Claim. Hendricks acknowledges in footnote 53 of chapter 4 that the sociological survey category “other Christians” — chiefly Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) and Jehovah’s Witnesses — is where the Unification Church would be classified by social-scientific researchers, despite Hendricks’s overall argument framing UC as structurally aligned with the evangelical populist tradition.
Elaboration. From 04-difference-between-populist-and-denominational, footnote 53:
“By ‘other Christians’ the survey means chiefly the Latter Day Saints (Mormons) and Jehovah’s Witnesses. They are growing and yet have some characteristics very different from the populist model. Sociologically the Unification Church would be categorized with these ‘cults.’ I present a brief analysis of these groups in the Appendix.”
Two things are striking about this admission:
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Honest taxonomic placement. UC is not sociologically grouped with Calvary Chapel, Willow Creek, or Saddleback. The sociological taxonomy puts UC with LDS and JW — which complicates the “we are an American populist church like the growing evangelicals” framing Hendricks has built across chapters 1–3.
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Mormons/JWs are growing and have non-populist features. This undercuts a strict “populist form ⇒ growth” thesis. LDS in particular grows with highly institutional/hierarchical structure, credentialed leadership, and top-down governance — the opposite of the populist features Hendricks names as growth-correlated. The promised Appendix analysis is the place Hendricks engages this counter-evidence.
For wrestling: this is internal-critical material that connects directly to are-there-populist-failures-or-denominational-successes — a documented growth case that doesn’t fit the populist framework. The footnote is honest evidence of friction in Hendricks’s own thesis.
See also. populist-church