{"id":20,"date":"2007-07-26T10:12:13","date_gmt":"2007-07-26T10:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/blogalogue\/2007\/07\/lets-call-mormons-nontradition.html"},"modified":"2007-07-26T10:12:13","modified_gmt":"2007-07-26T10:12:13","slug":"lets-call-mormons-nontradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blogalogue\/2007\/07\/lets-call-mormons-nontradition.html","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s Call Mormons \u2018Nontraditional Christians\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Orson Scott Card<\/strong>
\nIt has truly been a pleasure to converse \u2014 or at least take turns speaking \u2014 with Dr. Mohler. His attitude of quiet analysis is a refreshing change from the vitriol and slander that I\u2019ve seen from so many of his denomination when they talk about my religion.
\nHis final message is reassuring in many ways. First, his assurance that Mormons can be good citizens and should not be deprived of their right to an equal place in the American political scene should be adopted as the guideline for people of all denominations.
\nIt is hard to think of any religion that is not persecuted somewhere<\/i>. The world is full of religions because people do not agree about the nature or even the existence of divinity; yet America was founded on a commitment to the idea that differing opinions about God should not be factored into a person\u2019s eligibility for public office.
\nWhen Dr. Mohler quotes Paul\u2019s warning that the Church of Christ should reject \u201ca gospel contrary to the one we preached to you,\u201d we Mormons wholeheartedly agree. We believe, and history supports, that the \u201ctraditional Christianity\u201d that Dr. Mohler so able explicates is remote indeed from the gospel that Paul taught.
\nSo I am happy to accept the formulation suggested by Dr. Mohler\u2019s last sentence: \u201cMormonism is not just another form of Christianity \u2014 it is incompatible with \u2018traditional Christian orthodoxy.\u2019\u201d
\nAmen! Absolutely correct! We send out missionaries to every country that will allow them to enter precisely because we believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ is incompatible with \u201ctraditional Christian orthodoxy.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nAt the same time, we recognize that \u201ctraditional Christian orthodoxy\u201d represents a sincere desire and effort, on the part of millions of believers throughout the world, to teach and live by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
\nDespite our deep differences of belief over the nature of God and his plans for his children, we recognize that those who believe in the other Christian faiths have taken a giant step closer to fulfilling the intentions of our Lord. They are, in heart and mind, Christians.
\nWe ask only the same favor in return. Let\u2019s take that word \u201ctraditional\u201d and make use of it. Instead of saying that we are \u201cnot Christian,\u201d which is an obvious falsehood by any rational, widely accepted definition of the word Christian<\/em>, let us agree that Mormons are \u201cnontraditional Christians.\u201d
\nWe\u2019ll live with that label quite happily, because it\u2019s true. We are Christians, but nontraditional ones. And if we ever become traditional, we\u2019ll have no reason to exist as a separate religion!
\nMeanwhile, history provides reason for optimism. The pope, while proclaiming that the Catholic Church and, despite defects, the Orthodox churches, represent the only authoritative Church of Christ, he still allows room for the \u201cnonapostolic\u201d Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Pentacostalists, and others that proclaim the name of Christ to be considered \u201cChristian communities\u201d and to have value.
\nIt took less than 500 years for Protestantism to graduate to a \u201ctradition\u201d instead of a \u201creformation\u201d or, in the former Catholic view, a \u201cheresy.\u201d
\nBaptists, who were once viewed as a wild-eyed sect of the American lower classes, have now been around long enough to be \u201ctraditional\u201d right along with the older Protestant denominations.
\nNow we live in a world where all believers in Christ \u2014 traditional or non \u2014 are assailed and persecuted. There is no shortage of atheists in foreign countries and in America who would like to limit the ability of any <\/em>believer in a revelatory religion to achieve full participation and leadership in American politics.
\nThe intense criticism, both public and whispered, focused on President Bush precisely because he believes that God has intervened and continues to intervene in his life should be the wakeup call to all of us.
\nBorn-again Christians and Mormons agree on this: God is alive and working in the world, and his Spirit touches the lives of the faithful, offering guidance, comfort, and even miraculous intervention. This earns Baptists and<\/em> Mormons the ridicule or hatred of the anti-religious extremists, who declare that our beliefs are a form of madness and proof that we are unfit for public trust.
\nCall us \u201cnontraditional Christians\u201d and continue to encourage your communicants not to believe our doctrines; we\u2019ll happily continue to call you \u201ctraditional Christians\u201d and teach people why they should believe our doctrines.
\nBut when it comes to politics, let\u2019s make common cause to maintain the full participation in American political life of believers in a living, active God whose Spirit touches the lives of all his children.
\nLet\u2019s work together to try to end the persecution of Christians throughout the world, for the enemies of Christ make no distinction between \u201ctraditional\u201d and \u201cnontraditional\u201d Christians when they\u2019re looking for targets of their fear and hatred.
\nOn these issues, we are on the same side.
\nAnd every \u201ctraditional Christian\u201d who, like Dr. Mohler, will include us nontraditional Christians as equally entitled to participation in all aspects of American public life, without encouraging people to vote against Mormon candidates because of their faith alone, will find that we Mormons are good friends to have in a world that is increasingly perilous for followers of Christ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Orson Scott Card It has truly been a pleasure to converse \u2014 or at least take turns speaking \u2014 with Dr. Mohler. His attitude of quiet analysis is a refreshing change from the vitriol and slander that I\u2019ve seen from so many of his denomination when they talk about my religion. His final message…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-are-mormons-christian"],"yoast_head":"\nLet\u2019s Call Mormons \u2018Nontraditional Christians\u2019 - Blogalogue<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blogalogue\/2007\/07\/lets-call-mormons-nontradition.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Let\u2019s Call Mormons \u2018Nontraditional Christians\u2019 - Blogalogue\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Orson Scott Card It has truly been a pleasure to converse \u2014 or at least take turns speaking \u2014 with Dr. Mohler. 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