“Are Mormons Closer to Muslims or Christians?” (Part 3)

Last updated on: September 5, 2018 at 9:53 am by Dan Peterson

“Are Mormons Closer to Muslims or Christians?” (Part 3) 2018-09-05T09:53:45-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The gray-black dome of the early-eighth-century al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Behind it is the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives, with the Seven Arches Hotel atop the Mount on the right and the spire of the Church of the Ascension on the left.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain)

Continuing with my hasty response to a lamentable 2012 article in the often-lamentable Huffington Post:

“In order to lead,” claims Ms. Wood, “both Islam and Mormonism do not require formal seminary training, but take regular members and move them up into leadership roles.”

Ms. Wood seems to presume that the Apostle Peter and his colleagues were professional clergy with seminary degrees.

In any event, she’s wrong about Islam. To the extent possible, Islamic clergymen are formally trained at such places as (for Sunnis) Al-Azhar University in Cairo and (for Shi‘is) the theological seminaries in Qum, Iran.

“Oddly enough,” marvels Ms. Wood, “both religions had a split after their prophet’s death with one side believing that the faith should continue though the prophet’s descendents and the other side rejecting that. For Muslims, this caused the bloody divide between Shiites and Sunnis that we hear so much about in the press. For Mormons, this caused the divide between the Later Day Saints, which make up about 99 percent of Mormons, and others.”

That’s Latter-day Saints, actually. With two t’s. And, yes, there is a curious similarity in the two schisms. But it’s unclear that there is any real significance to it. It’s almost certainly mere coincidence.

“Both Muhammad and Joseph Smith were taunted for their work and driven out by locals,” reports Ms. Wood. “Muhammad moved from Mecca to Medina, and Joseph Smith had to move from Illinois to Missouri.”

Actually, Joseph Smith was obliged to move from New York to Ohio to Missouri to Illinois, where he was murdered by an anti-Mormon mob. Not from Illinois to Missouri.

“Both Muhammad and Joseph Smith established their own city-states,” says Ms. Wood, “with Muhammad ruling Medina and Joseph Smith ruling Nauvoo, Ill.”

Medina already existed long before Muhammad arrived. Joseph Smith essentially created Nauvoo. And it wasn’t a city-state. It wasn’t independent. It had a charter that was granted to it by the legislature of the State of Illinois. For part of his time in Illinois, Joseph Smith served as the elected mayor of the city.

“Both Islam and Mormonism have Scripture that can justify violence and murder,” asserts Ms. Wood, “as does the Bible.”

The Aurora, Colorado, gunman evidently thought that Batman movies justify violence and murder.

“While Mormons have not acted violently in the U.S. for quite some time, there was an incident back in 1857 called the Mountain Meadows Massacre, which happened on Sept. 11. The massacre was led by prominent Mormon leader John D. Lee, who was trying to exact revenge on some emigrants but when the emigrants surrendered, the militia killed men, women and children in cold blood, and then tried to cover it up.”

Not quite. The best treatment of this topic is Ronald W. Walker, Richard E. Turley, and Glen M. Leonard, Massacre at Mountain Meadows (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008). It lays out what really happened, and shows that neither Mormonism nor the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (in which John D. Lee wasn’t all that prominent a leader) had anything at all directly to do with the tragedy.

“We don’t need to be experts on either religion,” Ms. Wood announces, “to see these similarities.”

Truth be told, Ms. Wood’s case would be best served if no expert on either religion were within several leagues of her article, because no real expert could possibly take her superficial and cherry-picked similarities at all seriously.

“They both have common ground with Christianity,” Ms. Wood generously allows, “and much of it.”

Just as the bullfinch and the American border collie both have common ground with the class of mammals, and much of it. But, in the latter case, it shouldn’t be missed that collies are mammal-like for the simple reason that they are mammals.

Posted from Jerusalem, Israel

Uncategorized

Previous Post

May 10, 2018

Meet Mr. Arafat

Next Post

May 10, 2018 Worlds in Collision

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

I built a 75-foot gallows for my enemy, but I was hanged on it instead. Who am I?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Bigthana Mordecai Haman Ahasuerus