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Michael B. Bennett has heard the accusations many times: Mormons are not Christians. But Bennett, who converted to Mormonism at age 18, claims the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) has provided answers he did not find as a Southern Baptist.

Bennett grew up in the heavily Baptist region of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His parents and grandparents had been active Baptists, and he was baptized at age 12. He attended youth rallies and Billy Graham crusades. "I was about as active a Baptist as you can be," recalls Bennett, 40.

Yet he found the behavior of some churchgoers inconsistent. His friends at youth group fervently testified about Christ one week, then smoked dope the next. An adulterous deacon continued to hold office after a hasty confession. Gossip and backbiting preoccupied many churchgoers.

Bennett was ripe for a change. When a high-school friend told him that his church had unpaid leaders, it sparked Bennett's interest. After attending several weekly LDS sacrament meetings and experiencing what seemed to be genuine care and concern, Bennett felt "compelled by the spirit" to be rebaptized as a Mormon. Now a lawyer in Salt Lake City, Bennett devotes 20 hours a week to church activities.

While LDS theology is what separates Mormonism from orthodox Christianity, it had little to do with Bennett's attraction to America's most popular homegrown religion.

Sandra Tanner, 58, a former Mormon and codirector of Utah Lighthouse Ministry in Salt Lake City, says, "You join Mormonism because of friendship ties, a sense of belonging, a hope for your deceased family."

What do Mormons believe?
Though evangelicals generally concede that Mormons are good neighbors, the theological chasm is wide. Mormons differ from orthodox Christians in that they:

1. Consider the Book of Mormon and founder Joseph Smith's other works, The Pearl of Great Price and Doctrine and Convenants, to be authoritative. To Mormons, the Old Testament and New Testament are Scripture as well, but they have been corrupted in translation.
   
2. Reject the traditional concept of the Trinity. Mormons believe God the Father and God the Son have fleshly bodies and that the Holy Ghost is a spirit man.
   
3. Teach that God was once a finite being who achieved his exalted rank by "progressing."
   

The church was founded by Joseph Smith (1805-1844). Based on supernatural visitations he claimed he had experienced, Smith intended to restore the true Christian church that he said had been lost 16 centuries earlier. According to Smith, God told him that all churches—with specific reference to Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians—were wrong, and to join none.

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