Posted by
Steve on Saturday, December 27, 2008 8:45:39 PM
This evening, I read that Focus on the Family decided to kill an interview they did with Glen Beck because he is a “Mormon”. They claim that Mormon ideology is incompatible with evangelical Christian ideology. We went through all this during the primary season with the bigot Mike Huckabee. Now, we have to deal with the bigot organization Focus on the Family.
I call them bigots because they are intolerant of views that do not completely agree with their position. That is a classic definition of a bigot. A bigot says that in order for me to have any interaction with you, you have to agree with everything that I believe in. First, nobody ever agrees completely with everything that you believe in. Everyone has their own interpretation of what is “true”. Second, if you only deal with people that agree with you, you have a very narrow world to move in. Now, I will admit that I am most comfortable doing activities with other members of my own faith, but I do not exclude other faiths (even non-Christian faiths). That is the way that everyone should be. If I had a radio show or a magazine and someone did something that I felt was good, I would take the time to interview them and give them a forum to state what they did and why. That way we build relations between groups. Excluding groups that you do not agree with builds walls that are difficult to tear down when you need to.
This action by Focus on the Family on the heels of the actions by Mike Huckabee will be difficult for Mormons or members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to forget. When an evangelical Christian person comes to us asking us for our votes, we will remember when we were rejected out of hand by evangelical Christians. We are not asking that evangelical Christians believe as we do (though we would like you to), we are just asking you to treat us as equals. You treat us as if we are “evil”. We do not treat you as if you are “evil”. You call us terrible names and say things about us that are not true. We do not call you names and do not say things, on purpose that are not true.
It is my understanding that Jesus taught that we should be kind to others. We should not bear false witness against our neighbor. Who is being the better “Christian” in this situation? You who bear false witness and call names or us who bear this with little outcry? Is Glen Beck the better Christian for his actions and telling the truth or Focus on the Family for dealing falsely with him? I think that evangelical Christian people and organizations should look into their own souls and determine what is driving this hate. Is it Christian love that is driving the hate or does the hate come from some other place?
If the hate comes from something other than Christian love, shouldn’t evangelical Christians repent and deal truly with their neighbors? I am not saying that evangelical Christians have to endorse everything that “Mormons” believe. Shouldn’t you encourage “Mormons” to do and say things that you believe to be true? Isn’t that the better way to lead someone to the truth than denouncing everything they do no matter how good it may be?
I for one am through endorsing evangelical Christians for political office. Evangelical Christians need to start embracing and supporting the truth wherever they find it. We members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints believe that we should look for truth wherever we can find it. We believe that all groups have some truth and as such need to be encouraged. That is why we do not denounce any group or organization as evil unless it exhibits a total disregard to the truth like radical Muslim groups. I do not like supporting bigots and am tired of trying to pretend that evangelical Christians are not bigots.