Well actually the dictionary definition of a cult is any system of belief, so technically yeah a religion is a cult and a cult a religion. And just because you turn the term “cult” into a pejorative to equate Mormonism with Jim Jones or Heaven’s Gate or some other such groups doesn’t make them anything alike.
You’re basing your understanding of the Mormon faith on what some agendized individual has told you to think about it. I’ve been on both sides of this argument and found the side you argue for uses claims that simply are counter-factual, non-historical, using out of context quotes, reliant on logical fallacies such as red herrings or straw man arguments, etc. I once used them myself until I bothered to look at the facts for myself. Indeed, most of the arguments that come from Mormon bashers rely on the same tactics Michael Moore uses in his movies to bash capitalism, the US healthcare system, the war on terror, etc. I’ve seen the exact same intellectual dishonesty and sleight of hand arguments out of both, I really have.
Anyway, worship as you please and allow others the same luxury without trashing what’s sacred to them. America is more mature than this. Our forebearers left other lands to come here to escape this kind of religious bigotry. We’re really going to revert to the 1600s and re-start that garbage all over again? Come on. It’s the 21st century. We’re a better country than this. And I think you’re a better person than that.
Just to get you started, perhaps, here's a quote you really should check into, then check out of LDS inc:
"We may talk of men being redeemed by the efficacy of his [Christ's] blood; but the truth is that that blood has no efficacy to wash away our sins. That must depend upon our own action." [ LDS Apostle Amasa M. Lyman, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 7, p. 299, 1859]
Given this mormonic teaching that is the very essence of Antichrist, it is still amazing how much LDS inc apologists want folks to believe LDS inc is Christianity restored! MormonISM is the very essence of slick anti-Christ inveigling, and the promoters of this anti-Christian religion will continue to be exposed and opposed so long as Christians are not squelched by the political correctness approach inherent in the lie that exposing mormonISM is hate or hatred of the people trapped in this demonic cult.
I've noted for you the particular number and date for the Journal entry, so you might want to go to that and read the context of the quote. It will raise the hair on the back of the neck of any born again Christian. With Mormons, not so much.
A cult, in mt estimation is a “religion” where the social and political aspects outweigh the theological.
Mormonism fits that description.
They don't have to make the LDS 'look like'...the Mormons actual doctrines/rituals/and entire belief system put them in the catagory of a cult... as does their leadership. They simple slather the surface with Christian vocabulary to make it more palitable to the uninformed and unsuspecting....which many cults do. Bait and switch says it well.