Citizen James
James42
Sr. Member
Posts: 2,540
Political Matrix
E: -3.87, S: -2.78
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« Reply #1 on: January 21, 2006, 04:46:30 PM » |
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By most mainstream definitions, yes.
A group that honestly and sincerely considers itself Christian - check.
A group that bases it's teachings on it's interperetations of the teachings of Jesus - check.
Where it might fail is meeting specific doctrinal principles - but then you're not really describing Christianity, but only a subset of it.
Mormons are not fundementalists - even though both groups tend to vote heavily republican.
Mormons are evangelical, in the sense that they actively try to spread their church's teachings.
Mormons are sufficently numerous in the US that they do not fit the academic definiton of cult (a group which is small and signifigantly different from the surounding region - a Christian in Bangalore, or a Hindi in Birmingham. The term "New religious movement" is often used now as it lacks the negative connotations).
The commonly used definition of cult (any group I don't like), is, obviously, open to interperetation, and pretty much useless.
And they do not fit the defintion of dangerous also commonly used (a group which is highly exclusive, paranoid, and presents a serious danger to themselves or others - such as the branch dividians or heavens gate). Most of their detractors probably come closer to this definition than they do.
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