Ross Sauer -> All wrote:
 RS> The key characteristics of a cult...

 RS> The group displays excessively zealous and unquestioning commitment to its
 RS> leader and (whether he is alive or dead) regards his belief system,
 RS> ideology, and practices as the Truth, as law.

So Christianity is a cult? Judaism is a cult? The RCC is a cult? Islam is a cult?

 RS> Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished.

Nope, doesn't happen in the LDS Church.

 RS> The leadership dictates, sometimes in great detail, how members should
 RS> think, act, and feel (for example, members must get permission to date,
 RS> change jobs, marry--or leaders prescribe what types of clothes to wear,
 RS> where to live, whether or not to have children, how to discipline children,
 RS> and so forth).

Nope, doesn't fit.

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

Nope, doesn't fit.

 RS> The group has a polarized us-versus-them mentality, which may cause
 RS> conflict with the wider society.

Not even close.

 RS> The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify
 RS> whatever means it deems necessary. This may result in members'
 RS> participating in behaviors or activities they would have considered
 RS> reprehensible or unethical before joining the group (for example,
 RS> [torture,] lying to family or friends, or collecting money for bogus
 RS> charities).

Nope, never happens here.

 RS> The most loyal members (the "true believers") feel there
can be no life
 RS> outside the context of the group. They believe there is no other way to be,
 RS> and often fear reprisals to themselves or others if they leave (or even
 RS> consider leaving) the group.

Nope, one of my best friends is a former member of the Church and is now an
evangelical. We have some interesting discussions, but no one has said a
thing about it.

 RS> http://tinyurl.com/omnwtu

International cult studies group?

Hahahahahahahaha!!!!

 RS> Sure fits your cult, right Ed?

That shows how little you know about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

None of those points even come close to fitting the LDS.

Ed

-- 
"The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is
to fill the world with fools." --Herbert Spencer

"The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under
the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale."
 --Thomas Jefferson

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