Today’s Reading List - June 4, 2007
Mormonism and Democratic Politics: Are They Compatible?
This is the transcript of along and fascinating discussion as part of the the Pew Forum's "biannual Faith Angle Conference on religion, politics and public life." The speaker is Richard Lyman Bushman, Governeur Morris Professor of History emeritus, Columbia University and a Mormon; his questioners include Kenneth Woodward (whose work we scrutinized here); E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post; John Wilson of Books and Culture; Anne Kornblut of the Washington Post; Mike Allen of Politico; Barbara Bradley Hagerty of NPR; Sally Quinn of the Washington Post; Rome Hartman of CBS News; Delia Gallagher of CNN; John Fund of the Wall Street Journal, and many others. It's a veritable "who's who" of MSM types. It's impossible to excerpt; suffice it to say that for anyone who is interested in The Question, it's an absolute must-read.
Embarrassing Rant
No, not by me, by a preacher named Bill Keller. I hesitate to bring any more attention to someone like Keller, who deserves so little, but decided this story is worth mentioning. I think there are three lessons here:
1. Crazy statements attract MSM attention. I imagine 95% of evangelicals are embarrassed by this man's crazed rantings, and yet he gets plenty of ink. I suspect Keller is crazy like a fox, and loves to watch the news media dance to his tune.
2. Romney (and others like him) get caught in the crossfire between irresponsible, over-wrought preachers like Keller and dedicated secularists like Barry Lynn and Americans United.
3. In the end, it is useful to everyone of good will to be able to contrast statements like this one, by Keller:
"This message today is not about Mitt Romney," he wrote. "Romney is an unashamed and proud member of the Mormon cult founded by a murdering polygamist pedophile named Joseph Smith nearly 200 years ago. The teachings of the Mormon cult are doctrinally and theologically in complete opposition to the Absolute Truth of God's Word. There is no common ground. If Mormonism is true, then the Christian faith is a complete lie. There has never been any question from the moment Smith's cult began that it was a work of Satan and those who follow their false teachings will die and spend eternity in hell."
With this one, from the Church's president, Gordon B. Hinckley:
Let us never act in a spirit of arrogance or with a holier-than-thou attitude. Rather, may we show love and respect and helpfulness toward [those with different beliefs]. We are greatly misunderstood, and I fear that much of it is of our own making. We can be more tolerant, more neighborly, more friendly, more of an example than we have been in the past.
If you're interested in the legal background to this, you'll find some here.
Elsewhere Around the Web
Interfaith Radio offers a podcast of "Mormon Beliefs and the Candidacy of Mitt Romney," an interview with Blake Ostler, who is described as "a Mormon, a lawyer, and author of a four-volume series, Exploring Mormon Thought." (One Mormon reviewer described the latter series as "the most important works on Mormon theology ever written.") I've listened to the podcast and recommend it as an interesting, respectful, and thoughtful discussion of many of the Mormon doctrines frequently raised as examples of "weirdness" that should give voters pause in considering Romney's candidacy.
Interestingly, there's a lengthy discussion of why Mitt Romney's religion is raised as an issue at all. Ostler concludes "by noting that the current public questioning of Mitt Romney’s Mormonism by some evangelicals is alienating many Mormons, and if it continues, it may lead to a severing of alliances on the Christian Right." In my view, that's an overstatement of the current tensions, but I can imagine such a "severing" and hope it does not occur. (HT: Mormon-Chronicles.)
Frank Pastore insists his views on Romney and his Mormonism are not bigoted. You be the judge. We'll probably have more on this later.
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Bot on 04 Jun 2007 at 5:17 pm #
The Church of Jesus Christ (LDS) is often misunderstood . . Some accuse the Church of not believing in Christ and, therefore, not being a Christian religion . . This article helps to clarify such misconceptions
• Baptism: .
Early Christian churches, practiced baptism of youth (not infants) by immersion by the father of the family. The local congregation had a lay ministry. An early Christian Church has been re-constructed at the Israel Museum, and the above can be verified. http://www.imj.org.il/eng/exhibitions/2000/christianity/ancientchurch/structure/index.html
The Church of Jesus Christ (LDS) continues baptism and a lay ministry as taught by Jesus’ Apostles. . Early Christians were persecuted for keeping their practices sacred, and not allowing non-Christians to witness them
• The Trinity: .
A literal reading of the New Testament points to God and Jesus Christ , His Son , being separate , divine beings , united in purpose. . To whom was Jesus praying in Gethsemane, and Who was speaking to Him and his apostles on the Mount of Transfiguration?
The Nicene Creedâ€s definition of the Trinity was influenced by scribes translating the Greek manuscripts into Latin. . The scribes embellished on a passage explaining the Trinity , which is the Catholic and Protestant belief that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. . The oldest versions of the epistle of 1 John, read: “There are three that bear witness: the Spirit, the water and the blood and these three are one.”
Scribes later added “the Father, the Word and the Spirit,” and it remained in the epistle when it was translated into English for the King James Version, according to Dr. Bart Ehrman, Chairman of the Religion Department at UNC- Chapel Hill. . . .He no longer believes in the Nicene Trinity. .
Scholars agree that Early Christians believed in an embodied God; it was neo-Platonist influences that later turned Him into a disembodied Spirit. . Divinization, narrowing the space between God and humans, was also part of Early Christian belief. . The Church of Jesus Christ (LDS) views the Trinity as three separate divine beings , in accord with the earliest Greek New Testament manuscripts.
• The Deity of Jesus Christ
Mormons hold firmly to the deity of Christ. For members of the Church of Jesus Christ (LDS), Jesus is not only the Son of God but also God the Son. Evangelical pollster George Barna found in 2001 that while only 33 percent of American Catholics, Lutherans, and Methodists agreed that Jesus was “without sin,” Mormons were among the “most likely” to say that Jesus was sinless.
• The Cross: .
The Cross became popular as a Christian symbol in the Fifth Century A.D. . Members of the Church of Jesus Christ (LDS) believe the proper Christian symbol is Christ’s resurrection , not his crucifixion on the Cross. Many Mormon chapels feature paintings of the resurrected Christ or His Second Coming.
• Christ’s Atonement: .
But Mormons donâ€t term Catholics and Protestants “non-Christianâ€. . They believe Christ’s atonement in Gethsemane and on the Cross applies to all mankind. . The dictionary definition of a Christian is “of, pertaining to, believing in, or belonging to a religion based on the teachings of Jesus Christâ€: . All of the above denominations are followers of Christ, and consider him divine, and the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament. They all worship the one and only true God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and address Him in prayer as prescribed in The Lord’s Prayer.
Itâ€s important to understand the difference between Reformation and Restoration when we consider who might be authentic Christians. If members of the Church of Jesus Christ (LDS) embrace early Christian theology , they are likely more “Christian†than their detractors.
* * *
• Christ-Like Lives: . . .The 2005 National Study of Youth and Religion published by UNC-Chapel Hill found that Church of Jesus Christ (LDS) youth (ages 13 to 17) were more likely to exhibit these Christian characteristics than Evangelicals (the next most observant group):
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . LDS Evangelical
Attend Religious Services weekly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71% . . . . 55%
Importance of Religious Faith in shaping daily life –
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . extremely important .. 52. . . . . . . 28
Believes in life after death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 . . . . . . 62
Believes in psychics or fortune-tellers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 . . . . . . 5
Has taught religious education classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 . . . . . . 28
Has fasted or denied something as spiritual discipline . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 . . . . . . 22
Sabbath Observance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 . . . . . . 40
Shared religious faith with someone not of their faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 . . . . . . 56
Family talks about God, scriptures, prayer daily . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 . . . . . . 19
Supportiveness of church for parent in trying to raise teen
(very supportive) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 . . . . . . 26
Church congregation has done an excellent job in helping
Teens better understand their own sexuality and sexual morality . . . . . 84 . . . . . . 35