I like the definition: myths are religions people no longer believe in. Cults are far more exclusive and demanding of their members

This would have described the Mormon church not long ago. That's why they went to Utah!

> A defining characteristic of cults is a sense of imminite danger from government or status quo and a willingness to lay down ones life in defense of it.

Is this actually a defining characteristic? I didn’t think cults were defined so narrowly. I understood cults to simply be highly insular groups with extreme views. Like the Flat Earth Society would a cult, though I don’t think they feel imminent danger or are willing to lay down their lives.

The priest (or equivalent) generally serves this role in kind, and for some sects degree. Religions include the same kind of inoculation with respect to belief, exclusion, and suspicion of outside influences that cults have: it’s just expressed differently (sometimes).

Joseph Smith and Brigham Young were the charismatic cult leaders of Mormonism. Since their time, the mainstream Mormon Church headquartered in Salt Lake City has become less and less cultish and more bureaucratic, yet they still qualify as a cult according to the BITE model, and there are many Mormon splinter groups that are among the worst cults active today.