The Lord Of The Jungle (Meets The Law Of The Jungle)

Tarzan,

"In as much as Mormonism encourages healthy living and not putting one's self directly at war with those don't believe, I think it stands as good a chance as any of outgrowing it's status as a cult in relatively short order."

While disagreeing with you, I want you to know I appreciate your thoughtfulness on the subject, which is a nice digression from the usual on Althouse. Let me address your statement that "Mormonism encourages,...not putting one's self directly at war with those don't believe," because it's the most divergent passage that I feel the need to engage - and can hopefully allow you to see what I do:

Check out this television segment. 

Notice how quickly the Mormon, Brandon Flowers, takes offense. That's a hostile act. He starts it. This hostility to uncomfortable facts - lashing out for leverage and to protect cognitive dissonance - is the entire basis for the Mormon claim to historical "persecution." (You see several instances of the same behavior in the new cult-themed film, "The Master.") There's no reason for it. Richard Dawkins merely said The Book of Mormon is an "obvious" fraud. That's a fact - not an attack - so the Mormon is immediately acting cultishly paranoid, insular, and vindictive - "putting one's self directly at war with those don't believe."

Let me explain further:

Imagine Brandon Flowers had discovered, upon seating, that his chair was "obviously" soaking wet. So he alerts his host, who responds that he's offended at the suggestion - wouldn't that be strange? And wouldn't it be even more bizarre if the host declared Brandon Flowers needed to "do more research" than his moist bottom has already?

This demand for "more research," too, is a common cult tactic, BTW, designed to keep the ignorant and/or insecure off-balance, and chasing an imaginary answer when any fool can see what's right in front of them.

For instance, Homeopathy is just water, but it's cultists insist science needs to "do more research" in order to understand why they call it medicine. Billions of dollars have been wasted under this ruse, all coming to the same conclusion - Homeopathy is simply water. What's the cultist's answer to that?

You guessed it:

Still "more research" is needed.

It buys the cults time, but nothing more, because people eventually catch on.

The problem for religious cults is, if they stay too vague (say, referring to God as merely "a higher power") there's not much to seriously devote oneself. But if they get too specific (as in the Mormon claim Jesus will return,...to Missouri) they're revealed as fruitcakes - which is why Mitt Romney lied about the Mormon claim to prophecy when talking to an outsider. In this way, Mormonism - like all cults - has a self-destruct mechanism embedded within, and, no matter how long it's existed, it's days are now numbered:

They simply can't justify their behavior in the 21st Century,…