Yet its leadership and many of its members share an affinity for Islam. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as well as the mainline liberal denominations such as the largest bodies of Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and Episcopalians in the United States seek interfaith alliances with Islam to foster mutual understanding and potential partnerships. And foolishly so.
The liberal denominations pursue alliances with Islam out of lack of faith in the inerrancy of Scripture. They have attracted or retained church leadership and parishioners who promote a liberal social (aka “socialist”) gospel and a watered down faith that believes that one “religious” ideology is as good as any other. Their god is a nice, tolerant-of-virtually-anything kind of god that wouldn’t give a crap about evil if it hit them in the face or blew them up. “Gullible” is a fitting word.
Mormons, on the other hand, have a different set of reasons for having an affinity with and defending Muslims.
First off, there are several elements of Mormonism that are eerily similar to Islam.
Both Mormonism and Islam were started by young men: The Mormons were started by Joseph Smith; Muslims by Muhammad. Both of these young men were declared to be “prophets” by their followers.
Both of these founders declared they received new revelation from a god who was somewhat different than the God as understood by the Orthodox religions of Judaism and Christianity of their day.
Both Mormonism and Islam developed new holy scripture comprised of three books from the revelations of their founders: Mormons the Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price, and the Doctrine and Covenants; Islam the Qur’an, Hadith, and Sira. Each of these books reinterpret the Old and New Testaments of the Bible as understood by Christian and Jewish leaders.
Mormons have been persecuted within their recent history and their faith continues to be marginalized even today. Now this is the hook. Mormons observe anti-Muslim sentiment and (ignorantly) see a common bond in their perception of Muslim persecution. This is the aspect of Islam that many Mormons viscerally relate to. Mormons are not only intellectually aware of the similarities of their faith with Islam as noted above, but on top of that, they emotionally relate to the disdain Muslims have earned in this country and believe that gives them a common bond with Islam.
This sympathy blinds them to the fact that their Islamic ties are not in their interest. Mormons remain unaware of the historic, orthodox, and deceptive disdain of Muslims toward Christians and Islam’s use of unsuspecting Christians as pawns to further their own supremacist interests. Mormon’s visceral identity with what Muslims face in this country overshadow the ability of many Mormons to grasps the reality of the evil of Islam. They fail to understand that the Islamic ideology is at odds not only with American culture and government, but is diametrically at odds with Mormon doctrine.
One example of this blindness is revealed by the words of Mitt Romney who defends Islam by proclaiming that Islam and Jihad have nothing in common:
"If you want my views on Islam, it's quite straightforward. Islam is one of the world's great religions and the great majority of people in Islam want peace for themselves and peace with their maker. They want to raise families and have a bright future.
There is, however, a movement in the world known as jihadism. They call themselves jihadists and I use the same term. And this jihadist movement is intent on causing the collapse of moderate Muslim states and the assassination of moderate Muslim leaders. It is also intent on causing collapse of other nations in the world. It's by no means a branch of Islam. It is instead an entirely different entity. In no way do I suggest it is a part of Islam."Yes, indeed, one's affiliation with a particular sect will influence that individual's reality. It certainly has distorted Romney's.
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