework that you can actually apply to all groups (even your own) to see whether or not they are cults.
I sleep happily knowing that while my Church may have some of these practices given as examples (chanting, fasting, etc.), they aren't taken to the same degree or with the same end as groups that are more conventionally seen as cults.
