The Trinity is chief among historic Christian doctrines that Mormons believe LDS Church founder Joseph Smith dispelled during what is known as "the First Vision." Smith said God and Jesus Christ appeared and spoke to him as separate beings in the spring of 1820, in answer to his prayer seeking guidance about which sect of Christianity was right so he could join.

"I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong ... that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight," Smith later wrote. Mormons believe those "creeds" were formulated and voted upon by clergy in the third and fourth centuries seeking to codify the nature of God, Christ and the Holy Spirit, and were departures from the "fullness" of Christ's original teachings.

"To the extent that creeds divide people, categorize people, exclude people and even lead others to persecute them, one can appreciate why they would be viewed as undesirable," wrote Robert Millet, former dean of religious education at Brigham Young University, in his recent book, "The Vision of Mormonism."

"To the extent that they become a badge of belonging, the identifying mark by which a 'true Christian' is known, the only way by which one can understand what the Scriptures really mean about God and Christ — then to that extent the Christian circle is drawn smaller and smaller, and that grace of God that makes salvation to all humankind is frustrated."

Mormons don't shy away from pronouncing that Jesus Christ is their Savior and the head of their church, emphasizing that the faith's name — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — denotes the centrality of his role in their faith, which makes them Christians. But evangelical leaders reject that assertion, saying it has become a semantics game.

This is how the Rev. Edwards of Grace Baptist sees it: "We use the same name for Jesus, and we use the same story, but when we describe him we understand he's not the same person as you do. The same for God. Your Jesus was born of the Father, mine has existed eternally. My Jesus is God."

His God, says the Rev. Edwards, is unchanging, has eternally existed and "chose a human form for 33 years to take on our sins."

The Rev. Edwards, though, thinks conservative Christians have become "overly political" and doesn't think America needs to become "a quote Christian nation led by a Christian leader. Not that we're against it, but we don't feel we need it."

For some evangelicals, says Salt Lake Theological Seminary's Wakefield, "the most worrisome thing is the LDS doctrine of 'exaltation.' ... It brings lots of questions of who is aspiring to what kind of power."

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