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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Drawing lines distinguishing between religions is part art and part science, but I think in this case, it’s reasonable to describe Mormonism as non-Christian.

In the early days of Christianity, there arose a fairly significant dispute between Trinitarian Christians and followers of Arius. The latter group—the so-called Arians—maintained that Christ was not eternal in the same was the Father. To resolve the dispute, an ecumenical council was established—the Council of Nicaea—which settled upon the Nicene Creed. Today, the Nicene Creed is the foundational statement of faith for essentially all Christians.

In the seventh century, Muhammad started Islam, which, like Arianism, maintained that Jesus was the Messiah but disputed the Christian understanding of His Divinity. Early Christian thinkers regarded Islam as something akin to Arianism—John of Damascus, for instance, famously characterized Islam as the heresy of the Ishmaelites. But over time, it came to be understood that Islam was really just a different religion, albeit an Abrahamic monotheistic religion.

It’s not beyond dispute, but it feels eminently plausible that the reason that western thought labeled Arianism as misguided Christianity and Islam as a different religion is because, after Nicaea, people saw Trinitarianism as the price of admission for Christianity. And judged by that standard, Mormonism would naturally fall on the “other religion” side of the line.

The principal rejoinder that I see to this is that Mormons (presumably) want to be seen as Christians. But the same could presumably be said of those guys I see outside the metro with the loud speakers and incense talking about how they’re the true Israelites.  And I don’t think anyone suggests that the government would have to take the position that they’re a branch of Judaism alongside Reform, Orthodox, etc.

The other rejoinder I can think of is that Mormonism and Arianism started inside of Trinitarian Christianity whereas the early Muslims were generally not Christians prior to Islam. But that seems like an artificial distinction, and, if accepted at face value; would suggest that Christianity might be labeled a denomination of Judaism, and I doubt anyone is lobbying for that.

Thus, it seems to me that treating Mormonism as a religion unto itself is defensible as a descriptive matter. [/quote]

Yea, but we're now in the 21st century. Santa ain't real, Easter Bunny ain't real, Jesus and Muhhamad were real humans but they are dead and they ain't coming back. Time for everyone to act like smart adults and move on.[/quote]

“Be smart,” says the poster whose trite cliches are not even responsive to the discussion at hand. [/quote]

Exactly, anyone discussing religions in a serious context in 2026 needs to have their head examined. The enlightened world is over religious cults.[/quote]

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