CARTER SAYS MORMONS ARE CHRISTIAN

Southern Baptist Jimmy Carter has denounced leaders of his denomination for declaring that professing members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are non-Christians.

Carter told reporters, “Too many leaders now, I think, in the Southern Baptist Convention and in other conventions, are trying to act as Pharisees did, who were condemned by Christ, in trying to define who can and who cannot be considered an acceptable person in the eyes of God. In other words, theyre making judgments on behalf of God. I think that’s wrong.”

The former U.S. president also told the Mormon-owned Deseret News that his church’s leaders were “narrow in their definition of what is a proper Christian or certainly even a proper Baptist.” He said Baptists “are inerrantists (meaning) there cannot possibly be any error in even a translation of a Bible down through the centuries.”

The newspaper stated that Carter has misgivings about “Christians trying to convert other Christians.” The North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptists, under the direction of Interfaith Witness director Phil Roberts, has made a concerted effort to equip its members to witness to Mormons. The Southern Baptists will hold their annual convention this summer in Salt Lake City.

Carter’s comments raised the ire of Southern Baptist leaders. Roberts told the Baptist Press that, “Mr. Carter must be a better politician and diplomat than a theologian. His comments show he is totally uninformed and naive about the nature and beliefs of the Mormon church.” Southern Baptist Convention president Tom Elliff said Carter “would do well to take a serious look at the Mormon faith before embracing it as part of the Christian community.”

Carter’s reservations about interfaith witnessing were not exclusive to the Mormon religion. “If you mean should we Protestants devote our time to converting Catholics to be Protestants, that’s something with which I generally disagree.”

—MKG

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