Cult Characteristics According to the Cult Education Institute

In this article, the extent to which the Mormon church meets the criteria of the Cult Education Institute (formerly the Rick A. Ross Institute) is investigated. This assessment is not substantiated in detail (this is done here for a similar model) but is based on the knowledge and experience of well over 30 years active church membership. In cases of doubt or nuance, “no” was chosen.


Ten warning signs of a potentially unsafe group/leader.
  1. Absolute authoritarianism without meaningful accountability: Yes
  2. No tolerance for questions or critical inquiry: Yes
  3. No meaningful financial disclosure regarding budget, expenses such as an independently audited financial statement: Yes
  4. Unreasonable fear about the outside world, such as impending catastrophe, evil conspiracies and persecutions: Yes
  5. There is no legitimate reason to leave, former followers are always wrong in leaving, negative or even evil: Yes
  6. Former members often relate the same stories of abuse and reflect a similar pattern of grievances: Yes
  7. There are records, books, news articles, or television programs that document the abuses of the group/leader: Yes
  8. Followers feel they can never be "good enough": Yes
  9. The group/leader is always right: Yes
  10. The group/leader is the exclusive means of knowing "truth" or receiving validation, no other process of discovery is really acceptable or credible: Yes
Ten warning signs regarding people involved in/with a potentially unsafe group/leader.
  1. Extreme obsessiveness regarding the group/leader resulting in the exclusion of almost every practical consideration: Yes
  2. Individual identity, the group, the leader and/or God as distinct and separate categories of existence become increasingly blurred. Instead, in the follower's mind these identities become substantially and increasingly fused--as that person's involvement with the group/leader continues and deepens: Yes
  3. Whenever the group/leader is criticized or questioned it is characterized as "persecution": Yes
  4. Uncharacteristically stilted and seemingly programmed conversation and mannerisms, cloning of the group/leader in personal behavior: Yes
  5. Dependency upon the group/leader for problem solving, solutions, and definitions without meaningful reflective thought. A seeming inability to think independently or analyze situations without group/leader involvement: Yes
  6. Hyperactivity centered on the group/leader agenda, which seems to supercede any personal goals or individual interests: Yes
  7. A dramatic loss of spontaneity and sense of humor: No
  8. Increasing isolation from family and old friends unless they demonstrate an interest in the group/leader: Yes
  9. Anything the group/leader does can be justified no matter how harsh or harmful: Yes
  10. Former followers are at best-considered negative or worse evil and under bad influences. They can not be trusted and personal contact is avoided: Yes
Conclusion

The Mormon church scores “Yes” to 19 of the 20 questions on this list (95%). This means that, in the psychological sense, the Mormon church exhibits many characteristics of a cult by exerting far-reaching, one-sided influence on the emotions, thoughts and behaviour of its members through the application of manipulative processes and authoritarian structures.