Cult or religion?

Growing up in the Bay Area in the 1970's, I was exposed to some things that might have seemed exotic--at the time--to the rest of the country. Still, nothing prepared me for the shock I received one night while visiting the family home of a man my mother was dating. Making our way through the darkened house, my mother's friend flicked on a light, inadvertently waking a young man who had been asleep in the room. Apparently terrified, he sat bolt upright in bed, letting out a blood-curdling scream. My mother whisked me quickly away. That was Ford, she explained, who had just come home from "the Moonies." It would be several years before I saw Ford Greene again, on TV--he had become a crusading anti-cult attorney in the interim. But from the age of seven, this one experience shaped my idea of what it meant to belong to--and to escape--a cult.

Fast forward to the 2008 Republican primaries, and the candidacy of Mitt Romney. It has not escaped me that other Christians are uncomfortable with Mormonism. Yet, I was somewhat surprised to hear a woman on the radio say that she wouldn't vote for a Mormon, because Mormonism is a cult. It was probably pretty naive on my part, but I had looked on Mormonism as being both too old and too mainstream for this designation. Of course, some Christians say the same thing about Islam--much older than Mormonism--and Buddhism, which is older than Christianity itself. In short, cult seems to denote a group that follows any charismatic leader other than your own. And a faith can never outgrow this label, no matter how hard it tries.

Perhaps it is easy for a nonbeliever to dismiss this distinction. After all, if there is no truth to any faith, then they're all on a more or less level playing field. Still, I do believe that there is a difference between current, active cults and religions that may have had cult-like beginnings. Mormonism has had to modernize, officially abandoning such polarizing practices as polygamy; and while they may once have sought to create a separate society, Mormons can now be found in the darndest places--in addition to the usual actors, athletes, politicians and science fiction authors, they include among their numbers hotel magnates, rock stars, civil rights icons, and even Broadway playwrights (well, at least until they get excommunicated...). In short, Mormonism is no longer a cult in my book, because they have assimilated.

The key question, then, in evaluating what is a cult, as opposed to a genuine religion-in-it's-infancy is whether there is a future to be seen. This lets out doomsday cults, like Heaven's Gate, of course, as well as those whose methods prevent them from coexisting with society, like Aum Shinrikyo. But what of Scientology, for instance? It's still pretty new, having been founded within living memory; but as I write, second generation Scientologists like Lisa Marie Presley and Beck are raising their third generation children (and with Lisa Marie's daughter now of age, can a fourth generation be far behind?). Granted, there may be some unsavory or antisocial practices taking place at this point. By keeping the spotlight on these issues, however, organizations who would seek to put an end to Scientology might be inadvertently helping followers to iron out the rough spots, hastening their evolution into just another religion next door.