For Daniel Caldwell, growing up in Moncks Corner, S.C., was certainly an interesting experience. On weekdays after the school bell at Berkeley High had hit its final droning note, Caldwell, now 24, would strap on his rifle and venture out a few miles into the backwoods of Cordesville. He would spend the afternoon shooting a few rounds at some soda cans he lined up on a box a few hundred yards from his post at the gun range.
The “Lowcountry” had so much to offer for Caldwell—hunting in the rural parts of Berkeley County, driving his Grand Prix to the Coliseum in North Charleston to see Aerosmith, going to his high school’s Drama Club meetings and acting in the various performances they produced.
Caldwell even managed to find employment throughout his high school career as a salesclerk at Journey’s in the Northwoods Mall. After he was laid off due to low sales within the store, a friend referred Caldwell to apply for a position as a daycare assistant at Moncks Corner First Baptist Church.
According to Caldwell, the interviewing process “was a breeze.”
“I went in [the daycare building], told them about my references and they practically hired me,” Caldwell says, “That is, until they asked me where I went to church.”
Caldwell attended a small church on Main Street, across from Berkeley High. The brass letters on the side of the familiar stark, pointed brick building’s frame read “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.”
“The head of the daycare branch told me she couldn’t hire me because I wasn’t Christian,” Caldwell says.
Unlike the nearby urban sprawl of Charleston, Moncks Corner was still known as a part of the “Bible Belt,” with the majority of the town’s population comprised of Pentecostal Holiness members, non-denominational worshippers and Southern Baptists.
Many of these church members’ beliefs prohibit inclusion of Mormons as Christians, citing references as to the religion’s unwillingness to adhere to typical Christian doctrine and the addition of the Book of Mormon, which is seen as heretical text to many of these groups.
The Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry, or CARM, features an article by Matt Slick on its Web site that states the reason Mormons aren’t Christian is due to its distortion of concrete Christian fundamentals.
“[Mormonism] is not Christian because it denies that there is only one God, denies the true Gospel, adds works to salvation, denies that Jesus is the uncreated creator, distorts the biblical teaching of the atonement, and undermines the authority and reliability of the Bible,” Slick says.
Caldwell disagrees with this argument, saying that Mormons have much more in common with these faiths than they care to share.
“We all believe in God and Jesus,” Caldwell says, “We aren’t supposed to drink or take substances that keep us from being in control, we go to church every Sunday—I had to go to seminary every morning before school.
Caldwell says facing criticism from the daycare staff was harsh, but it doesn’t anger him.
“I’m not interested in getting into some sort of fight over it or anything,” Caldwell says, “I just want [the daycare employers] to know that I'm Christian, too.”
