{"id":735,"date":"2011-10-12T15:28:30","date_gmt":"2011-10-12T21:28:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/?p=735"},"modified":"2011-10-12T15:28:30","modified_gmt":"2011-10-12T21:28:30","slug":"the-cult-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2011\/10\/the-cult-question\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cult Question"},"content":{"rendered":"

With Romney as the front-runner, the question of his Mormon religion continues to be an issue and came to the forefront recently when a Perry supporter labeled Mormons a cult<\/a>, which was then followed by calls for Perry to repudiate<\/a> these comments.<\/p>\n

This is an issue, which if not handled correctly, could blow up in a number of directions.\u00a0 Romney supporters are understandably nervous that if Romney\u2019s Mormon beliefs become an issue, it could cost him the nomination or the election.\u00a0\u00a0 However, if the defense of Romney is to label any criticism of Mormonism bigoted that could also easily backfire and alienate many Christians who make up a large portion of the conservative base that Romney will need to win.<\/p>\n

One factor that makes this a huge minefield is the general ignorance of the mainstream media when it comes to religion.\u00a0 But the biggest problem in this whole debate concerns the word \u201ccult.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cCult\u201d is one of those words that has a very large lexical domain (range of meaning) from academic\/technical at one end of the spectrum to a derogatory label on the other.\u00a0 Those calling for Perry to repudiate the term clearly see the term in the latter sense.\u00a0 Because of this ambiguity in meaning I do not use the word, and have encouraged others to avoid it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While there certainly are some Christians who use the term in a derogatory sense, for many Christians the term cult simply refers to groups who in some fashion claim to be Christian, but who reject one or more of the key doctrines that have defined Christianity.\u00a0 But this gets into a discussion of just what is Christianity.\u00a0\u00a0 I discussed this issue in my book, Christianity and Secularism<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On these central beliefs there is very little dispute.\u00a0 In fact, it has been these doctrines that have defined Christianity as a religion.\u00a0 Groups that accept these doctrines are considered to be Christian groups.\u00a0 Those who do not accept these doctrines cannot be considered Christians, at least not in any historical sense.<\/p>\n

Some may consider it to be judgmental and arrogant to say who is or is not a Christian simply because they do or do not accept a particular doctrine or belief.\u00a0 First, let it be clear that we are talking about classifying groups based on beliefs.\u00a0 After all, if there is a difference between being a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, or Hindu, does it not mean that Christians must have some distinct beliefs that can be contrasted with these other religions? Second we are not talking about an individual\u2019s relationship with God.\u00a0 This is a spiritual matter that only God can judge, for only He knows what is truly in a person\u2019s heart.\u00a0 We may be able to get a good indication by the person\u2019s actions or beliefs but we cannot judge the heart.<\/p>\n

Groups do not have personal relationships with God.\u00a0 What defines a religious group is the beliefs of the group.\u00a0 If we were to be completely non-judgmental, then we would have to conclude that any group that claimed to be Christian was, regardless of what they believed.\u00a0 This would render the term \u201cChristian\u201d completely meaningless.\u00a0 Should we consider a group that believed in child sacrifice to be a Christian group? Would this make child sacrifice a legitimate expression of the teachings of Christ? Clearly not.\u00a0 So the question is not should a line be drawn that defines Christianity, but where do we draw that line.<\/p>\n

If no line is drawn, Christianity becomes a completely meaningless term that could be applied to any group or any action from the most divine to the most depraved.\u00a0 If, on the other hand, we compose a long and extensive list of doctrines that must be accepted in order for a group to be considered Christian, then we would indeed be arrogant and judgmental, restricting Christianity only to those groups that agreed with us in every little detail.\u00a0 The doctrines that define Christianity should be limited to those expressly taught in the Bible as essential\u2026.<\/p>\n

Philip Schaff, in his three volume work, Creeds of Christendom, surveyed the doctrinal statements and creeds of the various Christian churches down through the ages.\u00a0 He refers to their ecumenical creeds as those creeds which contain \u201cthe fundamental articles of the Christian faith, as necessary and sufficient for salvation.\u201d As to the acceptance of these creeds, Schaff points out that they:<\/p>\n

\u2026 are to this day either formally or tacitly acknowledged in the Greek, the Latin, and the Evangelical Protestant Churches, and form a bond of union between them.<\/p>\n

The differences that divide denominations are mostly peripheral issues, such as whether or not some spiritual gifts are available to be used today.\u00a0\u00a0 (pg 76-7;90-1)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How this applies to the current debate is that Mormons reject some of these key doctrines. For example, while both Christianity and Judaism believe that there is only one God, Mormons believe that that many gods exist.\u00a0 This does not make Mormons bad people, but it does mean that Mormons beliefs are different from those that have historically defined Christianity.<\/p>\n

It is true that Mormons use a lot of the same terminology as Christians, such as referring to Jesus as the Son of God, but what they mean by this is often vastly different than what Christians have historically meant.\u00a0 Thus when a Baptist, Lutheran, Catholic, Orthodox, to name just a few, talk about the nature of God, or say that Jesus is the Son of God, and they all mean the same thing.\u00a0 Mormons talking about these\u00a0topics may sound similar, but they mean something significantly different.<\/p>\n

This is not an unusual circumstance. Jews, Christians and Muslims all share a lot of beliefs.\u00a0 In fact they all believe that there is only one God.\u00a0 But they also have key differences.\u00a0 Thus we refer to them as different religious movements.\u00a0 While there are a large number of Christian groups with differing beliefs, they have historically shared a core of beliefs that has defined them as Christian.\u00a0 Mormons reject this core of beliefs, so the easiest thing to do is to likewise consider Mormons a different religious groups. This is not said in a derogatory sense, but merely an attempt to be accurate and precise.<\/p>\n

So how does this apply to the election?\u00a0 The simple answer is that it doesn\u2019t.\u00a0\u00a0 The constitution is pretty clear that there should be no religious test for office.\u00a0 The office of the president has no religious function, and therefore the religion of the candidate should be largely irrelevant.\u00a0 It would only become relevant if the candidate chose to make it an important part of their campaign, but this would in and of itself raise red flags.\u00a0 But Romney has not done this, and nothing in his career would indicate that he would.\u00a0 So as a bottom line, when it comes to Romney, while I do not believe he is a Christian, I am looking for a President, not a pastor. Thus I will be much more interested in his polices than his religion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Romney as the front-runner, the question of his Mormon religion continues to be an issue and came to the forefront recently when a Perry supporter labeled Mormons a cult, which was then followed by calls for Perry to repudiate these comments. This is an issue, which if not handled correctly, could blow up in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,15],"tags":[1993,270,272,327,348,356,1999,717,881,882,896,986,990,1030,1127],"class_list":["post-735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-election","tag-christianity","tag-christianity-and-secularism","tag-christians","tag-constitution","tag-creeds-of-christendom","tag-cult","tag-election","tag-jews","tag-mormon","tag-mormonism","tag-muslims","tag-perry","tag-philip-schaff","tag-president","tag-romney"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Cult Question - Politics and Religion<\/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:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2011\/10\/the-cult-question\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Cult Question - Politics and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With Romney as the front-runner, the question of his Mormon religion continues to be an issue and came to the forefront recently when a Perry supporter labeled Mormons a cult, which was then followed by calls for Perry to repudiate these comments. 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