Mormon Church: Cult-Lite
Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2011 12:28 pm
My long-term boyfriend, to whom I sometimes refer to as my fiancé because we’ve been engaged for ten years (smile), has been asked a simple question several times at work: Is the LDS church a cult? This recent interest is no doubt due to Mitt Romney, and will only increase if he’s the nominee. Personally, I don’t think increased attention is a good thing for the LDS church which had the misfortune of being born during the age of the printing press, but they seem to think they can control it. (snicker)
He has an interesting answer, which I think is probably fairly accurate. He says it’s “cult-lite”. That always causes some laughter, and sometimes questions why.
The LDS church is not a cult in the way that most Americans use the term today. It’s not Heaven’s Gate, for example. But it does have characteristics of a cult, but not quite full-blown. The one exception is the LDS mission, which is, in my opinion, full-blown cult.
One of the most marked characteristics of the LDS church that is “cult-lite” is the difficulty members have in leaving, particularly if they were born in the church, and more particularly if they live in an LDS dominated area. The LDS church isn’t full-blown cult in that it’s going to threaten violence or some other overt method of control over members who want to leave (although they may have in the past), but it certainly makes it socially and emotionally difficult to leave. Your LDS family has been taught that there’s something wrong with people who leave the church. They’re lazy, want to sin, etc. They’ve also been taught that if a member leaves the LDS church they will no longer be a part of the eternal family unit in the CK. That feels like an impending divorce, like a destruction of the family unit. That causes believing family members a great deal of distress, which translates into pressure on the wavering member to remain in the fold.
Then if you live in an LDS dominated area, the pressure extends to friends, social circles, and even business. The LDS church is very tribe-like. Sometimes that’s good. They extend support to one another quite a bit (not always). But it’s also bad, in that they tend to circle the wagons and ostracize apostates.
These are generalities, of course. Specific people can react differently. But I do think it’s generally accepted that it is quite difficult to leave the LDS church, and that is one way it is “cult-lite”.
He has an interesting answer, which I think is probably fairly accurate. He says it’s “cult-lite”. That always causes some laughter, and sometimes questions why.
The LDS church is not a cult in the way that most Americans use the term today. It’s not Heaven’s Gate, for example. But it does have characteristics of a cult, but not quite full-blown. The one exception is the LDS mission, which is, in my opinion, full-blown cult.
One of the most marked characteristics of the LDS church that is “cult-lite” is the difficulty members have in leaving, particularly if they were born in the church, and more particularly if they live in an LDS dominated area. The LDS church isn’t full-blown cult in that it’s going to threaten violence or some other overt method of control over members who want to leave (although they may have in the past), but it certainly makes it socially and emotionally difficult to leave. Your LDS family has been taught that there’s something wrong with people who leave the church. They’re lazy, want to sin, etc. They’ve also been taught that if a member leaves the LDS church they will no longer be a part of the eternal family unit in the CK. That feels like an impending divorce, like a destruction of the family unit. That causes believing family members a great deal of distress, which translates into pressure on the wavering member to remain in the fold.
Then if you live in an LDS dominated area, the pressure extends to friends, social circles, and even business. The LDS church is very tribe-like. Sometimes that’s good. They extend support to one another quite a bit (not always). But it’s also bad, in that they tend to circle the wagons and ostracize apostates.
These are generalities, of course. Specific people can react differently. But I do think it’s generally accepted that it is quite difficult to leave the LDS church, and that is one way it is “cult-lite”.