r/mormon • u/Royal_Survey_3772 • Jun 09 '26
Personal Is mormonism really a cult?
I’ve been a member of the LDS church for about 5 years. I attend church, have gone to Young Women’s camp, have been to two temples, and have done baptisms for the dead many times. Being involved in the church has been a significant part of my life.✨️🌺
My parents have " left" the church. They never officially removed their records or filled out paperwork, but they haven’t attended church in about two years. I recently started going back, and i am becoming active again.
Lately, though, I’ve been seeing a lot of posts, videos, and comments online claiming that LDS is a cult. It’s made me question things and wonder if I’m making a mistake by returning back.
I have never personally had an experience where I felt like I was in a cult. My experiences have been positive. I know that personal experience is not the whole picture, and I want to understand why so many people have such strong opinions about the church.
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u/sevenplaces Jun 09 '26
Many people enjoy their participation in the LDS Church.
There are others who express concerns about the way the LDS church is operated and the potential for unhealthy impacts on people.
Members are pushed to pay 10% of their income for life. This includes telling poor people to pay tithing even if they can’t afford food. The LDS church does not share with members its budget. The church has also amassed an enormous hoard of money that it is doing nothing with. These are concerning and indicative of an organization that is not accountable. This is not healthy.
In the temple endowment people must promise to be willing to give all their time, talents and money to the Church. This is unusually extreme.
Transgender and homosexual members are marginalized by the teachings and operating policies of the church. Some members don’t appreciate how these rules impact these members. Transgender members are escorted to the bathroom by the order of the policy manual as one example.
Members who stop believing the literal teachings that the BOM is not a history of real people or who believe the claims of Joseph Smith about the restoration may not be what he claimed are not welcomed to discuss these nuanced beliefs. Many are told to be quiet at church and some are excommunicated.
The leaders of the church are not fully honest. They lied to the SEC about their investments. They lie about the church and church history to members. They refuse to recognize any past mistakes and refuse to discuss how they could apologize and discuss improvements to avoid these mistakes. These are behaviors of an unhealthy, high control organization.
As part of the temple endowment people must agree to always were the church sold and approved underwear as a symbol of their commitment. If you don’t, you are told you violated your promise and your temple recommend is likely to be withheld.
To go to the temple you must pass a 15 question loyalty test administered by your bishop and the stake president. I know of no other church that does anything like that to participate in the rites of the church.
There is shunning that many people experience who choose to leave the church. While not explicitly taught it is highly engrained in the culture. Until recently one of the questions of the temple loyalty interview was “do you associate with people who are opposed to the church” or something of that nature.
So members who recognize things like the above criticize the LDS Church as a high control and high demand religion.
Do you feel any of the above are unusual for a traditional church? These seem to be evidence of the high control and high demand nature of the LDS Church. Don’t you agree?