Evangelicals
and LDS seeking common ground
Utahns becoming models for respectful dialogue
By
Carrie A. Moore
Having dinner recently with a top official of the
Anglican Communion in his British castle, two
Laura Seitz,
BYU professor Robert Millet, left, and Pastor Greg Johnson go
to college campuses and do seminars on the similarities and
differences between Mormons and evangelicals.
That they found themselves the guests of Bishop
N.T. Wright of
Robert Millet, who holds an academic chair
in religious understanding at Brigham Young University, and Greg
Johnson, a Utah-born former Latter-day Saint who has become an
evangelical minister, have been finding common religious ground
since they first met in 1997. And since 2000 they've been talking
about it publicly with whoever cares to listen.
Bishop Wright has reason to tune in. He is
currently trying to help bridge the chasm created by American
Episcopal bishops, who ordained an openly gay bishop in 2003,
and the bulk of the 77-million member worldwide Anglican Communion
of which they are a part.
Many Anglicans say the Americans have ignored
scripture and Christian teaching, while the
While both camps believe in Jesus Christ
and the Bible, their approach to the issue of homosexuality comes
from widely different poles on the religious and political spectrum.
Though the chasm has threatened to throw the faith into schism,
Anglicans share much common ground.
So it is with Latter-day Saints and evangelical
Christians, say Millet and Johnson, though both concede there
are significant doctrinal differences between historic Christianity
and a faith that claims to be a restoration of Christ's original
gospel.
The history of interaction between The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and most long-established
Christian faiths has been a rocky one ever since Joseph Smith
told Christian ministers he had seen God and Jesus Christ in a
vision in 1820. Smith's subsequent publishing of a unique scriptural
canon known as the Book of Mormon and other extrabiblical scriptural texts set Latter-day Saints apart
in significant ways from Protestant and Catholic tradition and
teaching.
The differences simmered for decades, with
occasional spurts of public discussion. But Southern Baptist Convention
leaders' public proclamations in the late 1990s that Latter-day
Saints were not Christians brought the topic into focus on the
public stage, as LDS leaders countered the claims.
Since then, both Johnson and Millet have
looked for similarities, and maintain the two traditions have
more in common than most had supposed during the past 175 years
since the
After receiving permission from the
In the process, they've garnered enough curiosity
that network television has taken notice. The CBS Sunday Morning
News got wind of their discussions and sent a film crew to
They've started a weekly one-hour dialogue
on local TV, with a live call-in format that producers believe
will draw viewers to Channel 20. "Bob and Greg in Conversation"
will air Tuesdays from
They're also organizing another large public
forum similar to the Zacharias event,
only this time it will be held in an evangelical venue in
And in the process, they don't shrink from
asking tough questions, and from acknowledging failings that continue
to keep suspicion simmering between people on either side. "On
too many occasions, Latter-day Saints can be guilty of taking
the attitude of 'If I can't baptize them, I don't know what to
do with them,' " Millet said. "We need to acknowledge there is something even deeper
than doctrine and theology, and that's our humanity."
He said conflict often arises because both
groups take the obligation to share the gospel of Christ seriously.
"But underlying that has to be a real love for people, rather
than seeing them as a (potential) baptismal statistic."
Johnson remembers a conversation with one
of Millet's colleagues at BYU, who reaffirmed to him that Millet
was never going to see things Johnson's way, and then asked, "so
what's the point?"
That mind-set is reflected in the willingness
on both sides to be patient and invest time talking when you're
convinced the other person is beginning to see things your way,
Johnson said. "But the moment we see that not happening we
think we have to move on and use our time in more productive ways
... Yet we live in a world where friendship is just as important."
"Debate and confrontation are the easy
way," Millet said. "We say: Are you willing to invest
some time in this so you can learn something," rather than
soaking in self-righteousness?
Doing so "just doesn't compromise us,"
Johnson said. "It's harder to want someone to see it your
way, but to not give up when they don't."
E-mail:
carrie@desnews.com