On facebook (yeah, I know), a former Latter-day Saint said that Brigham Young denied the status of “Christian” to Latter-day Saints. In this (admittedly, polemical) passage, Brigham clearly claims that Latter-day Saints are the most faithful Christians vis-á-vis fidelity to the Bible than other Christians:
Should you ask why we differ from other Christians, as they are called, it is simply because they are not Christians as the New Testament defines Christianity. How shall we believe the Scriptures, if we do not believe them as we find them? We consider that we are more safe to follow the plain letter of the Word of God, than to venture so great a risk as to depend upon a private interpretation given by man who claims no inspiration from God and who altogether discards the idea that he gives immediate revelation now as anciently. (Journal of Discourses 10:230| Brigham Young July 8, 1863)
The claim that Brigham did not view Latter-day Saints as being “Christian,” and that it is only in recent years the LDS Church has been claiming to be “Christian” to engage in ecumenism with the so-called “mainstream” is simply false.
