Interesting thoughts Alexandra :-) I guess I'd want to know how consistent the actions were with what was being preached. If I start hearing "Sermons on the Mount" and the leader trying to get away from all the people so He can rest, then I might look into the religion. But taking only the "believers" away to private places and otherwise being around them too much, not engaging with critics, living a different life than the surrounding people, etc. that would be red flags for me. The Mormons who still practice polygamy strike me as a cult and the whole Mormon religion which doesn't take responsibility for working on straightening that out (since they started it) makes me think their beginnings were less than "religious;" a true "religion" in my book doesn't seek to be secretive or exclusionary.