The authorship of these files on cults has his or her own motivations for providing them a

    [Fredric Rice, The Skeptic Tank:  The authorship of these files on
    cults has his or her own motivations for providing them and will
    contain his or her own bias.  What I find typical is that
    individuals and organizations which report on cults are usually
    themselves a competition cult yet like to think of themselves as
    "a religion, not a cult."  In actual fact, _ALL_ religions are
    cults by the primary, secondary, and terciary usage definition of
    the term.  Some of the information you find here is inaccurate and
    contains urban legend -- take what you find with a grain of salt.
    If you wish to acquire a copy of the Law Enforcement Guide on
    Occult Crime, contact myself at frice@stbbs.com or at The Skeptic
    Tank (818) 335-9601 and I'll forward the address and information
    you need.]

Mormons

        [Fredric Rice: The Mormon cult has had special focus on
        The Skeptic Tank for many years and there exists a great
        many files.  From time to time we get a Mormon on
        HolySmoke -- FidoNet's most open religion discussion
        forum -- and quotes from the individuals are often very
        astonishing.  They believe that their male "satints" get
        to lord over a planet "after they're dead" and they also
        engage in end-of-the-world survivalism.]

Mormons (Church of the Latter Day Saints)

One of the most successful 'cults' of all time, the Mormon Church
owns most of Utah, a large part of Hawaii and land in Canada, as
well as the Marriott hotel chain, the Beneficial Life Assurance
Company and TV and radio stations. It is the single largest
shareholder of the LA Times. Until 1978 the church did not allow
black clergy; women are considered subservient and polygamy is still
rumoured to be covertly practised among some individual hard-line
Mormons.

For those outside the Mormon Church its genesis has long been a
source of deep suspicion and derision. A farmworker in 1820s New
York State called Joseph Smith claimed to have been visited by a
vision of God and by an angel called Moroni who revealed the
whereabouts of buried golden plates to him. On these it was written
that Christ had appeared in America after his resurrection and
appointed the disciples: Smith translated these plates (which the
angels then took back) and wrote the Book OfMormon. He was then
visited by John the Baptist, who ordained Smith into thepriesthood
of Melchzdek. With this impressive CV, Smith rejected Christianity,
began his own church and was murdered in 1844.

Persecuted by Church and state, Smith's successor, Brigham Young,
led an exodus of Mormons west, where they settled in Salt Lake
City. Mormons wear a special garment with sacred markings under
their clothes at all times and there are also coded handshakes.
They contribute 10 per cent of their earnings to the Church and
are encouraged to do well at work - among their number are
several leading businessmen, including Kay Whitmore, ex-chief
executive of Eastman Kodak, who in 1994 moved to England in
order to mastermind missionary work in this country.

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