Response from Senator Harry Reid's Office About Tax Exemptions for Dangerous Cults (page 2)

Sulla

I don't know, ABS. A Mormon is just a Jehovah's Witness who knows how to read.

LV101

Think he'd be too concerned his own cult would have to dig into it's pockets -- but the Mormans at least have charities and help people.

Band on the Run

I don't think belief alone defines a cult. Overreaching does. Frankly, the Mormon stuff is so silly to them b/c I am very Eastern. I suppose that my present faith is just as silly.

The parallels to JW and Mormonism amaze me. You can have a loony faith and still go to college.

I’m a little ignorant about why people might believe that Mormons are a dangerous cult like the Watchtower. Does anyone know of Mormons shunning their family and friends, because a Mormon chose not to be a Mormon? To me the acid tests for determining whether an organization is a dangerous cult, is absolute, unquestioning obedience to the organization’s leadership and shunning family and friends who no longer want to belong to the organization (i.e., BITE).

I have known Mormons who seem normal, compared to JWs. When I lived in New Mexico, I would bicycle with a Mormon on Saturdays for approximately 25 miles and was even invited to his house to celebrate Christmas with his family. He never tried to encourage me to be a Mormon, study with Mormons, or talk about religion. He and his wife seemed to have a normal relationship with his children, even though his children were too busy to attend meetings in the temple.

My former JW friend was frequently trying to get me to accept a Bible Study with a JW and giving me literature, but we rarely talked about religion. When my former friend did speak about loving/serving Jehovah, I did feel that she meant something different than what she was saying (i.e., cult-speak). I also noticed that my former JW friend, seemed terrified of other JWs seeing us in close proximity to each other while roller blading, hiking, or walking together. It wasn’t until I read “Combatting Cult Mind Control” that my suspicions about the Watchtower were affirmed by Steve Hassan’s experiences in the Unification Church.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

Bubblegum Apotheosis

I don't think Reid would comment, being a Mormon, his P.A. probably laughed as he wrote the letter. How Ironic! LOL. Read Walter Martin's "Kingdom of the Cults." and you will become more informed about Mormons. "Magic Underwear." "Mountain Meadow Massacre." "Quaker's Living on the Moon." "End of the world 1894- Joesph Smith." "Blacks not allowed to enter the priesthood, until late 1970s." "You must pay ten percent of your income, or you will not get your own planet." "Jesus and Satan are brothers from the same Father and Mother." Do you need more?

ABibleStudent

Thanks for everyones comments so far. Although several people have said that Mormons are a cult, I do believe that the changes that I'm trying to convince US lawmakers of would not conflict with a Mormon's personal religious beliefs. I base my opinion on information that I found on Steve Hassan's website (www.freedomofmind.com) about an analysis that was done by a former Mormon: http://freedomofmind.com/Info/infoDet.php?id=370

Excerpts from "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - The BITE Model Applied Toward Mormonism" -
2. Access to non-cult sources of information minimized or discouraged
a. Books, articles, newspapers, magazines, TV, radio
Members have full access to information. But exposing yourself to things that repel the spirit are discouraged. This includes not only sex, nudity, profanity and violence, but also things that are critical of the church.
b. Critical information
Reading information that is critical of the church is generally discouraged because it repels the spirit, but if a member really wants to learn about it he is free to do so.
c. Former members
Members are free to associate with former members.
4. Excessive use of fear
b. Fear of the “outside” world
Not significantly.
e. Fear of leaving the group or being shunned by group
Depends on the individual.
f. Fear of disapproval
Depends on the individual.
7. Phobia indoctrination : programming of irrational fears of ever leaving the group or even questioning the leader’s authority. The person under mind control cannot visualize a positive, fulfilled future without being in the group.
a. No happiness or fulfillment “outside”of the group
Absolutely.
b. Terrible consequences will take place if you leave: “hell”; “demon possession”; “incurable diseases”; “accidents”; “suicide”; “insanity”; “10,000 reincarnations”; etc.
Absolutely. In a particular scene in the temple ceremony, the devil is about to be banished. Before he is, he says, “Aah! You have looked over my kingdom, and my greatness and glory. Now you want to take possession of the whole of it. (He then looks at the people going through the ceremony) I have a word to say concerning these people. If they do not walk up to every covenant they make at these altars in this temple this day, they will be in my power! “
c. Shunning of leave takers. Fear of being rejected by friends, peers, and family.
Yes. If you leave, you won’t be able to attend the wedding of your children (assuming they are married in the temple).
d. Never a legitimate reason to leave. From the group’s perspective, people who leave are: “weak”; “undisciplined”; “unspiritual”; “worldly”; “brainwashed by family, counselors”; seduced by money, sex, rock and roll.

The acid test for a dangerous cult that I would be promoting to lawmakers is that an organization must not promote that its members shun former members, who are family or are/were friends. I agree that Mormons are theologically a cult and do demonstrate many dangerous cult like qualities, but I don't believe that they demonstrate the severe behavioral and emotional control that the WTBTS uses to control its members.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

Band on the Run

Why don't you send another email revising your reply. State dangerous cults should not be supported by American taxpayers with statutory language that the Mormons are not a dangerous cult. Reid is majority leader, regardless of being a Mormon. If he were serious, I doubt the Dems would have elected him. Keep reading how the Dems miss Tom Daschle. Reid does not project mojo.

I think it would be valuable to acknowledge the American myth of freedom of religion. Is there some loophole or approach that will allow ending tax exempt status and conform with the First Amendment. No American court is going to judge whether a group is a cult.

ABibleStudent

Band on the Run - Is there some loophole or approach that will allow ending tax exempt status and conform with the First Amendment.

Hi Band on the Run, unfortunately I'm not a lawyer so I cannot unequivocally state that the legal definition of charities that the IRS quoted on their website would constitute an approach to end tax exempt status for non-conforming organizations. I do plan on writing a letter to the Commissioner of the IRS and notify him that the WTBTS is promoting religious discrimination and prejudice against exJWs in their literature and that WTBTS' tax exempt status should be revoked.

In my opinion, the biggest challenge to changing the tax codes is to motivate exJWs and former members of other dangerous cults to write their representatives about how their former organization adversely affected their lives. If every USA senator and representative received one or more emails/letters every week about this issue, I feel that change would occur. I cannot understand why JWN members can write about their experiences on this forum, but will not write about their experiences to their representatives to request changing the USA tax codes to help positively change how dangerous cults operate. I am more than willing to research and write to senators and representatives about how to change the tax codes, but I need help to convince lawmakers that Americans are being harmed by dangerous cults.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

"Stop bitching and start doing!!"

james_woods

But tragedies like Jonestown, Waco, Heaven's Gate, and others, show the bloody result of such fearful apathy on the part of the U.S. Government.

The problem is that the U.S. Government cannot prove that such cults are actually dangerous UNTIL they commit a dangerous act. The U.S. Government rightly cannot discriminate agains one or another religion just out of suspicion rather than out of clear evidence.

Response from Senator Harry Reid's Office About Tax Exemptions for Dangerous Cults

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