Amid the swirling controversies associated with the Church, a fundamental question emerges: Who should be considered a Mormon, and why? I believe that there are at least a minimum of four ideas one must affirm to be considered a Mormon in anything more than name only (there may be more).
1- There is a God.
2- Jesus is the Christ, meaning not that he was a great teacher, but that he was the Messiah, the Son of God, who was resurrected from the dead.
3- Joseph Smith is a true prophet, meaning not that he thought he was a prophet, or that other thought he was a prophet, but that he actually saw God, received authentic revelation from God, and received divine authorization to restore the Church. (To me this implies, as a corollary, belief in the historicity of the Book of Mormon. Although some have argued that a fictional Book of Mormon could be scripture, the problem is that if Joseph himself wrote a fictional Book of Mormon, either in a delusional state or as a knowing fraud, or by plagiarizing some other book, it is logically impossible that he was an authentic prophet.)
4- Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet. (To distinguish from other Mormon-related churches and movements.)
This is my minimal list. There may well be other ideas and practices that should be included as well. But I believe that if one does not minimally accept these four ideas, it is simply irrational to claim to be a Mormon. And in my experience, most cultural Mormons cannot truthfully affirm these four ideas, and are therefore at least minimally equivocating when they call themselves Mormons.