According to Jeremy M. Christiansen, “Mormons are really good people who claim to follow Jesus and live many basic virtues better than many Nicene-professing Christians.” He would know; Christiansen was an active Latter-day Saint and served as a missionary before his conversion to Catholicism. However, he writes, they are not Christian.

Christiansen’s reflection on the non-designation of Latter-day Saints as Christian (“one of the few things Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox agree on”) was provoked by a recent protest by promenent Latter-day Saints over how the Pentagon labels religious servicemen. 

For further reading: The orthodoxy of Mormonism has long been a topic of concern in the pages of First Things. In the October 2008 issue, Bruce D. Porter and Gerald McDermott sparred over the question: “Is Mormonism Christian?”

The inimitable Scott Yenor reviews a book on “offensive Christianity,” the idea of “a Christianity unworried about offending the world’s dark powers and a Christianity that conquers territory in a dark world.” It hews to a path between liberal pietism and Nietzsche.

For further reading: In the March 2024 issue, Yenor wrote about “Compulsory Feminism.”

Listen: Matthew Schmitz joins R. R. Reno on The Editor’s Desk podcast to talk about his recent essay, “Our Strange Catholic Moment” from the June/July 2026 issue of the magazine.

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Until next time,

JACOB AKEY

Associate Editor