As this thread has already moved off its original topic, I won’t feel like I’m thread-jacking with this question:

Allan, I’d like to hear your ideas on the LDS. Specifically, I’ve always been curious why any religion or cult, even one as wacky as Heaven’s Gate, is considered wacky by other religious people. And the LDS, for some reason, seem to evoke a particularly strong claims of wackiness from others who believe in the Judeo-Christian god, and I’m curious why that is.

(Tone is hard to read on a forum, and I’m pretty weak at projecting the right tone even in person, so let me say that I’m not denigrating your or anybody’s beliefs. I am very curious about this topic, though, and I appreciate the opportunity to hear the opinions of an obviously intelligent, thoughtful person. That said,)

I mean, from the point of view of an objective atheist (me), all religions seem pretty much equally absurd. (Why, for instance, is it any less likely that there’s a spaceship behind a comet waiting to rescue you than that a man was resurrected from the dead by an all powerful being and that you will be saved for all eternity by that being if only you let that man into your heart?) But from the point of a person who (I’m making an assumption here) believes in a god (you), why do you find the Mormons any wackier than the Hindus or the Muslims? Or Heaven’s Gate? Or do you?