That the question "Are Mormons Christians?" is showing up in the Godblogosphere is not terribly surprising to me.  But that is is arising in more mainstream discussions is something I find fascinating. (See the last item - Andrew Sullivan started it.)  This is obviously a question we spend a lot of time talking about and thinking about on this blog - here and here would be the most prominent examples.

Because we are a blog that features both a creedal Christian and a Mormon we have had to work to find some sort of middle ground on the issue as reflected in the links above.  When it comes to the Romney campaign, some, more concerned - at least on their blog - with the politics than the religion simply choose to take no stand on the question.  This link and others point out how incredibly emotionally charged the question seems to be and that for some, perhaps more than I anticipated, it is a vital question.  The comments here are another indication of how charged the question is.

There has been much scholarship devoted to this issue.  Some from the Mormon side, some taking an approach similar to this blog, and some from the creedal side.  The latter link produced a torrent of comment, also illustrative of how charged the question can be.  In all honesty, when Lowell and I come up to discussing the question in detail, one can feel the energy rise.

The bottom line, though, is, how does the answer to the question matter in terms of a political discussion or candidate qualifications?  From my study of the discussion surrounding the issue, I would say there are two areas where it appears to matter somehow.  One could be serious and the other is purely bigoted.  Let's start with the latter first.

Some of the discussion seems to be simply a matter of determining if we are somehow "in the same club."  I really don't understand this way of approaching the problem save as an exercise in bigotry - sorting the world into "one of us" and "not one of us" on grounds not related to the issue at hand.  I cannot help but think this is the kind of religious influence on government that the Founding Fathers sought to avoid.  After all, isn't the notion that "only 'one of us' is worth my vote" the very definition of a religious test?

The other area where this question arises is more substantive, but in the end non-differential.  Each person comes with a worldview, explained this way:

We might say that each of us carries a model of the universe inside our heads that tells us what the world is like and how we should live in it. . . . even ordinary people have a set of convictions about how reality functions and how they should live. Because we are made in God's image, we all seek to make sense of life. . . . . The notion that we need such a "map" in the first place grows out of a biblical view of human nature. The Marxist may claim that human behavior is ultimately shaped by economic circumstances; the Freudian attributes everything to repressed sexual instincts; and the behavioral psychologist regards humans as stimulus-response mechanisms. But the Bible teaches that the overriding factor in the choices we make is our ultimate belief or religious commitment. Our lives are shaped by the "god" we worship. . . . the God of Bible or some substitute deity. . . . 

As this explanation reveals, religion plays a terribly important role in the formation of a worldview, but in the end, it is the worldview that will define how we interact with the world around us when it comes to things that are a part of the regular working of our government.  Religion is remarkably unclear on many of the issues of the day, only a worldview born of religion can determine what a religion has to say on such issues.

Thus, when it comes to a discussion like the one this blog addresses, the election of a political candidate and the relationship of religion to that election, the question is really about whether different religions, or different sects within the same religion, produce worldviews that result in different stances on the issues of the day.

Having said that, determining if creedal and Mormon sects are somehow equally "Christian" does not really get to the heart of the matter.  "Christian" means a lot of things including as an adjective to describe a worldview, but as best as I can tell Mormons and creedals are sufficiently close in theological make-up that deciding the question wouldn't tell us much about similarities and differences in their worldviews.

The entire discussion that sparked this post arose when Andrew Sullivan said:

THE CHRISTIANIST CANDIDATE

- In case you were unaware, it's Mitt Romney.

That I think sums this discussion up in a nutshell.  The political opposition cannot tell the difference between us, thus our worldviews must be awfully close, perhaps indistinguishable.

So why are we spending all this time on this question?  I sure hope it's not the "club" thing.

Lowell adds:  I hesitate to add anything, for fear of detracting from John's excellent post.  I'll note simply that the term "Christianist," of which Andrew Sullivan is so fond, is a deeply pejorative label for all politically conservative Christians of any religion, creedal or not, including Evangelicals and Mormons.  It's supposed to be the equivalent of "Islamist," the term widely used to describe the likes of al-Qaeda and the Taliban.  In other words, Christianists are as interested in imposing their religious views on others as Islamists are in imposing Sharia law on the world.  People like Sullivan employ that slur with the same recklessness (and malice) involved in the use of "cult' by some anti-Mormon writers.  For Sullivan and the angry secular Left, Mormons and Evangelicals are in the same awful "club," and using the term "Christianist" is a handy way to avoid rational and respectful discussion.  Ann Althouse adds more. Be sure to read the comments.

Technorati Tags: Mormon, Evangelical, creedal, non-creedal, Christian, Christianist, Andrew Sullivan, Mitt Romney, politics, election, worldview, religion, words, definitions

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