Former Massachusetts Governor Tried Hard to Draw Support from Conservatives as the GOP Alternative to McCain, But Christian Evangelicals -- Distrustful of Mormons -- Refused to Vote for Him, Opting Instead for Southern Baptist Ex-Pastor Huckabee
WEDNESDAY SPECIAL By Suzanne Sataline The Wall Street Journal
Mitt Romney's campaign for the presidency brought more attention to the Mormon Church than it has had in years. What the church discovered was not heartening.
Critics of its doctrines and culture launched frequent public attacks. Polling data showed that far more Americans say they'd never vote for a Mormon than those who admitted they wouldn't choose a woman or an African-American.
A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll in late January revealed that 50 percent of Americans said they would have reservations or be "very uncomfortable" about a Mormon as president. That same poll found that 81 percent would be "enthusiastic" or "comfortable" with an African-American and 76 percent with a woman.
The former Massachusetts governor's Mormon faith "was the silent factor in a lot of the decision making by [Christian] evangelicals and others," says Democratic pollster Peter Hart, who conducted the poll. The Romney campaign ran into "a religious bias headwind," Hart and his Republican polling partner, Bill McInurff, wrote late last month.
"I don't think that any of us had any idea how much anti-Mormon stuff was out there," said Armand Mauss, a Mormon sociologist who has written extensively about church culture, in an interview last week. "The Romney campaign has given the church a wake-up call. There is the equivalent of anti-Semitism still out there."
For Romney, Super Tuesday Was the End of the Road
On Thursday, Romney was suspending his quest for the Republican nomination, following a poor showing in the "Super Tuesday" contests. Romney made no mention of his religion when he withdrew.
There were many other factors that may have contributed to his failed campaign. He didn't gain sufficient traction among the social conservatives influential to his party. Opponents attacked him, saying he changed his moderate stances to more conservative ones to attract votes, including his position on abortion.
Some observers play down religious bias as a factor. Ken Jennings, a Mormon who was a "Jeopardy!" champion, says anti-Mormon attacks "contributed" to Romney's problems, but weren't the only obstacle. "I suspect there were bigger forces in play than the religion," such as perceptions that Romney had shifted his positions, said Jennings in an interview from his home in Seattle. "There were principled reasons to say, 'I like McCain over Romney.'"
Religion "wasn't a factor in the governor's decision to step aside," says Eric Fehrnstrom, a campaign spokesman. "There was a lot more focus on religion early on in the race, but as people learned more about Gov. Romney, his success as a businessman and as leader of the Olympics, it receded as an issue into the background."
Nevertheless, Romney's campaign exposed a surprisingly virulent strain of anti-Mormonism that had been largely hidden to the general public.
Pundit Rips Mormon Church as a Religion Founded by an 'Anti-American, pro-Slavery Rapist'
In December, political pundit and actor Lawrence O'Donnell Jr. unleashed a tirade on "The McLaughlin Group" television talk show, tearing into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, as the Mormon Church is known officially, and into Romney's faith.
"Romney comes from a religion founded by a criminal who was anti-American, pro-slavery, and a rapist. And he comes from that lineage and says, 'I respect this religion fully.'...He's got to answer."
Mormons were outraged. Hundreds complained to the show and on radio talk shows and the Internet, protesting that the remarks about church founder Joseph Smith were bigoted and unfounded. O'Donnell, a former MSNBC commentator who plays a lawyer for polygamists on the HBO drama "Big Love," says he has nothing to apologize for. "Everything I said was true," he says.
Mormons Are New Testament Christians, not Creedal Christians
Mormons are not Creedal Christians.However, they do believe in the Jesus Christ of the New Testament:
The Church of Jesus Christ (LDS) is often accused by Evangelical pastors of not believing in Christ and, therefore, not being a Christian religion. This article http://mormonsarechristian.blogspot.com/ helps to clarify such misconceptions by examining early Christianity's comprehension of baptism, the Godhead, the deity of Jesus Christ and His Atonement.The Church of Jesus Christ (LDS) adheres more closely to First Century Christianity and the New Testament than any other denomination.For example, Harper’s Bible Dictionary entry on the Trinity says “the formal doctrine of the Trinity as it was defined by the great church councils of the fourth and fifth centuries is not to be found in the New Testament.”
One Baptist blogger stated“99 percent of the members of his Baptist church believe in the Mormon (and Early Christian) view of the Trinity.It is the preachers who insist on the Nicene Creed definition.”It seems to me the reason the pastors denigrate the Church of Jesus Christ (LDS) is to protect their flock (and their livelihood).
by
Bot (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 6 comments)
on Friday, February 15, 2008 at 12:52:29 PM
We should be biased about religion. Religions can be extremely dangerous. The vaunted Neocons that engineered us into 911 and the Iraq war were subversive Zionist Jews (amongst other things).
If an individual indicates that he is basically secular with religious trappings, I don't mind, because I know that he isn't subversive with subversive agendas. Romney, Hucklebee and other religionists can't be trusted any more than the Rev. Moon.
Of course hustling and nationalism are religions too. In the name of "tolerance", let's not let another flock of crooks and traitors in.
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John Hanks (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 859 comments)
on Saturday, February 16, 2008 at 8:53:29 AM
Any political party is more dangerous to freedom than any religion, including extreme religions like Muslims. People can always be organized as factions in opposition to religion, but historically they cannot be organized against political parties that take over governments. In fact, the worst atrocities committed in the history of the world were organized and enacted by political parties which arose in opposition to religions, the Nazi Party in their attempt to exterminate the Jews and the Communist Party in their attempt to destroy all religion.
It should not surprise us that political parties in this country have decided to turn their attention toward a religion. As an independent voter, I view political parties as the "self-created societies" that George Washington said they were, and wielders of "artificial authority", which President Washington said would eventually be turned against freedom, in this case, freedom of religion.
The two major parties which generated this outbreak of hatred are not the government of the United States. They are private organizations which say they are the government of the United States and which distribute propaganda in whatever direction they perceive will increase their power and control of the people, in exactly the same way the Nazi Party used propaganda to increase the power of the Nazi Party. In Germany it was hatred of the Jews that was used to unify the Germans; in America the two major parties are using hatred of Mormons to unify party faction here. Party members tend to be emotionally unstable people who have no real beliefs of their own, but will blindly follow where party propaganda leads them. Their entire political philosophy is based on belonging to a large group, which necessarily is opposed by another large group, not on determination of what is right or wrong.
If we examine what political parties are, then it is inherently wrong to support them, just as President Washington cautioned in 1792. The fact that something wrong is popular does not make it right. That being the case, the best thing to do in American politics is to register independent and work through the corrupt politics of our day to establish free elections right here in the United States. I know this will seem like a radical idea to some of our political party friends who are busy imposing their interpretation of free elections by military force on other parts of the world.
by
Robert Winn (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 24 comments)
on Saturday, February 16, 2008 at 7:54:17 PM
