the lds church cult

there are many elements to a cult. one of the most well-known experts today is steve hassan.
http://freedomofmind.com/resourcecenter/groups/m/mormon/steve-hassan-how-the-lds-fits-the-cult-profile/

there's also rick ross:
http://rickross.com/deprogramming.html

and early pioneer in cult mentality, margaret singer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9rj4R4QhQg

on this list of 100 elements, i could easily identify the church in 65 of them:
http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-cult_q0.html

the lds church can definitely be classified as a cult, but "dangerous" is a matter of definition:
* homosexuals commit suicide because of emotional and social "torture" (isolation, ridicule, dehumanizing, physical/oral abuse):
http://www.delicious.com/tlgaia/suicide+lds
* they believe in the rapture:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LXuNpF6NVg
* they bleed people of their time and money
* earlier leaders taught that it is better to die than to lose your chastity
* they emotionally/psychologically "abuse" members who masturbate, telling them that it is evil (compare with homosexuality). there are actually even cases of masturbation-related suicides (kip eliason):
http://exposingmormonism.blogspot.com/2007/10/mormon-suicide-list.html
* they encourage single mothers to give up their children for adoption, breaking up families
* they perpetuate the us vs them mentality, discouraging marrying/dating non-members and even interracial marriages when both are members (in the most recent aaronic priesthood handbook)
* cover up cases of child and wife abuse and many women report not being believed by bishops and stake presidents
* the dangers of healing and faith was put into perspective when the sister missionary influenced an investigator to get baptized against her doctor's advice and she ended up having to amputate her legs:
http://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comments/gexpd/my_sister_the_missionary/