I disagree. Look at the history of the Mormons - they spent many years getting run out of town because they were a weird cult, culminating with a state sanctioned armed attack and destruction of the principle Mormon settlement (Navoo) and the lynching (to them, martyrdom) of their founder, who was also an elected official and a surprisingly serious presidental candidate. Follow their Exodus to Utah, they very nearly declared themselves to be their own nation and we're engaged in low level fighting with the western US Army until the admission of Utah into the union - which only happened after the Mormons, effectively at gunpoint, declared the more blatant polygamists schismatics and sent them packing to Canada and Mexico.

I'm not a huge fan of the Latter Day Saints, but for a large and important chunk of their religion's existence, they were not only called a cult, but persecuted as one.

I think it's a pretty good comparison.