Why are some Evangelicals Terrified of Mormons?

[_Runtu]

I was just reading an article by an Evangelical about why he couldn't vote for Mitt Romney:

A Vote for Romney Is a Vote for the LDS Church

I have to give the man credit for originality: he tells us that Mormons can't be trusted to stand firm on principles because any day a revelation might change the church's position on some issue (apparently, he's assuming that all Mormons will turn on a dime when the church say so). But even worse, he says, electing a Mormon president would give the church a lot of free press, and we can't have that.

I've interacted with a lot of Evangelicals over the years in these online forums. Most of them have been reasonable and fair in their discussions with me about Mormonism, whether I was a believer or not. But there's always been a subset of Evangelicals who seem to go unhinged at the drop of Joseph Smith's white hat. It's as if Mormonism is this huge threat to "real" Christians, so much so that they must be shunned so believers can avoid getting contaminated by their Mormon ways.

You may think I'm overstating things. We had neighbors in Texas who would not let their kids come into our house (who knows what Mormons do behind closed doors?). A family we knew had neighbors who refused to speak to them and would quickly gather their kids into the house whenever the dreaded Mormons were outside. And of course, more than one person told me that he/she would not pray with Mormons because that would be offensive to God.

I understand why Evangelicals strongly disagree with LDS theology, and I even understand why they say Mormons are not Christians, though I disagree with them. But I don't understand the abject terror that comes over some Evangelicals whenever Mormons are brought up.

[_Buffalo]

Some Evangelicals seem to exist mainly to be afraid of things - afraid of cults, afraid of culture change, afraid of letting the gays marry, etc.

[_Quasimodo]

When I was a young child in Salt Lake City a playmate's mother once told me I was "of Satan" because I was not a Mormon.

I think that may be similar to some Evangelist's feelings about the LDS Church. They are always looking for Satan's influence. They feel that Mormons are tools of Satan and should be feared. Shoe on the other foot, sort of thing.

[_The Nehor]

I understand why Evangelicals strongly disagree with LDS theology, and I even understand why they say Mormons are not Christians, though I disagree with them. But I don't understand the abject terror that comes over some Evangelicals whenever Mormons are brought up.

I've attended two Evangelical meetings where they exposed to their congregations the truth about Mormonism. From what my friends who go there tell me they go through several cults every so often. Mormons, JW's, a few others. If those presentations were accurate they should fear us. Unfortunately they are not.

On the other hand when I was in college we'd get one or two evangelical students a month coming to visit our Institute building to see if the Mormons were really like that. I think we baptized more out of their mega-church there then from any other Church in the city.

So to any Evangelicals creating these presentations they aren't working the way thet are supposed to. I would go for making Mormons boring instead. Would be much safer.

[_MsJack]

I think the article Runtu links to in the OP is a very unfortunate one. I think I'll have further thoughts on it in due time.

In the meantime, I suggest a thoughtful blog post that my co-blogger Tim at LDS & Evangelical Conversations wrote in February of this year. It's called, Can an Evangelical Vote for a Mormon?

He addresses a few of the concerns raised by Warren Cole Smith.

[_MsJack]

by the way, Runtu, to very briefly answer your question . . .

Why do some Evangelicals fear Mormons?

For the same reason some Mormons fear their fundamentalist counterparts. Because they steal away our members, promote practices and beliefs that we view as unsavory and/or theologically unsound, and associate us with things that we don't want to be associated with. That's why.

And in both cases, I think a lot of the fear stems from a good deal of misunderstanding and a huge lack of charity towards others.

[_zeezrom]

Isn't religion a beautiful thing? Life would be so boring without religious beliefs. We would all have one less thing to argue about, one less thing to be afraid of.

[_EAllusion]

The capacity to identify personally with a candidate plays a significant role in voter behavior. I think the biggest drawback a Mormon has with evangelicals is not consciously thought out reasons to reject them, but that Mormons are just more likely to seem like an "other" than traditional religious right candidates. Romney is catching a huge break in that there are no strong candidates that naturally appeal to the evangelical base at this point, so there might not be somebody to contrast that voter identification.

It also bears mention that the religious right is increasingly open about wanting all levels of government to reflect and institute their religious beliefs in various ways, and so long as a Mormon is seen as something other than a normative Christian, they will be viewed as running counter to that goal by some of them. Which is interesting since Mormons are some of thee most staunch allies within the broad tent of the religious right that evangelicals will have.

[_Jersey Girl]

Runtu,

Well a couple of things to share here.

1. When I was an events coordinator for the local community, I brought up the idea of a Winter Concert with all the area church choirs as participants. My Pastor told me that our choir wouldn't participate of the LDS church was. He told me that the Bible cautions to avoid "the appearance of evil".

(I was kinda stunned by that)

2. Same Pastor when becoming aware of my close friendship with an LDS woman told me he didn't know how I could be close friends with a Mormon.

(The same way I can be close friends with anyone else--we had much in common!)

3. Same Pastor told me not to let my kids be "taught by Mormons".

(Why not? They've been taught by YOU for all their lives...didn't you do a good enough job?)

[Guest]

Some possible reasons evangelical Christians (focusing on Protestant white thought since that's my background) are distrustful/fearful of Mormons:

1) Absence of actual face-to-face interaction with Mormons allows stereotypes to inform them about Mormons. Mormons being localized in the Mountain West (as well as California it seems) means that many Christians do not know many Mormons or even any Mormons. This coupled with old notions within southern Christian circles about distrust of other groups: Catholics, Jews, African-Americans, etc. Basically the old racist attitudes that anyone who is not WASP is possibly untrustworthy and thus to be feared. This has lessened of late, but still informs the rural and backwood Christians, where messages of progress are slow to seep into the discourse (I know this personally, being from backwoods/rural KY).

2) Not being able to dispel Mormon stereotypes with actual anecdotes, Christians might be informed by the traditional stereotypes. I think the most basic one is that while the Mormons are members of "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" they aren't really Christians. The fact that they put the "Jesus Christ" right in their name when they are perceived to not be "real" Christians, at least according to Christians means they're straight up deceitful. The attempt to appear Christian straight back fires in some Christian. I think there is more to that, on a very basic level, than is often credited.

3) The large organizational style, with several levels of hierarchy, hints at Catholicism, who are too distrusted by decentralized rural churches. Despite the appearance of hierarchy in some evangelical churches through groups such as the Southern Baptist Convention and other large groups, at the heart of many churches is an streak of individuality that is offended by the large apparatus of the LDS Church.

4) The stereotypes themselves about Mormons. It's a cult, etc etc...fill in all the stereotypes and assume they've been exaggerated by Christians fearful of any other group. Particularly a group that might be a wolf in sheep's clothing. See #2. Mormons are viewed as a group apart, and time hasn't allowed Protestants and Mormons to build bridges and reconcile the way that say, Catholics and Protestants seem to at least tolerate each other (tolerate being the operative word).

5) Basic gut reaction to distrust other religious groups. The difference about Mormons is that they don't hold a Trump card like the Jews (Jerusalem/Holy Land) that makes Christians supportive (Catholics at least believe in the same basic Bible and have historical overlap with Protestants). Mormons on the other hand might appear to be the next evolution in Christianity with the Book of Mormon being a new(er) testament of Jesus Christ. No one likes to be old news do they? I think that Christians take it as an insult to be told they're not correct, and well Christians don't like it just like when Mormons don't like it.

~Just a few thoughts at 2 AM. I probably most believe the sentiments of 1 and 5. Might have more later.