QUOTE: “… Mormonism is truth, in other words the doctrine of the Latter-day Saints, is truth. … The first and fundamental principle of our holy religion is, that we believe that we have a right to embrace all, and every item of truth, without limitation or without being circumscribed or prohibited by the creeds or superstitious notions of men, or by the dominations of one another, when that truth is clearly demonstrated to our minds, and we have the highest degree of evidence of the same.” –Joseph Smith, in a letter to Isaac Galland, 22 March 1839, as published in the church manual Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, chapter 22. [source]
COMMENTARY: I’m sick and tired of the LDS church being called a cult by people who should know better. It’s totally not! A cult would try to shield its members from other disaffected members by trying to shame or intimidate the latter into silence or, that failing, by vilifying them. But the church would never do that. Just look at the cases of Kate Kelly, John Dehlin, and Jeremy Runnells, all three of whom were faithful church members until they fell into the sin of thinking for themselves and wondered if maybe the church wasn’t operating as Christ would want it to. Did the church attempt to silence any of these people? Of course not. Just google their names if you don’t believe me. I just did that and … oh, shit. Each of them were first asked by their stake presidents to take down their websites and then were brought before a church disciplinary court when they refused. And each is now labeled an apostate. Hm. Well. I’m not sure what that means, but it’s certain that the church is not a cult. But what do I know? I’m just another apostate.
