Mormons, Non-Mormons, and Heaven

I recently finished reading the book American Grace by Robert D. Putnam and David E. Campbell (you can read my Goodreads review of it here). The book gives an overall snapshot of the nation’s religiosity by presenting the results of the authors’ extensive Faith Matters surveys. In the last chapter, they give some very interesting, and seemingly contradictory, data about Mormons and our beliefs.

First, they report the percentage of respondents from different faiths who said that they agreed with the statement, “People not of my faith, including non-Christians, can go to heaven.” The authors interpret this data point as the tolerance that a given faith engenders. The higher the percentage, the more accepting the people in the religion are of others and their beliefs. Mormons, surprisingly enough, had the highest percentage of all at 98 percent; almost all Mormons believe that non-Mormons, and even non-Christians can make it to heaven. I was very happy when I read this. Apparently, most Mormons understand Mormon doctrine. In light of this, though, the next statistic presented could be perplexing to a person unfamiliar with Mormonism.

Next, the authors present the statistics for what percentage of people agreed with the statement, “One religion is true and others are not.” They describe those that agree with this statement as “hard-core, deeply moralistic [and] less tolerant.” Mormons scored highest in this category as well with almost 30 percent of Mormon respondents agreeing. (I am a little disappointed that the percentage is so low. Yes, there are truths taught in other religions but if I had to definitively say that I agree or disagree with this statement, as a Mormon, I would have to agree.)

How is it possible for Mormons to be, at the same time, the most tolerant and least tolerant religion in America? The answer lies in understanding two important points of Mormon doctrine.

First, is the topic that I covered in last week’s post: baptism for the dead. We believe that if someone did not receive the ordinances necessary for salvation during their life, they can receive them after this life. Lutheran, Catholic, Methodist, Muslim, Buddhist—they are all the same in this regard because they were not baptised by proper priesthood authority in this life, but if that ordinance is performed for them after they die, they have an equal opportunity to accept or reject it.

The second point is a bit more complicated, but is evident by understanding something very basic. It is that God is perfectly fair. Imagine a person who is a good student, a kind friend, a loving parent, and a giving neighbor. This person embodies many of the attributes taught and exemplified by Jesus Christ. However, this person was also born in China during the Tang Dynasty (618–907 AD). He never even heard the name Jesus Christ during his life. Mormons don’t believe in a God who would send this person to an unquenchable lake of fire and brimstone for eternity. By the responses that Putnam and Campbell got to their surveys, it would seem that most other Americans feel the same way, even if their church’s official stance is otherwise.

Baptism for the dead is the first means by which this imaginary person is offered salvation. As a post-mortal spirit, he will be able to learn about Jesus and choose whether or not to accept or reject the ordinances required for salvation (assuming those ordinances have been done for him). But what if he chooses not to accept those ordinances? Does that make him worthy of never ending suffering? Well, he never hurt anyone. We still don’t think of him as an evil person, and we want to think that hell is for evil people. This is starting to resemble the dilemma that most Americans have when considering this question in relation to a friend or relative who is not of their faith, but is surely not worthy of hell.

According to Mormon doctrine, there is no hell. There is no heaven either—at least, not the way it is understood in most Christian churches. The God we worship would not do the things that a God who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6) and then only provided hell as the only other alternative would have to do. The God we worship provided three levels of eternal reward, also known as Degrees or Kingdoms. The highest degree, the Celestial Kingdom, which in order to inherit we need all of the ordinances of salvation, is described as an even greater kind of existence than the popular Christian descriptions of heaven and the other degrees are not fire and brimstone. Will wicked people suffer? Yes. Since they did not accept Christ and his Atonement for their sins, they will have to suffer for their own sins. But eventually (we don’t know exactly how long it will last) that suffering will end and they will inherit a Degree of Glory, albeit a lesser glory than what they could have inherited had they accepted Christ.

Let me end by saying that I don’t fault Putnam and Campbell (who is himself a Mormon and probably understands the explanation behind this data) for not explaining the apparent conflict in their book. Their purpose was not to elucidate Mormon doctrine. But I hope that this explanation shows that even though Mormons believe that ours is the one true church, the God we worship loves all of his children and will give them as much of his kingdom as they are willing to receive.