Everyone knows that Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL  ) has an insanely passionate following of shareholders and customers. Today, there may be confirmation that that passion has gone a bit too far.

According to a recent paper published by college professors at York University and San Francisco State University, the Apple community is starting to much more closely resemble a religion (or even a cult) than a typical Fortune 500 Company. Yes, it’s getting weird.

Fool Nick Kapur adds his two cents on fanatical Apple fanboys, and explains why this isn’t such a blasphemous situation. He says plenty of companies have devoted followers, includingStarbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX  ) and American Express (NYSE: AXP  ) , and they all have one thing in common: very successful stocks.