Mormon apologists describe LDS church as "bigoted"
Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 3:53 pm
Of course, they didn't mean to. But in the FAIR-backed Mormon Voices "Top Ten Anti-Mormon Statements in 2011", they identify 10 statements about Mormons that they consider to be bigoted. Number 10:
Their explanation:
Now, here's the church's official approach to competing Mormon denominations:
http://newsroom.LDS.org/style-guide
If it's bigotry to say that Mormons aren't Christians even though they self-identify as such (nowadays), it's equally bigoted to say that groups like the FLDS aren't Mormons.
http://principlevoices.org/our-library/ ... rch-claims
Thanks to John Larsen for pointing this out in the recent Mormon Expression podcast.
10. “The Christian coalition, I think [another candidate] could get a lot of money from that, because Romney, obviously, not being a Christian…” Ainsley Earhart, Fox and Friends, July 17, 2011.
Their explanation:
10. Again, Mormons are Christian.
“Mormon” is a nickname for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We are Christians in every sense of the word.
We believe in Jesus Christ.
We follow Jesus Christ.
We believe Jesus is divine the Son of God, the Only Begotten of the Father.
We believe Jesus is our personal Lord and Savior.
It is only through Him we are saved to return to our Heavenly Father.
We are saved through his Grace.
He is God the Son.
To say that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) are non-Christian, is not only wrong, it is offensive.
The fundamental belief of Mormons, the reason we exist as a denomination, is that we believe that Jesus Christ established a church in his time that was changed over time. We believe we are a re-establishment of that original Christian Church.
One can say we are not Protestants. One can say we are not Nicene creedal trinitarians. But, one can not say we are not Christian.
Now, here's the church's official approach to competing Mormon denominations:
http://newsroom.LDS.org/style-guide
When referring to people or organizations that practice polygamy, the terms "Mormons," "Mormon fundamentalist," "Mormon dissidents," etc. are incorrect. The Associated Press Stylebook notes: "The term Mormon is not properly applied to the other ... churches that resulted from the split after [Joseph] Smith's death."
If it's bigotry to say that Mormons aren't Christians even though they self-identify as such (nowadays), it's equally bigoted to say that groups like the FLDS aren't Mormons.
http://principlevoices.org/our-library/ ... rch-claims
The Principle Voices Coalition has learned that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has sent a letter to media outlets asking that the term “fundamentalist Mormon” not be used. In the recent past, the Church has insisted that we instead be defined as “polygamous sects”, even though most of us are not (and do not refer to ourselves as) polygamists.
We strenuously object to any efforts to deprive us and others of the freedom to name and describe ourselves by terms of our own choosing. Fundamentalist Mormons have been referred to by that name since the 1930s, often by the Church itself. We are proud of our Mormon heritage. Plural marriage is only one of the tenets of our religion, the Gospel of Jesus Christ as restored through Joseph Smith.
Ironically, the LDS Church has been justifiably uncomfortable with repeated assertions by members of some Christian denominations that Latter-day Saints are not Christians. In many ways, we consider ourselves to be adherents to Mormonism (and Christianity) no less than were Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and John Taylor. What distinguishes us from the modern, mainstream Church is that we have endeavored to observe the original, fundamental precepts of the restored Gospel, while the Church itself has, since the early 1900s, repudiated several of them.
Thanks to John Larsen for pointing this out in the recent Mormon Expression podcast.