As one of the 200,000 British members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, my heart doesn’t leap when I hear about a new documentary made about us. Such films tend not to be flattering. But here’s the puzzle: if our faith is really based on nonsense, why is it growing? Why would people like me convert? If you can bear with me, I’d like to say a bit about who we are — and what we are not.
We’re followers of Jesus Christ (i.e. Christians). Our scripture is the Bible. We also believe that the Book of Mormon, another Testament of Jesus Christ, revealed to Joseph Smith and published in 1830, is the word of God. But we don’t revere a different Christ than the man — the only perfect man — whose death and resurrection we commemorate this Easter. There are billions of people who follow Jesus in many ways, us included. And yet we’re portrayed as weird and cult-like in a way that other religions are not.
We’re portrayed as weird and cultlike in a way that other religions are not
I’ve never understood the idea that Mormons belong to a cult. A cult is supposed to have a self-appointed charismatic leader: our leader is Jesus Christ. And rituals? This Easter weekend, we’ll be worshipping a crucified man, who we believe lives again in every day of our lives.
Our religion is young. It has been around for less time than this magazine. The Spectator was calling us a ‘sect’ by 1845, just 15 years after we started. But Christians were at first seen by the Roman world as an odd Jewish sect. We think it’s natural that religion evolves. We believe that we have to keep listening and be open-minded about the unlikely forms that God’s message — and messengers — can come in.
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