Are Mormons Christians?

Objectively speaking, anyone being a Mormon or any other religion shouldn’t matter when a person casts his or her vote for president. For the record, every president we have had up until now has been a Christian. Some have been stalwart in the practice of their faith, others have not: in that sense they reflect the diversity of Christians within America.

Mormons have been seen as a suspicious group from their beginnings in New York State. The most controversial of their teachings for many Christians concerns the relationship between Christ and the Father. The Father is the source of life for all, including Satan. In truth, Satan is a brother of Jesus. Jesus is not the only son of the Spirit Father, as he is called. This contradicts the essential reality of Christianity from at least the fifth Century to today. That is God is one in nature but three in persons. Each person of the Trinity has in itself the totality of God. This Jesus says: “Those who see me see the Father who sent me.”  Or “The Father and I are one.”  The Trinity is not a belief of the Mormon Church. 

Here we have two indispensable truths that are accepted by all Christians but not by the Mormons.  Thus the Mormons cannot declare, (and they do not), that they follow the Nicene Creed, developed initially at the Council of Nicaea in ( 325 CE ) and fully formulated at the Council of Constantinople of (  381 CE ). In this Creed is declared clearly that Christians believe in one God, The father, his only eternally begotten Son who became incarnate and the Holy Spirit, (Ghost).  Jesus in the belief’s of the Mormons is a special spirit child who provided to the Jews and Gentiles the morality and association of the Spirit Child to the Father.

Another crucial difference comes from the declaration that the Book of Mormon is another revealed truth that is equal to that of the Bible’s revelation. Christians do not accept that God has revealed further scriptural truth after the works that are included in the New Testament. No others have been or can be added to the scripture.

Therefore, the belief in the book of Mormon itself as a divine revelation creates a divide between the Christian Churches and the Mormons. All of these differences place the Mormons definitively outside the tenants of the Christian religions.

“So what,” you say. And I agree. However, for many traditional and evangelical Churches, the distinctions are quite clear and easily presented. So, if you in fact desire that a Christian be elected to the White House, one will not vote for Mitt Romney.

Is this religious bigotry? To state that the Mormon Church is not Christian is not bigoted as it is the truth. The Mormon Church cannot by themselves declare themselves to be Christian without believing fundamental truths especially denoted in the Nicene Creed.

However, to decide not to vote for someone because he is not Christian is in fact bigoted, as it denies the candidate a vote and possible election because of his religion. It is one thing to disagree with the stated policies of a candidate. It is another to accuse that candidate of deceit that when they achieve their goal of the presidential office that their religion will take first place, and all further decisions will be based only on his or her religion.

To state that one will only vote for a Christian for President, (or any other office), is also unconstitutional. Nothing concerning religion is stated as a requirement to be elected to the office. Also, despite claims to the contrary, nowhere in the constitution does it say that the USA is a Christian country. In fact, the very existence in the Bill of Rights of a declaration that the government is not to interfere in or favor a religion assures that no faith can take to itself the US Constitution as a religious document.

One can decide whom to vote for based on any criteria that makes sense to them. There’s evidence that people vote for a person based on looks, intellectual capacity, whether he is kind to children and a host of subjective criteria. This is part of the human decision making process. Yet these are not the most important reasons to vote or not for a candidate. Their background generally, their past history of support for various positions and their campaign reasons for electing same are the ones which people ought to focus on. In my opinion, religion of any kind is not a litmus test for being an excellent candidate for any office, especially the US Presidency.