David S. Reynolds
NYTimes.com
Why do evangelical Christians have such a sour view of Mormons? asked David S. Reynolds. The distaste is not purely theological. Christian Scientists, Seventh-day Adventists, and dozens of other, smaller sects also have strikingly different religious views from conservative Protestants, but they are rarely condemned as “cults” and “false religions,” as Mormonism often is.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Simply put, evangelicals see the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as “competition’’ for souls—and dues-paying members. Mormonism is one of the world’s fastest-growing religions; “Joseph Smith’s tireless progeny” have sent missionaries to 162 countries, and now number some 14 million people worldwide.
Evangelicals worry that a Mormon president would give a huge boost to all that aggressive proselytizing—especially a fervent one like Mitt Romney, who has tithed $4 million to the church in the last two years. But the Founding Fathers specifically set up America as a land of religious tolerance, where government would favor no sect nor oppress others. “Religious competition” has no place in our nation’s politics.
-
Weapons: Julia Garner stars in 'hyper-eerie' psychological thrillerThe Week Recommends Zach Cregger's 'top notch' new film opens with 17 children disappearing at exactly the same time
-
Freakier Friday: Lohan and Curtis reunite for 'uneven' but 'endearing' sequelThe Week Recommends Mother-and-daughter comedy returns with four characters switching bodies
-
Al fresco art: the UK's best sculpture parksThe Week Recommends Soak up the scenery with a stroll through these open-air galleries
-
Viewpoint: Michael S. Teitelbaum and Jay M. Winterfeature From The New York Times: “Nearly half of all people now live in countries where women, on average, give birth to fewer than 2.1 babies...
-
Snowden’s silence on Putin
feature If Edward Snowden truly is a moral paragon, then he should announce that he can no longer stomach Vladimir Putin’s oppressive behavior.
-
The irrelevance of the United Nations
feature Once again, the United Nations has been “rendered impotent by a small group of thugs.”
-
Millions of closeted gay men
feature “What percent of American men are gay?”
-
The smug confidence of libertarians
feature Why are most libertarians white dudes?
-
Seeing racism for what it is
feature Riley Cooper’s case shows just how poorly he and most other Americans understand “what a racist is.”
-
Searching for a libertarian paradise
feature Not one of the world’s 193 sovereign states—not even a tiny one—has adopted a full-on libertarian system.
-
Viewpoint: Juliette Kayyem
feature From The Boston Globe: “It is now clear that the Tsarnaev brothers had no strategic plan but to kill in a very public fashion....