A common argument runs this way:
Mormons aren’t Christians. Why? Because Mormons differ dramatically from the Christian mainstream, rejecting major doctrines (for example, the Nicene Trinity) that developed in the centuries after Christ.
Critics often accuse us of deceptively claiming to be traditional Christians, and puzzled outsiders sometimes ask why we claim to be Christians while rejecting certain doctrines and traditional creeds.
But we don’t claim to be mainstream Christians, and these objections conflate or confuse “mainstream Christianity” or “traditional Christianity” or “historical Christian orthodoxy” with “Christianity” as a whole. They mistakenly assume that “Christianity” and “mainstream Christianity” are synonyms.
Make sure to read that last statement again several times (my emphasis). Then take the time to read it all–KSH.
I have found the whole discussion of Mormonism recently embarassingly simplistic and inaccurate. Of course Mormons are not Christians. They do not believe in the Trinity. End of argument (although so much more could be said).
Stating this distinction accurately is actually an important part of taking people’s faith seriously since it involves understanding faith on its own terms.
The other point is that simply being a Mormon or someone of some other faith tradition does not a priori disqualify one for public service. Such (voting) judgments involve the weighing of lots and lots of factors and the bothersome reality that politics is the art of the possible, not the desirable.
Would you describe the current doctrines of the Episcopal Church as either “mainstream Christianity” or “historical Christian orthodoxy”? I don’t agree with Dan on this, but I do see a certain amusing irony in Episcopalians taking him to task!
The writer is a Mormon writing for a Salt Lake City newspaper. So what is new about Mormons citing deceptive or self-deceiving arguments that they are Christians after all regardless of how many defining doctrines they deny? The late Walter Martin, the first Bible Answer Man, was expert at unpacking and refuting the claims of Mormons, Jehova Witnesses, Christian Scientists and other cults that deny either the full divinity or the full humanity of Jesus Christ. I highly recommend a visit to http://www.waltermartin.org to blow away the fog that such as the writer of this article attempt to use to cloud the issue.
The article contains a classic example of Mormon equivocation. The writer claims that Mormons believe in the divinity of Jesus. But the Mormon understanding of divinity is fundamentally and irreconcilably different than the Christian understanding. Mormons do not believe that Jesus was co-eternal, co-divine, co-uncreated with the Father and Holy Spirit. They believe that the Father produced Jesus as a “divine” offspring with one of His heavenly wives, and that Jesus attained the status of divinity, which, by the way, is something that Mormon men also aspire to attain. Joesph Smith said in a sermon shortly before he was murdered that “As man is, so God once was. As God is, so man may become.” That is Satan hissing the same temptation that brought down our first human mother and father in Eden. Mormonism is Christian? Hardly.
Well, I’m willing to call them non-mainstream Christians, but the short terms for that is “heretics”.
As my Philosophy 101 prof taught us, you have to agree on definitions before you can have an honest discussion.
Given their reliance on alternative documents to the canonical scriptures, and their doctrines and covenants that deviate from the the doctrine drawn from canonical scriptures, why should anyone object to the deduction that they stand in relation to Christianity rather like the movements of other “new prophets” and “new holy books” such as Muhammad and the Al Quran? Or do they merely want the “name” Christian for PR purposes?
As Kendall says ably in #1, that does not disqualify them from public office in our increasingly secular republic.
Muslims have a stronger claim to being Christians. They too believe in Jesus. And at least they are not polytheists. Mormons are neo-pagans.
#1 Spot on.
#8, Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet inferior to Muhammad. They deny his divinity, his crucifixion, and his resurrection. When they say they too believe in Jesus, they don’t mean anything like what Christians mean.
The balance in the first comment is welcome. It would be interesting to have a knowledgeable Mormon commentator participate in this thread. While we Christians are very good at telling other self-identifying Christians why they’ve got it wrong about how they perceive their faith, it probably is at least worth acknowledging that Mormons perceive themselves to be Christians, based on their acceptance of the New Testament and of Jesus as the Christ. That doesn’t negate the point raised by out host that Mormons do not embrace the Trinity. But in understanding their approach to their religion, and how they see themselves in relation to Trinitarian Christianity (sorry for the awkwardness of the phrase – I understand that there is no other kind), some perspective is gained in recognizing that their belief system as translated into behavior overlaps extensively with older Creedal Christian groups, perhaps to a greater extent than is the case even within the entire range of the Niceaen Christian community.
The reason this subject has some current zip to it is that there are two Republican candidates for President who are Mormons. In evaluating them as candidates, the most useful analysis is whether there is anything about Mormon beliefs that would prevent either of them, if nominated and elected, from competently and effectively executing the laws of the United States. My tentative conclusion at this stage of the campaign is that there is not, but I can learn from others.
In recent decades Mormons have been governors of several states, and numerous Mormons have served in both houses of Congress. There is no reason why a Mormon could not honestly affirm the U.S. Constitution and serve as U.S. President.
The same is true, I think, of Buddhists, Hindus, and Sikhs. If the candidate were Muslim, I’d need to know what interpretation of Islam he adhered to, since the majority opinion in Islam worldwide is that Islamic law should be the basis of national law, a violation of the U.S. Constitution.