There is no hard and fast definition of a cult accepted in the vocal sciences. By the BITE model, Mormonism qualifies as a cult. I was a member of a very strict Mormon family.

I had no friends who were not Mormon, which restricted my social circle. The entire life of a Mormon surrounds their congregation, or ward.

Leaders taught that certain thoughts, such as listful thoughts or doubts about the church were sins. Try being a teenager and not think about sex. It caused a significant amount of stress in my life. At one point, I had a gun in my mouth ready to pull the trigger because I masturbated.

When I was a newly minted adult, I went through the temple. I endured and old guy touching me, blessing my naval, while wearing almost nothing. The chanting was also creepy, but I had no choice but to go through with it.

After going through my temple rituals, or endowment, I was married one week later. Mormons don't have sex before marriage, and our underwear is basically basically sacred long johns which we only take off during sex, or showers. Some Mormons feel guilty about taking them off during sex, or only take off the bottom portion of the garment.

Anyway, something felt a little bit off, but was all I knew and assumed it was normal.

I was in a physics graduate program when I was doing experiments on soil samples and showing secular equilibrium of radionuclides in the uranium decay chain when I had the moment of clarity. Everything I had been taught at church was a lie. I went from true believing Mormon to atheist in one class period. The researched Mormonism and found out that the founder Joseph smith was a sexual predator. He married young girls. He also sent men on missions and married their wives while they were away. He defrauded his followers. I became furious.

I told my wife I no longer believed. We had a newborn. I was in local church leadership. She waffled between telling me she wanted a divorce and telling me she wanted to kill herself. Life has never been the same since.