https://www.deseret.com/faith/2023/5/9/23707063/why-religion-scholars-journalists-dont-say-cult

“The religious term you should try to stop using
A growing group of scholars, journalists and others recommend against labeling a faith group as a cult.”

Unless that ‘faith group’ meets all the criteria for a cult, which the CULT of Joseph’s Myth does.

-The group is focused on a living leader to whom members seem to display excessively zealous, unquestioning commitment.

Check

-The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members.

Check

-The group is preoccupied with making money.

Check

-Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished.

Check

-Mind-numbing techniques (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, debilitating work routines) are used to suppress doubts about the group and its leader(s).

Check

-The leadership dictates sometimes in great detail how members should think, act, and feel (for example: members must get permission from leaders to date, change jobs, get married; -leaders may prescribe what types of clothes to wear, where to live, how to discipline children, and so forth).

Check

-The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s), and members (for example: the leader is considered the Messiah or an avatar; the group and/or the leader has a special mission to save humanity).

Check

-The group has a polarized us-versus-them mentality, which causes conflict with the wider society.

Check

-The group’s leader is not accountable to any authorities (as are, for example, military commanders and ministers, priests, monks, and rabbis of mainstream denominations).

Check

-The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify means that members would have considered unethical before joining the group (for example: collecting money for bogus charities).

Check

-The leadership induces guilt feelings in members in order to control them.

Check

-Members’ subservience to the group causes them to cut ties with family and friends, and to give up personal goals and activities that were of interest before joining the group.

Check

-Members are encouraged or required to live and/or socialize only with other group members.

Check

https://cultrecovery101.com/cult-recovery-readings/checklist-of-cult-characteristics/

If they don't want to be labeled a cult, they should stop putting on the shoes.

Is there a group that meets the criteria of a CULT more than the Mormons?

Not that I’m aware of, except perhaps the JW’s.

The Scientologists and the Moonies would more than meet the definition. Plus, many other smaller cults.

True.
They seem to be off most charts however.
This is a great chart, that shows extremely dogmatic religions, like JW’s and Mormons who accept science the least, on the right and those less dogmatic religions, like Buddhists and Hindus on the left, who accept science and embrace the scientific evidence proving evolution is the best explanation for our origins.

https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2012/07/evolution.gif

"they should stop putting on the shoes."

Rusty would look great in clown shoes.

He would fit right in with the cadre of other horror themed clowns.

If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck...

Exactly what I was thinking!

“As journalist Bobby Ross Jr. pointed out last year, efforts to expel the term “cult” from the world of journalism have seen mixed success so far. Many journalists have stopped emphasizing the label, but they often still use it to back-up other descriptions by, for example, writing that some people would consider a group to be a cult.

In that way, the debate over using the term “cult” reminds me of the ongoing debate over using the term “Mormon.”

After leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced in 2018 that they’d prefer journalists to avoid the labels “LDS” or “Mormons,” many journalists began including the full name of the church in stories. However, they often still use phrases like “Latter-day Saints are commonly known as Mormons.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

So the Mormon Cult doesn’t like the word, ‘Cult’ or ‘Mormon’ but it just can’t seem to shake either one, because it more than meets every criteria for being a CULT, it epitomizes an abusive doomsday CULT and gives the world a perfect example of what a money grubbing nefarious doomsday CULT really looks like.

They never tire of trying to control the narrative, do they.

>"The Associated Press’ latest update to the religion section of its style guide suggests avoiding the label,..."

I'm guessing religious types (especially types like Mormons) have been out putting pressure on media to influence their PR as usual.

>"...describing a group as a “cult” dehumanizes the people involved and increases the likelihood that they’ll face violence from government officials and others seeking to determine what’s really going on in the organization."

This is rich because there is NOTHING that dehumanizes others as much as religion. The violence often comes FROM the religious people who have God's A-OK to attack others.

That paragraph seems like a dog whistle to the Waco/Bundy anti government types. It's more what-about-ism, IMO. We SHOULD understand what is going on in religious organizations.

I suspect they might be upset that certain political extremist types associated with religion are being correctly labeled as a cult and they want to separate themselves. Maybe they see an opportunity to move the label from religion to politics. I hope the press doesn't cater to demands from religion, however lately they probably will.

I will be using the words "cult" and "Mormon" more frequently because I can see what they are doing. They doth protest too much.

+ 10000001

Haha, it’s funny that their response to The Book of Mormon on Broadway being the smash hit of the 21st C was to take out a two page centerfold ad in their playbill, forever.

That didn’t stop the scrutiny or criticism or rejection and now being Mormon is NOT a positive anymore. Growing up I always thought it was because I was born into that tribe and Go Tribe! Amiright? .

Now Mormons protest being called Mormons and are going on the defensive, citing the Stylebook.

When you gotta cite the style book,
You pretty much lost the gd debate



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/16/2023 09:23PM by schrodingerscat.

Also did you notice the next article down where we see evidence of Mormons trying hard to be pals with mainstream Christians?

Term of the week: Archbishop of Canterbury

In the old days, they would never try to chat about the other Christian leadership roles (except to associate them with Satan in the temple).

It will take a couple generations, but I think it is clear that Mormons will adapt and morph themselves into mainstream Christians.

Mainstream Christians are the first to call the Mormon Church a Cult, but for different reasons than the fact that it meets all the criteria of a CULT. They reject MORmONism because it’s not Trinitarian and it added to the Bible with extra Mormon scriptures they reject, therefore, it’s a CULT!

Of course they all have reasons to reject any ‘other’ religions based upon doctrinal differences, but that’s just the tribal nature of in-group/out-group psychology of our monkey brains.

If, at the local level, a 'religion' appears to favor the members over the founders/leaders, it's probably not a cult.

If, at the local level, a 'religion' appears to favor the founders/leaders over the members, it's probably a cult.


I see this as support for the notion that bishop roulette is a very real thing.

I don't think that I grew up in a cult, which is probably why the temple experience was shocking enough to make me doubt that there was any connection between mormonism and ghawd.

As I have suggested a few times in the past, Mormonism began as a cult, gradually transformed into a religion, and then from the 1960s or 1970s onward evolved back into a cult.

The temple ceremony was a cultic constant over that entire period.

I have long ago done this analysis: see my FAQ "Is Mormonism a Cult?" at
http://packham.n4m.org/cult.htm

Interesting analysis.
Did you evaluate other cults to see how they compare?
Would be interested to see it if so, thanks

There’s an irony to LDS Inc striving valiantly to go mainstream Christian - the mainstream Christian brand is not exactly thriving either.

I love irony.
But I hate ironing.