Christian groups often deny that Mormons are Christian, while Mormons disagree. This article explains both points of view.
Are Mormons Christians?
Last updated 2009-10-02
Are Mormons Christians?
Are we Christians? Of course we are! No one can honestly deny that.
We may be somewhat different from the traditional pattern of Christianity. But no one believes more literally in the redemption wrought by the Lord Jesus Christ.
No one believes more fundamentally that He was the Son of God, that He died for the sins of mankind, that He rose from the grave, and that He is the living resurrected Son of the living Father.
President Gordon B. Hinckley
In recent years the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has moved to emphasise that is distinctively Christian.
In 2001 the church decided that in writings it should be called first by its full name - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - and then in later references called the Church of Jesus Christ.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is certainly Christian to the extent that Christ is at the centre of its beliefs. Individual Mormons try to live their lives following the teaching and example of Christ.
The Mormon view
Mormons believe that conventional Christian churches have lost the authority of God. They believe that conventional Christian beliefs are a mixture of the truth and of errors that have been added over the centuries.
Mormons believe that Jesus Christ died, was buried, and rose on the third day. They believe that there would be no salvation without his atonement. They believe Christ will return to earth to reign and rule.
The conventional Christian view
Traditional Christian belief is contained in the creed as interpreted by the various denominations over the centuries.
The teaching of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints differs from the creed in so many places that many traditional Christians say that Mormons are not Christians.
Attitudes of other Christians
Both the Vatican and the policy-making body of the United Methodist Church have decided that Mormons must be rebaptised when converting to Catholicism or Methodism.
This shows that the Roman Catholic Church regards Mormonism as varying in its essential beliefs from traditional Christianity. It does allow members of most Protestant and Orthodox churches to convert to Catholicism without being rebaptised.
However Mormons require that everyone be baptised when they join their Church, no matter what background they come from.
One difference in the two concepts of baptism is that the Roman Catholic church states that baptism remits original sin as well as personal sin, and that as Mormons do not accept the idea of original sin their idea of baptism is different. Mormons believe people are baptised for the remission of their own sins.
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