# Are Mormons also "Christian?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 17, 2012, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mormons-also-christian/638065 "2012-10-17T20:47:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 97
**Author:** ![colonial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@colonial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colonial)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mormons-also-christian/638065/97 "2012-10-19T01:53:10Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > I have already noted that this definition lacks any particular “objective” status. > > Since you appear to wish to defend that position, I would like to know the source upon which you base your claim. I am the source upon which I base my claim. > [@tomndebb](#): > > I have no problem noting that Islam is not Christian, (as any Muslim will tell you). > I have no specific problem noting that under various definitions, the CoJCoLDS can be considered “not Christian.” (Certainly, an appeal to the Nicene Creed would rule it outside Christianity.) However, while the LDS will find itself outside the borders of Christianity by some definitions, it can be considered Christian under other definitions. Your appeal to an “objective” definition does not appear to bear much weight as it does not appear to be based on anything that I would recognize as “objective.” All Christian denominations have for over 1500 years held Christ and the NT in the esteem I describe. That historical fact is obvious and should be uncontroversial. Employing those two historical facts as the definition of Christianity objectively encompasses the _common_ doctrinal belief of the maximum number. If I have missed any _common_ doctrine I will be happy to add it. > [@tomndebb](#): > > Similarly, declaring some “objective” rule that places David Koresh outside Christianity looks much more like playing No True Scotsman. Koresh may have been a kook who espoused a corrupted version of Christianity, but one does not get to declare him to be not a Christian on that basis. I see the No True Scotsman fallacy is in vogue around here. Well, too bad for it, because there is nothing wrong with stipulating: “No true Christian considers himself to be Jesus Christ.” For that matter how about “No true Christian believes in Zeus”? Or why not: no true Red Sox fan pulls for the Yankees (at least not in Fenway Park!). So you see the No True Scotsman fallacy just plain does not work in many constructions. Exactly the same would apply in the Islamic world if some Muslim claimed to be successor to Mohammed, and attempted to purvey a supplement to the Koran. Not that I am trying to whitewash Christianity by reading Koresh out of the congregation: there is no denying Christianity’s long history of criminal violence (now thankfully abating), violence which, by the way, LDS is wholly innocent of. > [@tomndebb](#): > > As for the following tirade that I originally ignored, it looks particularly odd given that Evangelicals are the group most likely to wish to make sure that the LDS is branded “not Christian.” Yes, you may add oddness to the list of things that set off tirades from me about the Evangelicals. It is indeed odd for so many people to espouse such flagrant religious hypocrisy as the Evangelicals do when they ignore the obvious, objective implications of their own doctrine for political reasons i.e to get Romney elected. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mormons-also-christian/638065)._