Monday, September 10, 2007

AN INSIGHTFUL INTERPRETATION OF MORMONISM

I just read an insightful article on the Church written by a non-LDS professor and published in a Christian Journal. It is written in the context of the Romney campaign. She responds to Evangelical Christians' fears of Romney's Mormonism. Please read it. You will enjoy it, especially her comparison of Mormonism and Evangelical Christianity. From my point of view, she has an accurate understanding of LDS history, culture and doctrine and presents it in a clear, concise, and positive way. I also must make it clear that although I respect Mitt Romney and have no question that he is a man of high integrity and is an excellent leader, I am disappointed in his right-wing rhetoric. I believe that like his father he is a pragmatist deep down within. But I think that he is bending over backward to get the right-wing vote. I may end up voting for the democrat. Politics aside, this is a good article:

http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=3594

7 comments:

Beck said...

Very interesting article... very fairly handled. Maybe my bias views it that way, but fair still it seems to be.

Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

great article, thanks.

i immediately e-mailed it to a bunch of relatives and non-mormon friends.

John Gustav-Wrathall said...

I thought this was very interesting... Especially as I am getting ready to teach a course in comparative American religious histories.

I was wondering if she'd discuss the history Mormons have with theocracy, but she didn't go there. It's just as well, because it would be a red herring in this context. I thought her discussion of Mormon attitudes toward government was right on. But theocracy is a concern that gets raised by non-Mormons, so I'm surprised it didn't at least get some mention.

Anonymous said...

my wife totally dismissed this article as apologetic; she was particularly upset that it glossed over the church's racist past.

John Gustav-Wrathall said...

Of course Evangelicals had their own sorry history with racism... Not to justify the LDS history with race, but at least our Church never argued that slavery was God's will... Did you know that Southern Baptists only in the 1980s finally admitted that they were wrong to justify slavery using the Bible? The 1980s!

gentlefriend said...

Thanks for your comments. On the black issue, a new DVD has come out that you may find interesting: http://www.blacksinthescriptures.com/

Forester said...

The author of this article raised some very good points often overlooked by the media and other commentary on the church. I especially liked her view on the emphasis we place on personal revelation and the importance of free agency.