Last October, after introducing Rick Perry at the Values Voter Summit, Pastor Robert Jeffress told reporters that Republicans shouldn't vote for White House hopeful Mitt Romney because he's a Mormon and described the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a "cult".
At the time it caused a bit of a stir in the media but the question still remains: is Mormonism a cult?
Literal, linear, and analytical as always, let's begin with a definition from the American Heritage Cultural Dictionary:
cult definitionIn anthropology, an organization for the conduct of ritual, magical, or other religious observances. Many so-called primitive tribes, for example, have ancestor cults, in which dead ancestors are considered divine and activities are organized to respect their memory and invoke their aid. A cult is also a religious group held together by a dominant, often charismatic individual, or by the worship of a divinity, an idol, or some other object. ( See animism, fetish, and totemism.)Note : The term cult often suggests extreme beliefs and bizarre behavior.
Does Mormonism fit this definition?
Yes.
Mormonism is a "religious group held together by a dominant, often charismatic individual": Joseph Smith.