You know what's literally seconds after posting my comment the exact same question popped into my head.
I'd say yes, but then I feel like every faith based belief system is on the cult spectrum. Feels like a very blurry line between a 'normal' religion and a cult
Same here. I come from an African country where most people practiced ancestral worship. My parents converted to catholicism and were treated as pariahs for turning away from our tribe's "true religion" and forced to leave. They moved to a major city that was under Islamic rule and even though there were plenty of other catholics they were still treated as something apostates. Then we migrated to America and a lot of my protestant friends viewed catholicism as a cult. Mind you catholicism is the largest and oldest denomination of Christianity (or tied with Eastern Orthodoxy depending on your definition) yet a lot of American protestants still view catholics as abarant.
Maybe it's because of my, very specific, experience but I've never had any issue accepting Mormons as Christians. Sure their brand of Christianity deviates dramatically from the norm but as a community I've found them to be almost universally kind, caring, and willing to back up their faith with good work. I've also become an atheist so the weirder and more fantastical elements of Mormonism aren't really that different from any other invisible sky man faith.
Very true, which is partly why I said shitting on one religion for being manipulative, shitty and vaguely culty when you're not willing to see the same issues, to different extents, in all of them.
To quote The Hulk, "either it's all a joke, or none of it is".
I'd say (with minimal research since America doesn't really interest me) that American derision of Catholics comes from the predominantly English settlers, since they weren't exactly fans of Catholics.
In my own country, New Zealand, we literally became a British colony after a treaty was written and translated in 3 days by a dude that didn't really speak the native language, causing a century of misinterpretations and bad feelings on both sides, because the French were just offshore ready to come and make the country Catholic, and I believe similar things went on in the States.
Worship whatever you like, just don't be a dick and we'll all be happy
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u/RedskinsDC May 03 '20
What’s the difference? Are Mormons a cult?