As the Mormons continue to grow in numbers, and maintain a unified hierarchical structure that can invest capital to build churches in areas where the population might not be able to afford it on its own, I would suggest that some Protestant ministers see the LDS Church as a threat to the prosperity of their own congregations, and as direct competitors who don’t mind baptizing people who already are members of another church, which is viewed as a breach of etiquette by minsters who call it “sheep stealing”, as if the people belong to the minister rather than God. Many Protestant churches are financially independent and depend fully on local membership contributions, and cannot amortize their costs over a collection of richer and poorer congregations. From their viewpoint, it is easy to think of the LDS Church as an evil monolith, and to accept as true any criticism leveled against their enemy, especially when spreading falsehoods can insulate their congregants from listening to the Mormons and being tempted to join “the other side”. Since Mormons stand apart from Protestantism generally, it is easy to believe that the corollary of one’s own church or movement being the way to salvation is that outsiders like Mormons are going to the other place. And the ministers become customers to an anti-Mormon industry of people whose living is dependent on spreading fear of and resentment toward Mormons.

On the Mormon side, no one at the local level earns their living based on the membership of the local congregation. There is no direct financial incentive to seek converts, just a religious one. Local Protestant churches are not seen as a religious threat, though the enmity they engender often has social consequences when Mormons are in a minority. Mormon congregations in that position have many people who are former members of other churches in the vicinity, so they are unlikely to demonize their former co-religionists. And they know pretty well what those other churches teach, so there is no significant market in Mormonism for false information about Protestant denominations.

In the US, Catholics have also been viewed as distinct and potentially threatening by many Protestant ministers. That friction has roots going back through the struggles over Anglican versus Catholic dominion in Britain, and English domination over Ireland, and manifested in statutes and constitutional amendments passed a century ago that were targeted against Catholics in general and parochial schools in particular.

The shared status of outsiders from the Protestant mainstream in America has made Catholics and Mormons allies or at least cooperators in pursuit of religious tolerance and cooperation. The problem of secularization of Catholics totally overshadows the number of Catholics who join the LDS Church in America.

I suggest that the roots of the dichotomy between the Catholic and Protestant attitudes toward the LDS Church are not based on theological issues (there are similarities and differences between Mormons and all other Christian denominations) but rather on the social, organizational and financial distinctions between the two traditional Christian groups and how those are threatened or not threatened by Mormonism.

Many evangelicals, on the other, are unable to see the commonalities they share with Mormons. Evangelical churches in my community refuse to join in community projects with Satan-inspired cultists.

Last evening on a thread discussing Mitt as a VP possibilility, an evangelical stated he and many other evangelicals “despise Mormons and would never vote for a cultist.”

In my experience, Catholics are warm and welcoming toward Mormons; evangelicals not so much. In some cases their hate toward Mormons is palpable. It’s an interesting contrast.

Why have we heard so little about this? And isn’t that the title of Newt Gingrich’s book and apparently a speaking tour? Coupled with the “Evangelical leaders” calling on McCain to “consider” Huckabee as his running mate, as reported by Christianity Today today, what are we to think? Interestingly, James Dobson apparently was not invited to the “Evangelical leaders” confab in Colorada. Hmmm, how long will Dr. remain consigned to the doghouse by some of the guardians of religious purity in politics?

KLO’s reflections on Huckabee as a possible VP selection are, as usual, withering.