Aporeia
Not being a "true" religion as opposed to a religion that is real is a little different, and hard to identify in English unless you go to great lengths to separate them in your diction.
The idea that other religions are not "true" in their beliefs comes from a rejection of pluralism. We can't all be right.
I guess what I mean to say, is that some Christians go out of their way to denounce Mormonism, versus other religions. While they may see a Buddhist and not care, they personally have something against Mormonism.
That's just my experience, and I'm sure that there are plenty of other examples that oppose this. I'm not sure how to exactly classify their feelings towards this one; it feels like they don't really see Mormonism as a "true" religion, or even a valid religion. Yet, we all know that it is technically still one (a religion).
I guess it's kinda the same way with Scientology as a whole. A lot of people just have a hard time accepting it into the group because it doesn't meet their standards. Maybe I'm just overthinking it, or maybe I've just talked to the wrong people. It's a twisted sort of feeling, where it doesn't exactly make sense.
Quote:
Muslims venerate Jesus, but their primary prophet and teacher is Muhammad, who is held higher than Jesus. Mormons do the same thing, but instead of Muhammad, it's Joseph Smith.
Mormons do not do the same thing with Joseph Smith. Well, they are not supposed to. LDS doctrine supports that Joseph Smith is just another prophet. He was the guy that brought back the "true church" to Mormons. They vernerate Joseph Smith, and they worship God and Jesus.
I'm not Muslim, so I can't personally say what they believe with Jesus and Muhammad. That is exactly what I have heard before, so it wouldn't surprise me if that was the case.
Being raised Mormon, the only reason why Mormons talked about Joseph Smith so much, was because it was the foundation of the church. They essentially felt like they needed to give Joseph Smith a sort of divine credibility in order to make their book valid. Thus, you have all sorts of people who are crazy about Joseph Smith. However, they have all been told at one point or another, that Joseph Smith is not comparable to Jesus, and that it's only Jesus Christ who made their salvation possible.
Now, if you wanted to share the anti-mormon passage that contradicts that, I would be more than welcome to look at that as well. In the long run, none of this is really all that important. Christians or not, these things are just labels. The word "Christian" is a very hard one to define, and is almost always used as an equivocation in arguments. I don't exactly affiliate with the LDS church anymore, so I hope that I'm not being too pushy here.