Mormonism's Cultural Rise Likely to Continue

Religion Today | Updated: Nov 08, 2012

Mormonism's Cultural Rise Likely to Continue

Although Mitt Romney lost his presidential bid, Christians should be prepared for higher Mormon visibility and credibility in America, according to an interfaith witness expert and a seminary professor, Baptist Press reports. Tal Davis, who spent more than 20 years with the North American Mission Board training Christians in interfaith witness, said: "When Mormon missionaries knock on people's doors, they will be seen in a more positive light when people know that [Romney] was once a Mormon missionary. They will likely gain entrance into homes where they formerly would have been denied." Ant Greenham, assistant professor of missions at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, said Mormonism may be on track for complete acceptance in American culture, but that it would be "due more to society's postmodern tendencies than to ongoing Mormon efforts to achieve acceptance." Both Greenham and Davis encouraged Christians to become better informed of their own faith, the distinctives of the Mormon belief system, and the differences between the two. "Mormonism is not Christianity," Greenham said, "no matter how much Mormons would like to be considered part of the Christian mainstream." Davis advised Christians to "engage Mormons with love and friendship. ... Nonetheless, we cannot ignore the need to share Christ with them. Mormonism is undeniably a false system and those in it are lost and need the salvation that only Jesus can provide."



Mormonism's Cultural Rise Likely to Continue