Ed Kilgore
believes evangelical Christians prefer Mormon to mainline:
[A]ny evangelical distrust of Mormon theology pales beside the
evangelical distrust of mainstream Protestantism—which happens to be the
strand of Christianity that Barack Obama belongs to. This attitude can
be seen in Rick Santorum’s dismissal of mainline U.S. Protestants as
“gone from the world of Christianity”—a comment from 2008 that came to
light during the heat of this year’s primary season. While Santorum’s
statement was widely criticized, it’s a broadly held,
even axiomatic, view for many conservative evangelicals and Catholics.
Indeed, conservative minorities in the mainline denominations (most
notably Episcopalians) have become accustomed to accusing mainline
leaders of heresy and apostasy.
Sure, conservative Christians would have preferred a candidate with a
less complicated and controversial belief system than Mitt Romney’s.
But...their doubts about Romney probably owe
more to the conservative anxiety about his slipperiness than to any
particular concerns about the LDS. And in the end...the only religious test that matters is whether you support the
“Biblical values” of hostility to feminists, gays, and liberal
Protestants like the president.
Conservative Christians have frequently insisted that their primary worry is not the mainline church's policies toward women, gays, and lesbians but its undependable orthodoxy when it comes to such matters as the creeds, Biblical inerrancy, and the bodily resurrection of Christ. If you believe, as I do, that Jesus rose from dead without beaming down
in north America (as the
LDS teaches he did) and yet that the church needn't
be confined by first-century social mores as expressed in the New Testament, the self-styled orthodox insist that I'm not one of them. But if you can support someone who thinks the Bible has been superseded by the Book of Mormon just because you think his views on women and gays coincide with yours, you are
far more interested in public policy outcomes than Christian orthodoxy. For you, it really is all about sex.
3 comments:
I don’t know how Ed Kilgore has come to this conclusion but I know that I can’t support Mitt Romney for president. Very disappointed to see that Mitt is the likely Republican presidential candidate. The late Walter Martin made clear for me the belief structure behind Mormonism. They may be very good people, but theologically, they’ve got it all, very seriously, wrong.
I struggle with Mormonism, too, as I do with the whole interdenominational, interfaith dilemma. I've finally come to the conclusion that God knows what he's doing and all will be revealed in time.
I know that my only hope for eternal life resides in my faith and acceptance of the risen Jesus Christ as my personal savior.
I know what you mean though, respect for good people of other faiths is important but still, Jesus Christ is the only way and Mormonism teaches potential deity for its adherents? Strange, and that is to put it mildly.
I like listening to the late Walter Martin on YouTube, here is a video where Walter Martin speaks on the topic of the Lesser light answering a that question a lot of people put to Christians.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVXMUDC_pw8&feature=relmfu
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