The post below on the Church and FMA has taken an interesting turn, and I think it’s worth constructing a new thread on this issue. The question at hand is: who is more of a threat to the Church, leftist secularists or right-wing Christian fundamentalists? In this post I will argue that right-wingers are more of a threat in the short-term but that ultimately secularists are the far bigger threat.
First, let’s define some terms. By leftist secularists, I mean humanists, Deists, agnostics, atheists, skeptics and Europeans. Oops, sorry, that last one was a bit of a joke. Anyway, the point is that there is a sub-group of people who actively oppose religion because they see it all as not being “reasonable” or “scientific.” These are the kind of people who will argue that Christian fundamentalists are very close to Islamists, for example, and that “all religion is the same.” (Note: before my conversion which started about eight years ago, I was an active member of this group, so I know a bit about how leftist secularists think).
By right-wing fundamentalists, I mean the types of people you see protesting in Temple Square during conference or at every temple dedication. I mean the evangelicals you may see on late-night TV screaming about gays, abortion and, yes, the Mormons. I mean the type of people who may refuse to let their kids play with your kids because your kids are Mormon and they are afraid they may have cooties. These are also the kind of people who say Mormons are not Christians and that we worship Joseph Smith…polygamy…no trinity…zzzzzzzzzzz.
OK, how do we judge which is worse for us poor Mormons caught in the middle? Does the Book of Mormon tell us how to judge? Well, in fact it does right there in Moroni chapter 7:
15For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.
16 For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.
17 But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him.
It seems there are two main criteria: 1)who persuades and invites you to do good? and 2)Who persuades you to believe in Christ? “Doing good” is, in today’s world, subjective, but I happen to believe it is easy to define: do the things that we saw Jesus do. If you do that, you are “doing good.” I know that leaves a whole range of activities as undefined (is it “doing good” to allow women a choice about their bodies when they are pregnant if it involves the death of a potential human being?), but it is at least a start.
Okay, so which of the two groups above does good? Well, secular leftists do some good. It’s hard to argue against helping the poor, being in favor of health care for all, being in favor of civil rights, etc. It appears that they clearly are trying to do what Jesus does in some initiatives.
It is also worth pointing out that many right-wing fundamentalists do a lot of work that is clearly good by any standard: tithing money often goes to help the poor worldwide, to fight AIDS in Africa and to help with education and health care.
So, anybody that claims that neither of these groups do any good is clearly wrong.
OK, now which one persuades people to believe in Christ? Ah, there’s the rub. Clearly, many right-wing preachers today are violating one of Isaiah’s main complaints about people in the latter days, that they would draw near with their mouths but that their hearts would be far from God. But almost all of these preachers (except for the ones who spend their time stalking Temple Square and publishing anti-Mormon trash) are encouraging their flocks to read the Bible and to believe in Christ. Their way of encouraging people to believe in Christ may seem foreign to us (Amen! Hallelujah!!) but it clearly works for many millions of people worldwide.
I truly believe that some evangelical leaders are evil. But a large number of them, in my opinion the majority, are doing good works. They are preparing many people to receive the fulness of Christ and are helping people with their spiritual advancement. From an eternal perspective, it seems to me a smaller step toward climbing Jacob’s ladder toward exaltation when you have already accepted in your heart that the Bible is sacred and that Jesus really is your savior.
In contrast, leftist secularists do very little to help people with their advancement through immortality. They do not believe in God and so therefore do not believe in moral absolutes, or the after-life or in eternal perspectives. Yes, they believe in “doing good” while on Earth in some ways, but their morality is often based on shifting sands because they do not have the iron rod of the Bible to help them know in modern times what is good and from God and what is evil.
So, right-wing fundamentalists will rail against Mormons in the short-term and protest at General Conference in the coming years. They will publish hundreds of anti-Mormon tracts and web sites. But the majority of right-wing fundamentalists are relatively peaceful and unlikely to declare war on us. Meanwhile, you can bet that the next model for the anti-Christ will be a secularist and not somebody who is persuading anybody to believe in Christ. Secularist leaders (Stalin, Mao, Hitler) have caused the death of more Latter-day Saints than were ever killed in Missouri or Illinois, and in the long run I am more worried about such a threat than about some crazy guy waving soiled garments in Temple Square.
Let me end this post for calling for a pacific discussion of this issue. At the end of the day, we are all trying to work out our salvation in our own ways. Let’s try to discuss this with appropriate civility. Thanks.