AN OPEN APOLOGY TO DR. LAND FOR UNINTENTIONALLY MISREPRESENTING HIS VIEWS ON MORMONISM
BY WM. DWIGHT MCKISSIC, SR.
OCTOBER 25, 2012
I offer the following email exchange that will clarify Dr. Richard Land’s views on Mormonism and my response:
First message from Sam Dahl:
Dr. McKissic, just wanted to send you a quick FYI about Dr. Land’s position on Mormonism. Here are a few quotes from the article linked below that he wrote for The Christian Post that might give some clarity.
When the theologically uninitiated hear this answer (that Mormonism is a cult) they immediately think “Branch Davidians” or “Jim Jones,” and there is a cognitive disconnect. When most people hear Mormonism described as a “cult” they think, “No, that can’t be right. A Mormon is president of my Rotary Club or coaches my children’s soccer teams.”
The problem is that while Mormonism may technically be a cult theologically, in that it has moved well beyond the parameters of orthodox, apostle’s creed Trinitarian Christianity, it does not behave as a cult culturally or socially.
For nearly two millennia the basic Trinitarian formulation of the Christian faith has been accepted by Catholics and Protestants alike and it is not open to self-definition or reformulation. Christianity has objective, theologically defined parameters which Mormonism has clearly moved well beyond.
Mormons, Christianity and Presidential Elections
This quote from another Christian Post article, Mormonism Debate: What Is a Cult?, may also shed further light on his position.
Due to the misunderstanding that could result from the two different definitions of cult, Land explained, he does not use the word “cult” to describe the LDS Church, “even though it’s theologically accurate.””
Please let us know if we can serve you in the future.
Thanks,
Sam Dahl
Office of the President
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission
My response:
Bro. Dahl,
Thanks for the “Richard Land on Mormonism” email. This is a more complete expression of Dr. Land’s stand on Mormonism.
While I believe that the timing is inappropriate to come forth with the distinctions on Mormonism (leaves one open to the charge of pushing a political agenda) and the designation of Mormonism as a “fourth great Abrahamic faith” is historically, theologically and biblically inaccurate, I do see now where, clearly, Dr. Land views Mormonism as a cult, but simply prefers not to use the term for the reasons stated in the email.
To the extent that my comments on this matter at SBC Voices and my blog have misrepresented Dr. Land (not being heretofore apprised of the information contained in the aforementioned email), I sincerely offer an apology for stating emphatically that Dr. Land was denying that Mormonism is a cult.
Finally, I would like to post this email I’m sending you and the one you sent to me on my blog and submit it to SBC Voices (both unedited) requesting they publish it also. Without your approval, I will not post it. But with or without approval, again, please accept my apology.
Dwight McKissic
Final Response from Sam Dahl:
Dr. McKissic, thank you for your email; Dr. Land appreciates your response and apology. You certainly have his and my permission to publish those emails in the aforementioned places. As another FYI, when it comes to the question of timing, the first time we can ascertain that Dr. Land suggested that perhaps the most charitable way to view Mormonism is as the 4th Abrahamic religion was at the end of 2007 when he was interviewed on December 26 for a documentary titled Article VI that was released in 2008. We appreciate your gracious humility and certainly have no hard feelings or ill will toward you. As always, we stand ready to serve you if there is any way we can. Thanks,
Sam Dahl
Office of the President
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission
615-782-8405
sdahl@erlc.com
October 30, 2012 at 2:22 pm
Dr. McKissic, your reasoning on not being able to vote, as a Christian, for either choice in the upcoming election has been the clearest most logical expression I have heard since the beginning of the campaign. I look forward to the day when all Christians consider ourselves citizens of Christ’s first, above our varied nationalistic flags, above the many different colours of our skin, above our native tongues and above our specific gender. A peculiar peoples.
L Roberts
Calgary, Canada
October 31, 2012 at 2:51 pm
Lane,
Thanks for visiting. You and I both long for the same day. “Lord, let thy Kingdom Come.”
November 9, 2012 at 9:49 am
Hi Dr. McKISSIC,
I am going to post this response to you here, as I feel that likely, it will not make it through ‘moderation’ over at SBCvoices, which is their right and I am not complaining about that. But I did want for you to see this, as I think it may explain where some of the attitudes come from concerning Obama supporters:
Hello DR. McKISSIC,
I am aware of something that might help explain why those who opposed Obama consider his supporters ‘ignorant’:
there have been two different media directions going on in this country for a long time now. One involves FOX News, Rush Limbaugh, and the pundits of the conservative right wing. The other is outside of the conservative media circle, and is privy to what is NOT shown inside that circle.
So the opponents of Obama would never have seen this information:
” . . . President Obama implemented the first explicit abortion reduction legislation in US history, promoting health care for pregnant women and better infant care, day care and job training. Now a new study from Washington University in St. Louis following 10,000 women for four years has shown that the provision of free contraception, one of the provisions of the new Affordable Care Act, dramatically decreased abortion among a group of high-risk girls and women.”
But this information WAS available to people of my own faith outside of the FOX News media circle . . . and it impacted their votes, mine included.
The question of ‘ignorance’ is really one of which media circle you follow . . .
I follow both. I see the vast differences. I investigate statistical information to see if it is reliable and valid . . . this takes a lot of time and patience. But I also am privileged to have studied statistics at university at the graduate level, which most Americans have not done.
I read Rush Limbaugh. I turn often to FOX News to hear their views. Yet I do not limit myself to the one enclosed world of conservative media . . .
sometimes it isn’t ‘ignorance’ that drives people to oppose right-wing conservatism,
it is an openness to information outside of the FOX-Limbaugh-pundit circle that influences one’s choices. Because of this, I wasn’t ‘blind-sided’ by Obama’s victory.
I was already aware of the demographics, and I knew about Obama’s work for the reduction of abortions, which has been statistically born out to be true in an independent study.
Did God choose Obama? That is a question for those who are looking for some meaning in what happened, I think. I understand this. But there may be some insights for them also out in that world beyond FOX news and Rush Limbaugh. It is hard for people to go outside of what is comfortable for them, though.
This takes a patience and an openness that is not something that provides comfort or reassurance in the way that many people have come to depend on in our divided American scene. And it takes an ability to recognize that ‘fear’ can never be a deterrent from examining all sides of an issue for American people.”
That quote about abortion reduction comes from this source:
http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/cfo/index.php
and shows up in the column on ‘Is Obama Really Pro-Life?’
I’m sorry for having to place this here, but I did want for you to have a chance to see my response to what you wrote on Voices . . . if you wish to discard this after reading, I have no problem at all with that choice.
God Bless You,
Christiane
May 2, 2013 at 1:07 pm
It is not the right thing to “reduce” abortions. It is the right thing to outlaw them.
And after Obama’s recent speech at Planned Parenthood, it has been made clear that he has no intention of even reducing abortion.
November 9, 2012 at 8:05 pm
Christiane,
Thanks. When I read your first comment over at Bart’s place on this topic, I went– WOW!!! Somebody really get’s it. You gave a very eloquent and accurate defense of those who voted for President Obama, and made it clear that they had not stayed from God or missed God. I wanted to compliment you when I first read it, but just didn’t stop to formulate and pen my thoughts. Thanks for giving me another opportunity, and know that you are welcome here. I appreciate and respect your perspectives.