The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Mormons in America

11.2.07 @ 12:02AM

(Page 3 of 6)

It is amazingly offensive to think that most people who profess to believe in and follow Jesus Christ have such an incredibly arrogant and judgmental view towards Mormons and others who don't hold exactly the same views as they do. When presented with this, most Christians I have talked to simply say, "you Mormons think everyone else is going to hell too." And this brings up the second very telling comment.

"We see this as an opportunity for us to educate people on what Mormons really believe." I have nearly snorted milk through my nose more than once while reading articles and comments written by Christians about what Mormons believe. Many statements are outlandish and completely false, and others are twisted ideas that result in the same thing: a misrepresentation about Mormon doctrine.

Using the former issue as a point of discussion let me explain. Although most Christians may believe that Mormons, and literally countless billions, will be consigned to eternal misery because they do not perform the act of learning about Jesus and accepting him as their savior, Mormons believe that God truly is all-powerful and all-loving and is certainly able to get all his children to the final destination to which they belong, even if they did not have a fair chance during their mortal life to learn about the atonement of Jesus Christ or apply it in their life. This includes the billions who have been and will be born in lands where Christ is unknown; it includes children who die before having a chance to mature; it includes even those who know about Christ's atonement already but may be lacking some important understanding and are kept from it by conditions outside their control.

In other words, although most Christians believe Mormons are headed for eternal misery, Mormon's believe that most Christians are good people and are headed for eternal happiness because they love truth and goodness and accept it whenever it is clearly presented to them.

Fortunately, in the end truth will out, and when people learn it rather than the caricature, it doesn't seem "a little, uh, wacky."
-- Robert Madsen
Orem, Utah

First, a disclaimer, Gov. Romney is NOT my favorite candidate for POTUS in the 2008 election cycle. That said, the Christian Evangelicals concentrated attack on Romney BECAUSE OF his Mormonism is NOT the way to go.

The Mormons believe in the Bible. It is just that they add a few books and principles to what the rest of us believe. The Roman Catholics celebrate a couple of extra books and saints that the Baptists don't also, and the Jews exclude a major part of our Bible. Should we then exclude Roman Catholics and Jews from consideration for POTUS also?

I believe that I could make a good case that any practicing member of the mainstream Protestant churches should be excluded because they believe in a false God, or false religion. Of course we would also have to exclude all Gnostics, and Atheists, and anyone else that refuses to identify what religion they retain. Oh, and what about our Islamic citizens? Should all of them be excluded, or just the Sunnis, or Shias, or Wahabbists, and what about the Buddhists.

And can I ask what ever happened to the whole leaving that which belongs to Caesar to Caesar, and that which belongs to God to God? May I respectfully suggest that, since Mormons accept the preponderance of the Christian Bible's pronouncements and laws, we should let God, Himself, be the judge of whether they get into Heaven or not. Let us concentrate on issues of American sovereignty, and what is good for our country, and let God take care of issues of Eternity.
-- Ken Shreve
New Hampshire

Apparently the title of this article ("Prejudiced for Eternity") would be a good description of TAS. I am beyond disappointed that TAS, which I have read for years for its principled conservative outlook, would print such drivel. Here you print an article on why a member of a religious group should not achieve high political office. I am impressed by your stand for religious freedom. Perhaps a secular-progressive style of separation of Church and state applies to some religious groups? Ironically, there is a banner ad for your Pursuit of Liberty series when I accessed this article. Would that be religious liberty? A liberty that is included for those running for office? This article is a major disappointment and calls into questions TAS's reputation for standing by principles. I trust you no more.
-- Marc Hansen

Paul Chesser replies:
I would just respond to the comments of this nature by saying this was not an effort to stifle anyone's opportunity to pursue the top office in the land, but to give a window into the thinking of many within a large bloc of voters. It's just a fact: many if not most evangelicals place eternal destiny above political considerations on their priority list, and issues that strike at the heart of what leads to salvation are at issue here. Religious liberty promises the freedom to exercise your religion; not to practice it and give you the right to hold elected office.

There are many well-reasoned, intelligent and well-written defenses of a Romney (or Mormon) presidency (some included in this list of letters), and my experience with TAS has been that they believe in the free exchange of ideas and not the promotion of a single religious belief to the exclusion of others.

THE BEST KIND
Re: James Bowman's Bella:

Without getting into all of my disagreements with Mr. Bowman's review, such as whether the movie should have provided more details into Nina's situation (I think less is sometimes more), let me address his main charge that the movie is propaganda or a Sunday-school lesson.

I noticed that Mr. Bowman liked the movie Friends and Neighbors, which shows people being awful. I liked that movie, too. Bella shows, in addition to people being awful, people being good, and it definitely points to the possibility that people will repent of their awful ways. Why is it propaganda to show people being good, but it is not propaganda to show people being awful?

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Education, Bill Clinton, Mainstream Media, Business, Religion, Catholicism, Islam, Environment, Books, Movies, Law, Military, Iraq, Iran, NATO, Africa