Good news everyone! Three hours of Sunday church service and weekday church meetings are paying off in more than spiritual ways. All that instruction is making us religiously smart, so says recent research by the Pew Forum on religion and public life.
Pew research shows that “Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups . . . of religious knowledge, outperforming evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics on questions about the core teachings, history and leading figures of major world religions.” On a test of 32 religious questions, “Atheists and agnostics average 20.9 correct answers. Jews and Mormons do about as well, averaging 20.5 and 20.3 correct answers, respectively. Protestants as a whole average 16 correct answers; Catholics as a whole, 14.7. Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons perform better than other groups on the survey even after controlling for differing levels of education.”
Way to go everyone! Perhaps this study will help convince the evangelical community that Mormons are religiously informed people. You see, by and large they think we are deceived members of a cult.
Case in point: The evangelical response to Glenn Beck’s recent revival in Washington DC. Christiannewswire.com is skeptical about Beck’s ability to create a religious revival in America because of his religion, Mormonism. The website brings up many of the old arguments against Mormonism. Here’s a sampling.
1. Our country was founded on Judeo-Christian values. Mormonism is not a Christian denomination but a cult of Christianity.
My response: According to latter-day scripture America was founded for the purpose of bringing forth the Book of Mormon and the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ (aka Mormonism).
2. The country needs to get back to the simplicity of the Bible. The reason our country is in bad shape is that ministers for the most part do not share the truth. Many endorse false gospels including Mormonism.
My response: America is a better place because of the Restoration (aka Mormonism).
Blaming Mormonism and accusing Mormons of not being Christian has been going on for a long time. These sorts of accusations have been a major stumbling block for many evangelicals, thus keeping them from the blessings of the Restored gospel. Removing these stumbling blocks from evangelicals’ minds seems a big a task, kind of like taking down the Iron Curtain, but we all know what the Lord did to that barrier.
I welcome the day when the evangelical community declares that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka Mormons) are Christian. The Pew study will hopefully help in this regard. In this world of increasing secularism, America will be better off if evangelicals and Mormons set aside their differences and unite in the cause of promoting traditional Christian values.
Pew research shows that “Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups . . . of religious knowledge, outperforming evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics on questions about the core teachings, history and leading figures of major world religions.” On a test of 32 religious questions, “Atheists and agnostics average 20.9 correct answers. Jews and Mormons do about as well, averaging 20.5 and 20.3 correct answers, respectively. Protestants as a whole average 16 correct answers; Catholics as a whole, 14.7. Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons perform better than other groups on the survey even after controlling for differing levels of education.”
Way to go everyone! Perhaps this study will help convince the evangelical community that Mormons are religiously informed people. You see, by and large they think we are deceived members of a cult.
Case in point: The evangelical response to Glenn Beck’s recent revival in Washington DC. Christiannewswire.com is skeptical about Beck’s ability to create a religious revival in America because of his religion, Mormonism. The website brings up many of the old arguments against Mormonism. Here’s a sampling.
1. Our country was founded on Judeo-Christian values. Mormonism is not a Christian denomination but a cult of Christianity.
My response: According to latter-day scripture America was founded for the purpose of bringing forth the Book of Mormon and the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ (aka Mormonism).
2. The country needs to get back to the simplicity of the Bible. The reason our country is in bad shape is that ministers for the most part do not share the truth. Many endorse false gospels including Mormonism.
My response: America is a better place because of the Restoration (aka Mormonism).
Blaming Mormonism and accusing Mormons of not being Christian has been going on for a long time. These sorts of accusations have been a major stumbling block for many evangelicals, thus keeping them from the blessings of the Restored gospel. Removing these stumbling blocks from evangelicals’ minds seems a big a task, kind of like taking down the Iron Curtain, but we all know what the Lord did to that barrier.
I welcome the day when the evangelical community declares that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka Mormons) are Christian. The Pew study will hopefully help in this regard. In this world of increasing secularism, America will be better off if evangelicals and Mormons set aside their differences and unite in the cause of promoting traditional Christian values.
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