Is Mormonism a Religion or a Cult

[Redalgo]

Mormonism is a mainstream social institution organized around ceremonies and beliefs geared toward recognizing what is sacred, which is enough to convince me that it ought to be labeled as a religion. Its teachings deviate just enough from established societal norms that I can see how traditionalists would be tempted to think of it as a cult, but I know a number of Mormons and none of them have ever struck me as being deviant, or fundamentally different than other Christians.

The designation of "cult" is something I reserve for systems of spiritual belief and sects that prescribe teachings which differ so radically from those embraced by the vast majority of people in society as to lack a reputation of legitimacy (e.g. Scientology)... yet even then I tend not to use the word in practice since it might be construed as pejorative or make me sound like an ethnocentric bigot. It's not a big deal though either way - people define words like cult and religion differently.