This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Are Mormons Christian? It all depends on what you mean by Christian.
Read the wikipedia.org entry "Mormons and Christianity" and you'll discover that it's not just evangelicals who don't think Mormons are Christian. It's also Catholics, Presbyterians, Lutherans and Episcopalians. As the United Methodist Church states: "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by self-definition, does not fit within the bounds of the historic, apostolic tradition of Christian faith."
So, by their limiting definition, Mormons aren't Christian; instead, they see Mormons as a new religious tradition growing out of the Christian tradition the way Christianity grew out of Judaism.
Their definition of "Christian" is picky and narrow, but they're going to stick to it. You can't win in a definition game.
Was The Scarlet Letter's Hester Prynne an evil adulterer, and what does that word mean? It's all in an individual's definition. She only overcame the slur with a worthy life of charitable works.
So, too, with Mormons. They can only overcome whatever stain from being labeled non-Christian by stunningly good works marked by humility.
As we used to sing around our youth campfires, "They'll know we are Christians by our love" (not our beliefs).
Marilyn Gibson
Salt Lake City