In casual conversation with colleagues, I found myself defending the Mormons (I surprise myself sometimes), and their right to believe their version of the nature of God, and still be respected members of the community.

At issue was whether Mormons should be allowed to join a Denver-based consortium of Christian churches who work for humanitarian causes. As it turned out, the local LDS Church withdrew its application for membership in the consortium because the council was besieged with complaints that Mormons were not really Christians. Can you believe it? Even this infidel recognizes that Mormons are Christians.

Now, in order to understand why many Christians think this way, we first have to understand the difference between what each group believes the nature of God to be, and the main historical foundation upon which Mormons have rested their case.

The traditional Christian notion of the Godhead, which developed gradually over four centuries and through many human controversies, is that the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost are of one essence, and the Son is of the same substance as the Father. This belief has become an absolute for most Christians and ingrained so deeply in their psyche that its an unquestionable tenet. The Mormon notion of the Godhead is more corporeal; the Father and the Son each has a separate body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; however, the Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit that can dwell within us. Mormons believe this was an original truth that Jesus taught, but because of the people's wickedness, this truth was taken from the earth until Joseph Smith restored it. Mormons also believe God once was a man, and that man may become as God through his own efforts. So, in place of the more traditional doctrine of the Trinity, Mormonism proclaims to believe in a finite, polytheistic (and polygamist) God. Obviously, this is too much for some Christian religions and amounts to radical heresy; hence, the rejection of the Mormons as being Christian.

So what's the underlying message the Christian consortium is giving to Mormons? It's not just, "My god's better than your god," but rather, "Your god doesn't even exist, because my religion says so, therefore you can't join our ranks, even if it's to perform Christian acts of kindness." Now that's not only hypocrisy, but stupidity as well. Whatever happened to practicing Jesus' philosophy exemplified in his parable, The Good Samaritan?

Of course, Mormons have their blind spots too! Joseph Smith did claim God told him that all creeds are wrong, and those who believe them are corrupt. And for years it was preached out of the Book of Mormon that the Catholic church was the "great and abominable." These strong words coupled with peculiar doctrine obviously still rankle enough traditional Christians to make them want to keep their distance from the Mormons. And the LDS church's recent track record doesn't help either. For instance, the recent West High choir director's display of arrogance in promoting his Mormon beliefs (and the obvious lack of disciplinary action by his Mormon superiors); and the LDS church's fight to keep prayer in public schools, along with state support of its seminary program.

So maybe it's "pay back time" for the Mormons, which is unfortunate, because just when many LDS members are starting to get involved in more global endeavors, the Christian gentiles retaliate with this kind of a "nee-ner." Hopefully, in time, reason will prevail, and the two groups can work together, in spite of their deity doctrine differences. (By the way, why should it matter how a deity's body is created? Aren't there more pressing social issues to get concerned about today?)

So, what can we learn from this incident? I suggest that we don't get caught up in feeling superior for any reason. It's one thing to say "Humanism is best for me," and another to say, "Humanism is best for everyone," because it might not be. That's an individual matter. What we can say, though, is "Humanism is a wonderful philosophy for me, and I will work toward educating others about it, when appropriate, so greater freedoms can be realized for everyone."

--Nancy Moore