# Holy Smoke: are Mormons Christian?

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-spectator-45373/holy-smoke-are-mormons-christian
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-spectator-45373/holy-smoke-are-mormons-christian.md
Podcast: [Best of the Spectator](https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-spectator-45373)
Published: 2026-06-21T00:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/best-of-the-spectator/episodes/holy-smoke-are-mormons-christian
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68358fb5e1abc4be6b0308eb/e/6a312a46819571ef9763df37/media.mp3?tk=eyJ0ayI6ImRlZmF1bHQiLCJhZHMiOnRydWUsInNwb25zIjp0cnVlLCJzdGF0dXMiOiJwdWJsaWMifQ==&sig=_CALXrOxg2WlpUzvKi3P82oPyd8uiEYRfwLIHx9SN4A
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/best-of-the-spectator-45373/episodes/holy-smoke-are-mormons-christian
Duration seconds: 1267

## Resource

For Christians and non-Christians alike, Mormons remain a bit of an enigma – especially in the UK. In the US however there are almost 7 million and they punch above their weight in terms of political influence; notable members of congress include former senator, and one-time presidential candidate, Mitt Romney. This influence meant that a row erupted in the past fortnight when the Pentagon released its updated list of religious affiliations and listed the Church of Latter-Day Saints independently from other Christian denominations, implying members were not Christian. This move was quickly denounced, with Mike Lee – a Mormon and Republican Senator – leading the charge, calling the move ‘outrageous’, the Pentagon subsequently backtracked. Yet, many other Christian denominations have long felt that Mormons are not Christians as they have their own supplemental scripture and hold different views over the Trinity and the afterlife.  Mark Tooley, a methodist and friend of  Holy Smoke , joins Damian Thompson to discuss the row. Are Mormons Christian? Who gets to decide whether a person is Christian or not? And can the government and state ever have a role in this debate? Produced by Patrick Gibbons. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/best-of-the-spectator-45373/episodes/holy-smoke-are-mormons-christian/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/best-of-the-spectator-45373/holy-smoke-are-mormons-christian.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.