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Thoughtful Speech Reax
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Because They Can’t Resist
The NYTimes with another Mormon profile piece
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JLFuller on 10 Dec 2007 at 4:11 pm #
Why Use the Term “Cult” to Describe Mormons?
“A cult is a group or movement exhibiting a great or excessive devotion or dedication to some person, idea, or thing and employing unethically manipulative techniques of persuasion and control (e.g., isolation from former friends and family, debilitation, use of special methods to heighten suggestibility and subservience, powerful group pressures, information management, suspension of individuality or critical judgment, promotion of total dependency on the group and fear of leaving it, etc.) designed to advance the goals of the group’s leaders to the actual or possible detriment of members, their families, or the community.” (West & Langone, 1986). http://www.csj.org/infoserv_articles/langone_michael_term_cult.htm I included this definition because it is what the professionals use.
Mike Licona, writing in The Baptist Press, used a definition for the word cult as ” a group that refers to itself as Christian but which differs in one or more of the fundamental beliefs of Christian orthodoxy” So what you say? Well, there is an old axiom that says you are entitled to your own opinions but you are not entitled to your own facts. The significance is, in this case, Licona wants to paint an emotional image of Mormons as being of the first definition while only being accountable for using the second. He knows most people have no idea what a cult is but know it is not good – think Jim Jones and Jonestown. Not even Licona and the most ardent of his fellow travelers think that. But the word has staying power. It is useful. Using the professional definition would create a problem for them. If Mormons are not cultists, what are they? That is an honest question, one I think they are afraid to take on. Certainly no Mormon that I know of, including me, wants to humiliate or defame these people for thinking differently than we do. But neither am I willing to let them define us. We need a fair discussion of the differences in order for there to be mutual respect. But mutual respect does not appear to be what these people want.
I used Licona’s piece because it was found on the Southern Baptist’s website. Given Mike Huckabee is prominent in that organization, it has political overtones. I do not intend to hold Licona up for derision but rather as representing part of the problem I think needs redressing.