A Mormon’s Ultimate Doorbell

[kurth]

December 9, 2007
Fear And Faith
A Mormon’s Ultimate Doorbell
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

IT is probably not to his advantage that Mitt Romney’s clean-scrubbed, youthful presence so readily reminds voters of those earnest Mormon missionaries knocking on their doors... “His candidacy alone has been a long infomercial for the Mormon cult,” said Bill Keller, an evangelist in Florida who runs an Internet prayer network. “As president he’s going to carry the influence of that office, not just here but worldwide, and there’s no denying it’s going to lead people to check out that religion, which according to biblical Christianity, will lead them ultimately to hell.” Mike Licona, the director of apologetics and interfaith evangelism at the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, is publishing a three-part series on what he sees as errors in Mormon teachings. The most troubling, he said in an interview, is the Mormon concept of multiple gods, and the belief that men can become gods of their own worlds...

One in four Americans tell pollsters they have qualms about voting for a Mormon. Among evangelical Christians, it is one in three — a factor that could have an impact in Republican primaries in states like Iowa and South Carolina. Of course, anti-Mormon sentiment is not exclusive to evangelicals, since Mormon theology is a challenge to all Christian denominations. But evangelicals, as active proselytizers and missionaries themselves, appear to be leading the charge. “There will always be a segment of evangelical Christianity that doesn’t trust anything Mormons say,” said Richard J. Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary, an evangelical school in Pasadena, Calif. “They don’t even trust it when the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings ‘Silent Night.’ ”

Dr. Mouw has been criticized by some fellow evangelicals for his continuing participation in a friendly dialogue between evangelical and Mormon scholars. But asked why the hostility to Mormonism is so enduring, he said that there is a “history of nastiness” between the sides that stretches back to Smith’s declaration that the Christian concept of the Trinity — Father, Son and Holy Ghost — was a great apostasy...

Christian talk shows and Web sites are now buzzing about Mormonism, discussions glazed with conspiratorial allusions to “what Romney didn’t say.”... Many voters trying to choose between Mr. Romney and Mike Huckabee may not perceive the contest as governor versus governor. They will see it as grown-up Mormon missionary versus Southern Baptist preacher, and they will not vote for what scares them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/weekinreview/09goodstein.html

[walldude]

1. Oh sweet irony..

"His candidacy alone has been a long infomercial for the Mormon cult,” said Bill Keller, an evangelist in Florida who runs an Internet prayer network."

:rofl:

[Ken Burch]

2. "Jesus wept...with laughter!"

(Actual suppressed ending of the original quote.)

[durrrty libby]

3. That line got me too