ACCUSATION: "Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses are cultists."

I have encountered many people in my life who get "Mormons" and Jehovah's Witnesses mixed up and assume that we are basically the same. In truth, we are as different from Jehovah's Witnesses as we are from Presbyterians or Methodists. So why do so many people group us together? They do it because their pastors and ministers do it. They do it because, regardless of the differences we may have with the Jehovah's Witnesses, and regardless of the fact that we have virtually no common origins, there are certain salient qualities that make us look pretty much the same from the "mainstream" sectarian perspective.

The logical way of finding out why sectarian leaders group us with Jehovah's Witnesses is to look at the qualities that Latter-day Saints have in common with Jehovah's Witnesses but not with "mainstream" sectarian Christians...and I can only think of two:

1. Neither Latter-day Saints nor Jehovah's Witnesses have paid clergy. Indeed, we both think that the institution of professional ministry is an abomination. (We call it "priestcraft.")
2. Both Latter-day Saints and Jehovah's Witnesses actively proselyte to "mainstream" Christians.

And that's it. I really cannot think of any qualities other than those two that make us similar to Jehovah's Witnesses but different from "mainstream" denominations. And that is interesting, because both of those characteristics are things that make us a direct threat to that oratorical profession which we call "clergy." That is because, even if we were to convert the whole congregation of a particular minister, he might not have a problem with that so long as he could become an LDS or JW minister and continue on with his profession and his way of life. But since neither group recognizes the institution of paid clergy, the sophists have no choice but to fight us tooth-and-nail. Otherwise, they would be left without a job.

When sectarian leaders demonize "Mormons" and Jehovah's Witnesses in the same sentence, they reveal the true motivation of their sermonizing: money.