The man suspected of shooting up a Mormon worship event in Michigan on Sunday, killing at least four and leaving the structure burned out, “hated” people of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Mormon church.
That’s according to Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary for President Donald Trump.
Trump earlier decried the additional attack on “Christians” in America, and society in general puts the organization and its members among the widely considered “Christian” church.
He said, “This appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America. The Trump Administration will keep the Public posted, as we always do. In the meantime, PRAY for the victims, and their families. THIS EPIDEMIC OF VIOLENCE IN OUR COUNTRY MUST END.”
Some leaders of other Christian groups, however, point to the extra-biblical teachings adopted and accepted by the Mormons to challenge that assumption.
Christianity.com has posted a response to that exact question with a blunt answer.
“The answer to that question is easy and straightforward: ‘no.’ Nevertheless, even as the question is clear, the answer requires some explanation. The issue is clearly framed in this case. Christianity is rightly defined in terms of ‘traditional Christian orthodoxy.’ Thus, we have an objective standard to define what is and is not Christianity,” it wrote. “We are not talking here about the postmodern conception of Christianity that minimizes truth. We are not discussing Christianity as a mood or a sociological movement. We are not talking about liberal Christianity that minimizes doctrine or sectarian Christianity that defines the faith in terms of eccentric doctrines. We are talking about historical, traditional Christian orthodoxy.
“Once that is made clear, the answer is inevitable. Furthermore, the answer is made easy, not only by the structure of Christian orthodoxy (a structure Mormonism denies) but by the central argument of Mormonism itself – that the true faith was restored through Joseph Smith in the nineteenth century in America and that the entire structure of Christian orthodoxy as affirmed by the post-apostolic church is corrupt and false.”
It is suspect Thomas Jacob Sanford, a Marine veteran who served America’s military in Iraq, who was shot and killed by police to end the attack in
Detectives said the still were documenting what could have been a motive in the violent attack in which the suspect rammed the church with a truck, then shot up parishioners and even lit the building on fire.
Leavitt explained, “From what I understand based on my conversations with the FBI director, all they know right now is that this was an individual who hated people of the Mormon faith. And they are trying to understand more about this, how premeditated it was, how much planning went into it, whether he left a note, all of those questions have yet to be answered, but certainly will be answered by the FBI.”
At least four people died in the attack and at least eight others were hurt.
The attacker died when he engaged police in gunfire.
Christianity.com also added, “Christians do respect the Mormon affirmation of the family and the zeal of Mormon youth in their own missionary work. Christians must affirm religious liberty and the right of Mormons to practice and share their faith.”