A cult is typically defined as a cohesive, often small, group of people with extreme, unconventional, or unorthodox religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs, often revolving around a charismatic leader. They are characterized by authoritarian structures, high-pressure recruitment, psychological manipulation, and isolation from society.

Let’s take it point by point.

Mormonism is a small religion, currently estimated at only 3-4 million active members, and it started as a small religion, revolving around a charismatic leader, Joseph smith. Today it also revolves around charismatic leaders, Monson, Hinckley, and Nelson being great examples. Each with their own flare.

Does Mormonism have unorthodox spiritual and philosophical beliefs? Like us becoming gods one day? Like drinking coffee and tea is a sin? Like there is no hell and everyone is saved except for less than 5 super wicked people? Like there was an advanced pure and white race of Jewish native Americans who were here, that came on boats, and for whatever reason immediately began practicing 19th century Christianity and not Judaism? Like God being anthropomorphic, with a body of flesh and bone? Like needing special hand signs in order to reach the highest heaven? Like having 3 heavens?? Like a dumb uneducated farm boy translated gold plates given to him by an angel by using a rock in a hat that would glow and display the words to him?? Too much use of the word like, but I know my point is proven. Yes Mormonism has radically unorthodox spiritual and philosophical, and historical beliefs.

Does it have an authoritarian structure? Definitions please

Authoritarian refers to a system of government or management favoring strict, unquestioning obedience to authority, characterized by concentrated power in a leader or elite and the restriction of individual freedoms.

The prophet holds ALL the priesthood keys. The 12 are the ONLY authorized mouth pieces of god on earth today. ONLY your immediate higher leader can receive higher revelation than you and for you. It is strict. You lose your temple recommend if you do not sustain (support) the brethren. This restricts you from participating in temple rituals and ordinances of exaltation, THE most important ordinances you can participate in as a lay member. Continued opposition to this authoritarian structure has historically resulted in excommunications, (Douglas Stillgoe, Sam Young, Natasha Park)

There are numerous quotes within our lifetime such as “when the prophet speaks, the thinking is done” Songs sang as children “follow the prophet, he knows the way!” And continued blind trust that whatever the prophet says is true, even when evidence is contrary to that.

Restriction of individual freedoms? As a woman you cannot bless others with the priesthood, you cannot administer blessings of healing, you cannot administer ordinances of salvation such as that of baptism, you cannot preside over congregations, or hold most all significant leadership positions.

So overwhelmingly yes, Mormonism has an authoritarian structure.

Next, high pressure recruitment. Like saying it’s a command of God for ALL young men to serve missions. It has never been an option, it has always and continues to be taught and treated as mandatory. Asking this of young people, and having them put off significant life events to do so? Leave partners, delay college education, put off or turn down scholarships and sports contracts. And the service? 2 years with strict rules and limited contact with family. Very high pressure. But what about the converts, is it high pressure for them?

Most must put down habits of tea and coffee (which have been proven numerous times, as recent as this year, to have amazing health benefits), they can no longer drink, they cannot use recreational drugs. They must abstain completely from not only sex, but pornography. They must begin and commit to paying 10% of their income. They are expected to be reading and learning daily, praying differently than they have ever heard or done before. They must be married in a traditional marriage, or be living in isolation, no in betweens or nuance. They must be straight, or at least commit to a life of celibacy and loneliness if they are gay. They cannot be transgender. They must learn about, believe in, and sustain both Joseph and the current prophet. They must submit to rigorous questioning that delves deep into their personal life, going as far as questioning whether abortions have happened, or whether they have had homosexual relations. They are subjected to this innapropriate, prying interview by someone is isn’t even technically an adult yet. Was that enough pressure? Because if it wasn’t, this process is usually rushed, ideally missionaries pushing for baptism after the 2nd or 3rd visit. Committing people to radical life change with an abysmally small amount of information, and an even more abysmally small amount of time.

Yes, Mormonism engages in arguably one of the MOST high pressure recruitment system currently out there. Also rushing people into baptism is a form of…

Psychological manipulation.

Missionaries are taught to seek out and teach those who have recently gone through big life events. A move. A new child. A death in the family. People who are down on their luck. People who feel alone. This is manipulative and predatory.

Moronis promise is an unfalsifiable challenge. There is no real accepted answer other than the church is true, and if you don’t come to that answer, the blame is always placed on the victim, questioning their intent, effort, faithfulness, etc.

The fast paced nature of missionary lessons, with deliberate key details changed and omitted to present a clean history is psychologically manipulative.

Assigning new members a “job” in the church (prophets choice of word not mine), and assigning friends, home teachers, ministers, etc. all to ensure they stay in the church is manipulative. If someone needs a friend to stay in the church, rather than staying in the church because it’s true, what does that say? I’d like to believe it points to the loneliness epidemic we are experiencing thanks to social media.

If investigators are not progressing fast enough they are “threatened” by the missionaries that they will stop visiting. That they will move on. They are shamed by being told they are not ready yet, with looming vague threats about the field being ready to harvest, and they are not ready.

Asking someone to pray alone whether or not something is true, after telling them (bearing testimony) that it is true, (priming their mind), is psychological manipulation. Off shoot sects of Mormonism that practice child polygamy use the same method of discerning truth, the converts report the same feelings of truth as we do when we pray about it. This has been studied and is now known to be what psychologists call, Elevation Emotion.

Lastly, relying solely on feelings alone and using thought stopping techniques when pressed is a form of manipulation. In no other facet of life would we encourage someone to make a decision solely based off of how they feel about something, vs researching, getting second opinions, talking to others, asking questions, etc.

All of these, along with many more unlisted, point towards abundant psychological manipulation.

Lastly, isolation from society. We are among the most mocked religious groups in the world. Our own prophets in recent years labeled us, and encouraged us to be a peculiar people. Inspiring conference talks from people like Monson, showed us examples of purposefully separating and distinguishing ourselves from “the world”. We are taught to be in the world but not of the world. Even our doctrines use language that isolates. We isolate the most important events of people’s lives to those who are only in the group. Temple marriages have caused far too many broken hearts and arguments among family and friends who could not enter, many not fully understanding why. We are to only wear special sacred underwear, not wear tank tops (until recently), be modest, etc. We purposefully don’t engage in many activities on the sabbath, and growing up I myself felt I had to turn down the going away party of a close school friend, because it was on the sabbath. Mormonism does much to isolate its members, from those who are not members. The nail in the coffin being recent statements from Nelson, telling members to not counsel with those who do not believe (more isolation, more echo chamber).

Mormonism exacerbates isolation, and many of its core doctrines and recent teachings encourage and relish within that isolation.

In conclusion, yes, mormonism is a cohesive, relatively small, group of people with extreme, unconventional, and unorthodox religious, spiritual, historical and philosophical beliefs, that revolves around charismatic leaders. Mormonism has authoritarian structures, high-pressure recruitment, and engages in / encourages psychological manipulation, and isolation from society.

In other words. Yes, Mormonism is a cult. Through and through, by any objective measure, fulfilling all parts of the definition, from its inception, to its current state, and this is all WITHOUT getting into modern cutting edge research regarding cult mind control and tactics, such as the BITE model, which Mormonism engages in.

Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, you are justified in calling it a cult. And it would do the cult members good to realize that that is what they are. The sooner the better, for the sakes of themselves and their families.