A New World Religion

Mormons wonder why Christians continue to deny them the status of "Christian" so we thought we would hold up a mirror to help them out.

1. The concept of a "New World Religion" confirms what Christians have been saying all along - that Mormons think they are better than everyone else. This is even the subtitle for Terryl Givens book By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture that Launched a New World Religion (Oxford University Press, 2005).

Before Givens used the term, Stark used it in the early 1980's and this is what he said:

In his essay entitled “The Rise of a New World Faith” (1984), Rodney Stark, a sociologist specializing in religion at the University of Washington, describes Church growth as a “miracle,” a “rare event” which his fellow sociologists have not fully recognized. Establishment and growth of the Church has constituted, Stark says, “the rise of a new world religion” which “will soon achieve a worldwide following comparable to that of Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and the other dominant faiths. … Indeed, today they [Latter-day Saints] stand on the threshold of becoming the first major faith to appear on earth since the Prophet Mohammed rode out of the desert.” ( Rodney Stark, “The Rise of a New World Faith,” Review of Religious Research, Sept. 1984, pp. 18–19 as cited in the Mormon Church magazine Ensign, July 1987, p. 33. )

 

In fact, the subject matter received a full scholarly panel at An International Academic Conference at the Library of Congress entitled The Worlds of Joseph Smith, May 6–7, 2005. The panel of experts were:

Session 5: Joseph Smith and the Making of a Global Religion (1:30–4:00 p.m.)

Presenter: Douglas J. Davies, “World Religion: Dynamics and Constraints” (40 minutes)
Response: Gerald R. McDermott (20 minutes)
Response: Jan Shipps (20 minutes)
Response: Roger R. Keller (20 minutes)
Discussion and Q&A (40 minutes)

(http://lds.org/library/display/0,4945,510-1-3067-1,00.html)

Mormons don't think twice about how offensive these statements may be to Christians, rather, they embrace them. They can't have it both ways however. They cannot claim it is unfair not to be embraced by Christians as Christian while at the same time claiming to be a "New" World Religion. That is an affront to all Christian denominations.