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Ansel12: "Any cult started in America is 'an American religion', there must be thousands of them, Scientology for instance...." and etc.

I agree with you fully, and I am well aware of the problems (okay, heresies) of the Mormon religion. I think I -- like many Christians -- consider it more of a cult than a religion, at least from a "gut instinct" sort of way. Sociologically, it has received the independent status, recognition, numbers, and mainstream acceptance to make it a religion.

Scientology is an excellent example for compare and contrast, as is Rev Moon's Unification Church, Secular Humanism, "the Way" and others that I know all about, and some that I merely have heard of. It could be interesting to read (or write) a book on how they vary in gnosticism, self-worship, asceticism, righteousness, and variance from belief in Christ, and a dozen other characteristics.

For instance, Apostolic Christians disdain (or at least pity and pray for) Evangelical Christians who are trinitarians! They consider worship of the 3-in-1 Godhead to be a form of idolatry. Go figure, I have believed since reading certain books in my teenage years, that God in three persons is a mystical thing to which the laws of nature / physics bear witness!

However, like Mark Twain once said, "it is not the parts of the Bible that I DON'T [fully] understand that concern me the most, but the parts that I DO [fully] understand!"

So my daily walk is my focus, as it should be. The faith and practice of the Mormon church is low on my list of concerns. The testimony of their behavior indicates to me a moral power, hopefully from God. I am not in the business of proving otherwise. I am sure that there are websites though (similar to "Operation Clambake" which exposes Scientology, but instead focused on the Mormon Church) which DO take issue with the LDS faith and practice.

I am pretty sure Jesus was quoted in one circumstance saying "He who is not for us is against us" and in another circumstance "He who is not against us is for us". Perhaps what he meant and in what circumstance he said one rather than the other is an important point in a discussion like this. I'll take the "look up".

I once (quite recently!) sent 2 Jehovah's Witnesses away from my door after asking them some questions about Islam's beliefs, practices, and demographics. I told them that if they don't find -- and band together with -- allies in the fight against Islam, then they are fighting the wrong fight. That is pretty much how I feel about Christians and Mormons these days.

JMHO.