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{"id":3456,"date":"2015-12-22T18:43:59","date_gmt":"2015-12-23T00:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=3456"},"modified":"2015-12-22T18:43:59","modified_gmt":"2015-12-23T00:43:59","slug":"are-mormons-christians-and-more-relevant-follow-up-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/12\/are-mormons-christians-and-more-relevant-follow-up-questions.html","title":{"rendered":"Are Mormons Christians? (and more relevant follow-up questions)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Still reading by library books on Islam and drafting a more comprehensive response to them, but in the meantime, a question:<\/p>\n

Are Mormons<\/a> Christians?<\/p>\n

No, I\u2019m not actually interested in diatribes about wacky things that Mormons may or may not believe or whether they are, on net, good or bad (family-oriented, vs. the latest scandal in Slate about young adults on missions). \u00a0The question is meant as a step towards the further question: \u00a0how do you identify whether someone is a Christian?<\/p>\n

Is is enough that they claim to be so? \u00a0Or do must they hew to a specific set of doctrines? \u00a0I wrote up a piece on the question of whether President Obama is a Christian<\/a>, a while back, saying that if all that\u2019s needed is self-identification, then he certainly is, but if we apply a doctrinal test, then maybe not, as Obama, in his own words, does not seem to believe in the divinity of Christ, which I think would be the first doctrine on the list.<\/p>\n

And if one creates a doctrinal test, how narrow or broad is the range of beliefs that qualify as \u201cChristian\u201d? \u00a0And are there inherently disqualifying beliefs, not just about doctrine but about Christian life? \u00a0If Mormons pass the test, then what about the FLDS? \u00a0Or what about racists, or KKK members more specifically?<\/p>\n

You see where I\u2019m going with this, don\u2019t you?<\/p>\n

Once you set the parameters for the definition of a Christian \u2014 and most of us set these parameters fairly widely and inclusively \u2014 is the breadth or narrowness of\u00a0our definition of \u201cwho is a Muslim?\u201d\u00a0consistent?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"