Let me just put it out there and take the wacks for being intolerant; I would be very uneasy having a devout Mormon in the Oval office.

Watching the political wrangling of the pachyderm party and the various missteps of those hopefuls for nomination to lead the nation, it is quite obvious that the “religious affiliation” question is a minefield not to be crossed.

So let me attempt to bravely venture out where one is forbidden to go and explain my queasiness.

Some religions are nutty.

Scientology comes to mind as a loopy scam. 

Some religions are deceptive, cloaking their real ideas and agenda in the guise and language of an already accepted faith.

The Gnostics were pretty good at this as I recall. 

When Jesus was asked the most important commandment in the law he answered to “love the Lord your God” and “love your neighbor.” In other words, the most important thing for Christians to do is to love (Mark 12). And yet this summer I have been reminded how far we have to go in learning to love our neighbors. Let me explain.

One of my favorite ways to teach students is through role-playing. I take on the part of an atheist, Muslim, Mormon, or a member of some other non-Christian worldview and challenge students to articulate and defend their beliefs accordingly.  I have done this with groups of as few as twelve students or as many as 6,000.

One of the great values in role-playing is that it quickly reveals how little students actually understand their faith. Rarely have I encountered a student who was conversant about theology, science or philosophy. Most defend their views by quoting verses (even though my role-play persona typically does not believe in the Bible) or by pointing to some personal experience. As Barna studies reveal, few Christians understand or can articulate their faith.

For the past week I have been on an apologetics study tour of the Holy Land with 25 high school students. Along with visiting the Dead Sea, Masada, the Sea of Galilee, the Garden of Gethsemane, and many other remarkable sites, we had the special treat of hearing a lecture by filmmaker Joel Kramer. He is the award-winning producer of The Bible vs. Joseph Smith as well as many other films. He is currently working on a PhD in archaeology at Hebrew University.

Here are some highlights from his presentation that I trust you will find as fascinating as I do:

• Jerusalem is the most archaeologically excavated city in the world, but only 1% of the entire city has been excavated. The sites that have been excavated (even though they are a minority of all possible sites) consistently confirm the biblical record.
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Last Friday I invited a local Mormon leader to speak to my 11^th grade theology class. This is the first time I have ever done this. Typically I take my students on trips to visit other people, but some students don’t go on those trips so I wanted them all to hear from a Mormon firsthand. He was thoughtful, kind, prepared, and very articulate. In fact, I was very impressed by how well he knew his stuff and how confidently he portrayed it. He even quoted from C.S. Lewis, although he took him out of context. I wish more Christians had his poise and confidence.

I learned a couple things from this encounter that Christians may consider taking to heart.

First, the higher degree of education a Mormon receives the higher is his/her participation in the church. And yet the exact opposite is true for evangelicals. Even though the Mormon faith is essentially built on a subjective experience (see Moroni 10:4), Mormons have come to value the intellect and education. Mitt Romney and Glenn Beck are good examples of leading Mormon intellectuals who are having a positive impact on culture. Why is it that a faith built on subjective experience produces many leading thinkers?

Mormonism is in the news these days, thanks to Glenn Beck, the highest profile Mormon since American Idol runner-up David Archuleta. Beck's rise to fame has come as a conservative radio and television talk show host and best-selling author, and most recently as a speechmaker for the Tea Party.

His call at a rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for America to turn to God has conservatives and Christians in a lather. Does Glenn Beck speak for America? More crucially, does Glenn Beck speak for God and Christians?

In the interest of bringing clarity to the conversation, we thought it would be useful to do a couple of things. First, since Mormonism is often referred to as a "cult" (a word that sounds pejorative and mean-spirited), we want to explore with you just exactly what a cult is. In a subsequent post, we will outline some of the distinctives of Mormonism so you can answer the "Is Mormonism a cult?" question for yourself.

A few weeks ago I partnered with Brett Kunkle of Stand to Reason to take 22 high school students on an apologetics mission trip to Salt Lake City. One of my students, Matt Champagne, put this brief trailer together about the upcoming documentary. Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/user/Seanmcdowell76

We began the training for our trip to Utah with forty students. Some dropped out for different reasons, but a common theme was they thought we were going to “beat up on Mormons.” I’ve never received criticism from Christians for our mission trips to Berkeley where we engage atheists and agnostics, but a decent number of Christians felt we shouldn’t be going on a mission trip to Utah. Why is this? I’d love to know what some of you think.

The conclusion I’ve come to is that many Christians don’t fully understand the depravity of man. Mormons are nice, well-meaning people who believe in family values. So, who are we to try and convert them? Isn’t this intolerant? It seems to me that we confuse the difference between goodness and niceness. I’ve certainly done this many times in my own life. Most Mormons are certainly nice, but does that mean they are good? According to Isaiah 64:6, “All of our righteous deeds are like filthy garments.” Mormons are just as sinful and in desperate need of God’s grace as anyone else (myself included).

“I thank God for truth. I’ve thanked God for many things in my life, but never thought about thanking God for allowing me to truly know Him.”

These powerful words were spoken by one of my students last night as we debriefed from our mission trip to Salt Lake City, Utah. She was heartbroken that so many well meaning people believe a false gospel and yet, for the first time, she was truly grateful to know the truth. My heart was truly touched to hear a high school student speak these words.

For the past three days our team of six leaders and twenty-three students have been interacting with Mormon students at BYU, knocking on doors throughout Salt Lake City to talk about the gospel, and touring Temple Square to learn about the history and doctrine of Mormonism. My friend and fellow conversantlife blogger Brett Kunkle planned and organized the trip for us.