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  Saturday, December 13, 2003


Not surprisingly, Albert Mohler comes out squarely against a recent book by John Killinger, entitled Ten Things I Learned Wrong From a Conservative Church.  Killinger's perpective is similar to that of noted Episcopal bishop John Shelby Spong--he makes the case for liberal Protestantism as the "real" Christian church embodying the spirit of tolerance and charity, as opposed to the fundamentalist, conservative brand of Protestantism that has swept across the Sunbelt in the last fifty years. 

Just to give you a hint of how different Mr. Killinger is from his conservative cousins, he wrote a book arguing that the Harry Potter books are NOT satanic and evil, they are just good kids books!  See God, the Devil, and Harry Potter: A Christian Minister's Defense of the Beloved Novels.  (Well, he actually argued that Harry is a Christ-figure of sorts, but you don't need to go that far if you don't want to.)

The topic of liberal versus conservative (theology, not politics) should be of interest to Mormons because Mormonism is much closer to the fundamentalist, conservative Christian outlook than is generally recognized.  An overwrought dedication to scriptural literalism, scriptural inerrancy, and supernaturalism characterizes both movements.  And both movements consider the liberal wing of their party to be the enemy.  Mormonism simply excommunicates Mormons who "go liberal" (or tries to, anyway), so the liberal arm of Mormonism is a disorganized rabble of ex-Mormons, Sunstone Mormons, and closet liberals.  The diversity of Protestantism precludes such an easy organizational solution to their "liberal problem," but by forcing a dialogue (of sorts) I think the cause of truth is advanced.  Dialogue is good.  Mormonism needs less finger-pointing and more dialogue.  Mormonism needs more liberal Mormons.  And a token liberal GA would be a nice gesture, too. 11:36:26 PM      



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