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I was a bit emotional and mentioned that ex-Mos grew up in a cult because that was the worst insult I could think of at the moment... I don't really think the LDS Church is a cult and these are my thoughts that accurately reflect what I think of the cult status of the LDS Church:

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I was in tit for tat mode and my conscious has been giving me fits that I said it. I know lots of you say the Church is a cult and well, I just figured in my pique of emotional frothy angst I'd mention that you all grew up in that cult. Anyway. Sorry.

Carry on. Feel free to discuss amongst yourselves the cult status if need be.

It is interesting to me how quickly LDS will label other fringe religions as "a cult", yet get incredibly bent out of shape when anyone dares to suggest that their religion is one.

Why, I've heard members say the FLDS religion is a cult.

I do believe the LDS religion has many more cult-like behaviors than other religions. The secrecy in the temple, the unquestioning loyalty to the prophet and the extreme group mindset (well, in Utah at least) are just a few off the top of my head.

As a member of the LDS Church, I don't mind that you or anyone else may tell me I am in a cult. I simply respond by telling them I am in God's one and only true cult. How could that be bad? I feel blessed!

Mormonism isn't really a cult. It's just a really weird religion that was started by a guy who claimed to talk directly to god and married a bunch of his female followers. I don't know any cults that fit that description.

I've been following Samuel the Utahnite's poll for a few months now (people must think I'm everywhere on the Net, and they're probably right), and the results so far:

Mormon Truth Poll

Is Mormonism a cult?!!

NO 55.8% 2817

YES 44.2% 2231

total votes: 5048

I reserve calling it a cult for when I see posters like "Wheat". That would be Jim Jones Style too boot. Gather up all the gays and apostates and hang them in the public square.

Throwing 2 cents on the heap.

Is Mormonism a cult of Christianity? Technically, yes.
Is Christianity a cult of Judaism? Technically, yes.

Moniker wrote:I was a bit emotional and mentioned that ex-Mos grew up in a cult because that was the worst insult I could think of at the moment...

I don't think you should worry about it. They've likely heard it a zillion times and, in my observation, it rolls of their backs.

In hungarian, the word "kultusz" (=cult) has no negative connotation. For example, in the first half of the 20th century, the "Ministry (bureau, department) of Religion and Education" was called in common language as "cult ministry".

We use the word "szekta" (=sect) as a derogatory term for a small/weird religion.

SatanWasSetUp wrote:Mormonism isn't really a cult. It's just a really weird religion that was started by a guy who claimed to talk directly to god and married a bunch of his female followers. I don't know any cults that fit that description.

What is sad is that there are many members of the Church who wouldn't catch the joke here.

I sat and watched a member of the Twelve condemn David Koresh at a BYU devotional. Through the whole thing I thought, "he is describing Joseph Smith to a tee, and he doesn't even see that." And this is when I was obviously a believing, active member of the LDS Church.

SatanWasSetUp wrote:Mormonism isn't really a cult. It's just a really weird religion that was started by a guy who claimed to talk directly to god and married a bunch of his female followers. I don't know any cults that fit that description.

The problem is that most faiths of any sort, whether major religion, more recent denomination, or isolated cult, fit that description to a degree:

1) Person (or small group) claiming new or unique divine information or authority.
2) Distinction of belief and/or lifestyle from other prevalent faiths.
3) Granting of power to that person or group claiming divine information or authority.

That power may or may not be abused, though it has been in cases from Mohammed to John Calvin. We don't know a lot about the life of Jesus besides the fairly unreliable information contained in the Gospels, but it seems evident from a reading of Acts as well as a reading of Roman histories of the period that early Christianity exhibited many traits we would classify as "cult-like", such as communal living, great authority in the hands of a small group, an inability to live and commune within the greater society, and a suicidal degree of fanaticism.

I think early Mormonism was in a similar boat. I don't see the same sorts of behavior exhibited from most Mormons today, though areas of Utah and Idaho that are isolated from the rest of the world do lag behind the curve.