Posted on 01/08/2008 4:09:13 PM PST by tantiboh
Mitt Romney is facing an unexpected challenge in Iowa from rival Mike Huckabee, who has enjoyed a groundswell of support from religious voters, particularly evangelical Christians wary of the clean-cut former Massachusetts governor because of his Mormon religion.
The common worry among evangelicals is that if Romney were to capture the White House, his presidency would give legitimacy to a religion they believe is a cult. Since the LDS church places heavy emphasis on proselytizing -- there are 53,000 LDS missionaries worldwide -- many mainstream Christians are afraid that Mormon recruiting efforts would increase and that LDS membership rolls would swell.
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THE ONLY PROBLEM with those fears is that they don't add up. Evangelicals may be surprised to learn that the growth of church membership in Massachusetts slowed substantially during Romney's tenure as governor. In fact, one could make the absurdly simplistic argument that Romney was bad for Mormonism.
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ONE WAY TO GAUGE what might happen under a President Romney would be to look at what happened during the period of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. Held in Salt Lake City, they were dubbed the "Mormon Olympics."
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Despite all the increased attention, worldwide the Church grew only slightly, and in fact in the year leading up to the games the total number of congregations fell. Overall, from 2000 to 2004, there was a 10.9 percent increase in memberships and a 3.6 percent increase in congregations.
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The LDS church is likely to continue its current modest-but-impressive growth whether or not Romney wins the White House. Perhaps the only real worry for evangelicals is that, if elected, the former Massachusetts governor will demonstrate to Americans that Mormons don't have horns.
Carrie Sheffield, a member of the LDS Church, is a writer living in Washington, D.C.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
~”One well known evangelical who supports Romney is Jay Sekelow.”~
Indeed. There are many others. I don’t think bigotry against Mormons is institutional amongst Evangelicals.
~”The only people I see pointing out Romney is a Mormon are Mormons.”~
Then you aren’t watching too closely.
The Spectator published it, at their discretion.
Wasn’t it Huckabee who raised the ‘Jesus and Satan are brothers’ in another article? Is he Mormon?
If it weren*t for the many reminders by his supporters, we would forget he is a Mormon. I have learned lots about the Mormons recently, and have read the history of the church*s origins in America and the Western states, and I can honestly say that if he was a conservative, I would vote for him. But he is a wolf in sheep*s clothing. I remember his father, too.
Maybe, but I am a fundamentalist Christian, and I don’t think that is the problem -— there is a huge segment of my group of denominations that are suckers for a “wear-it-on-the-sleave” Christian.
And con-man Huckabee fits the bill.
And for the record, my biggest issue with Romney is the lack of explaination for why he went so suddently from pro-gay and pro-abortion (we’ve all seen the flyers and the YouTube) -— to conservative.
People just don’t do that — I really think Romney is pulling a con so as to not repeat his father’s mistake against Nixon.
I would be willing for Mitt to prove his bona fides as a conservative by serving as a VP — but now -— no, not yet.
I didn’t see the ‘closet liberal’ of Romney come out while he was governor. Perhaps this is why I’m not too frightened at the prospect of a Romney Presidency. He’s no Fred or Duncan, and definitely not Reagan, but he’s no Huck or McCain either.
Huckabee is a moron, so I don’t count him.
~”I haven’t seen that at all.”~
I’ve been watching it for months.
Tant, not many people are brave enough to voice their concerns about Mormonism publicly. If indeed there is a great concern about Romney’s Mormonism you likely won’t hear about it from many people.
I’ve put myself out front. I am honest enough to openly state that I believe Mormonism is a corruption of Christianity, and that Mormonism has a habit of changing and obfuscating it’s positions, history and doctrine. That stance doesn’t make me a bigot or a hater, but I have been denounced time, and time, and time again as one.
This issue will stay just under the surface. I doubt if most people in politics really understand how it is frothing and fomenting and ready to undermine Romney’s election. Some of us are trying to stop the Republican party from committing suicide on the alter of Mitt Romney. It takes bravery and committment to do so.
***And we have a memory -— recalling George Romney (Mitt’s father) who ran as a surrender in Vietnam Republican -— and lost to Nixon (also a liberal) who ran to the right.***
And Jean Dixon prophecied Romney would win!
Yes it will hurt the church. Not because the LDS church is bad but because the LDS church wants to keep some secrets. That will not be allowed. People are naturally nosy.
Actually, I have.
Oh, I am sure there are nuts out there, but take this thread -— an article by a Mormon, posted by a Mormon, about the issue of Mitt being a Mormon.
It reminds me of when I was engaged to a girl from a local tribe here in NM (now my wife and mother of my children) -— we both kept on getting the feeling that people were “looking at us.”
We finally figured out that, yes, there were some bigots (in both white and tribal), but mostly, it was in our heads and we were looking to be offended.
Don’t remember that. Who is Jean Dixon?
There are some on Free Republic that oppose Romney specifically because they are afraid his election would legitimize Mormonism and lead to a surge in the growth of the LDS Church. That this is a political consideration for them is something I have condemned in the strongest terms. Nevertheless, I think it's an assumption based on a false premise.
You see, Baptists and Catholics make up most of America. Mormons make up a few TV commercials and a few percentage points of American history. My point is that nobody really cares about Mormonism enough to discriminate against it. I'm tired of Mormon's trying to become the next victim.
I can't argue with that.
That’s all well and good, but what do you think about the central thesis of the article - that legitimization of Mormonism (and a subsequent spike in growth of the LDS Church) will not be a result of a Romney presidency?
;-)
Nah, I’m not going to start a war. Nevertheless, I have a list jotted down of about a dozen FReepers who routinely use this logic. I guess you’ll just have to take my word for it.
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