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Glenn Beck at a CPAC Hatefest - Photo: Gage Skidmore
Stating some facts will piss a lot of people off. One of them is that Mormons are not Christians.
An evangelical Christian recently pissed off a lot of Mormons by saying the following:
I do not think Mormonism is an orthodox Christian faith, with a small O. I think perhaps the most charitable way for an evangelical Christian to look at Mormonism is to look at Mormonism as the fourth Abrahamic faith.
There's nothing "charitable" about it. Mormonism is just as much of an Abrahamic faith as the other three. However, it is not Christian.
Let's look at some of the things Mormons believe.
1) Wearing magic underpants will protect them from harm.
2) Jesus existed before there were people on the Earth, and he got in a big spiritual battle with Lucifer back then. Black peoples' ancestors' souls were the punished souls of spirits that stayed out of it. White peoples' ancestors' souls fought on the side of Jesus.
3) Joseph Smith was a prophet.
4) A heterosexual male Mormon with a wife and otherwise in good standing will become a god over his own planet. (Quite the ego boost.)
5) God lives on a planet in a nearby solar system.
6) Mormons can convert people after they are dead. (That's why, by the way, they have so much genealogy information.)
You don't have to have an IQ over 150 to figure out that these beliefs are completely incompatible with Christianity. Yet, in 2008, 52% of Americans got it wrong and thought that Mormonism is a Christian religion. This is as factually inaccurate as saying that Obama is a Muslim or that the Moon is made of cheese.
Now that we have established the fact that Glenn Beck, like all Mormons, is not a Christian, we should ask why he keeps nattering on about being Christian and making claims about the Christianity of people he disagrees with.
How the heck do you even define "Christian"? If two faiths as different as Catholics and Protestants can fall under the Christian label, why not Mormons?
It's like people arguing over which Star Wars extended universe books are canon. SERIOUS BUSINESS GUYS.
Quotidian: Actually, the doctrinal differences between Catholics and Protestants are tiny, especially when they are compared with the differences between Christianity and Mormonism, Judaism, and Islam. That hasn't stopped Protestants and Catholics from waging wars over them, though.
Atheists have also killed in the name of expicitly Atheistic ideals, though its often stated they don't, and oen thing I dislike is how many Athiwsts seem to think their beleifs are the only ones that can be held by Raional people. Its one thing to disagree, and another to insult other people, or to pretend all the worlds problems will be solved as soon as everyone else falls in lien wiht yoru own spexific relgiiosu views. Yes Athwists have Religiosu Views, Religion is not Theism. No I did not say Atheism in ad of itself was a Religion, but neither is Theism.
That said, Mormonism is usually een as Christian by many because it follows Jesus, and fairly obviosuly emerged from a 19th Century Protestant perspecive even though it diverged from this greatly; so while its Doctrines are greatly different, it still possesses certain obvious traits that stem from Christianity.
But, who cares if Mormonism is Christian or not? The really important aspec of any Religion is not whether or not it can be nealy categorised, and before the Enlightenment the idea of dividing Religious from ecular thought was itself not really somethign that coudl be done. The only two aspcts of Religion that really matter ae whether its teachign sbaout our nature are True in a Literal sense, or True Metaphorically, and if its Moral and Ethical teachigns are Sound.
Without dealign with Theological questions, I'd say Beck is not a very good Mormon, and cerainly not a good Christian. I say this as a Conservative who has grown weary ofthe praise ths man gets when its fairly obvious that he's simply not all that good a man.
I live in Tennessee. We had a problem in Fulton Tennessee recentlyw hen the Fire Department there refused to extinguish a Housefire, which killed Three Dogs and a cat ad left a senior Citesen homeless along wihr his wife after hey lost all they possessed in this life. It turns out the City has a Subscriptuon Fire Department, and this man did not pay, so even though he offered ot pay while the house was burning, and htey coudl ahve charged him extra at leats, they simply let it burn to the ground. WHile not all of Tennessee has a Subscription Fire Department (Another thing I hate is how peopel asusme if one town here doens soemthign ti common for he rest of the State) All of Obion COunty seems ot want one for itself, based on the success of Foultons.
tO bE coNTINUD, with indulgence.
Continued From The Above (If it went through)
This is tragic enough, that a man shoudl loose his home while the Fire Department does nothing, but Beck ads insult to injury by not only supportign this on te basis that we shoudl operate society soleley base don Free Market Capitalism, but also geered at ths man who has just lost his home. Thats right, Beck, a Millionare, mocked a man who has just lost his whole life. To add a bit mroe clsass to this he also mocked the mans southern accent. Yes, just what a good Christian woudl do, mock a man for the place he is from as if all Southerners deserve to be seen as idiots, AND mock him for not payign for a zubscription fire service he may not have been aware of after he has been rendered homeless. he mocked htis man while behidn him was he "Faith, Hope, Charity" poster, too.
I had to wonder what part of Faith, Hope, or Charity this was.
I have Friends hwo are Mormon, and have studied many ofthe worlds Religins, including the LDS Faith. I know full well that Mormons do not advocate htis sort fo cruelty, and in fact Momonism itself beleives in the idea of a society of mutual cooperation, which actulaly seems mro Socialistic than Captitalistic. (Read abot the Law of Enoch, for exampl, or how Salt Lake City was first set up by Brigham Young). Mormons certainly arne't taught to berate a man who just lost everything. Or, speakign of a broadly Christian concept, can anyoen imagine Jesus, if aroudn today, on a TV Talk Show mockign a mans southern accent sand sayign that it serves him right ot loose his home because he didnt pay in advane for protection?
Is that a part oft he Sermon on the Mound I somehow missed in my Multiple readings of it?
Lets not focus so much on whether or not the Mormons are Christian, and intead on Whether or not the actual Moral Codes are bign followed, and if they are o benefit. I see no benefit to Glenn Becks.
This exampel hit me close to home, beign I am also from Tennessee, but there are other examples of Becks Cruel side.