Mitt Romney
Posted on 04/05/2005 8:40:34 PM PDT by Utah Girl
Millions of Americans think John F. Kennedy put to rest the issue of religion in presidential politics when, in 1960, he became the first Roman Catholic to win the White House.
Mitt Romney |
Romney is a devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, more commonly known as the Mormons. Its members, however, are not considered Christians by a number of other denominations, including the Southern Baptist Convention and the United Methodist Church, the largest Protestant denominations in America and two faiths whose membership is heavily concentrated in the South.
Given that the South has become a GOP stronghold in recent presidential races, some believe Romney's religion would emerge as an issue there should he seek to become the 44th president.
"I think it likely will matter," said Charles Reagan Wilson, director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi. "I think he will have to be very savvy and skillful in talking with evangelicals, and I don't know what experience he has doing that."
Wilson, who has heard Baptist ministers denounce Mormonism from the pulpit, said the Latter-day Saints are viewed as "an odd religious phenomenon" by Southern evangelicals, most of whom are Republicans. Aggressive Mormon proselytizing has not helped the religion's image in the region, Wilson said.
"In the South we talk about religion, and so he's got to find a way to diffuse the issue of his religion," he said. "He's got to make morality the issue."
"I think he's got a hard row to hoe," Wilson said.
J. Ferrel Guillory, director of the Program on Southern Politics, Media and Public Life at the University of North Carolina, sees the situation differently. Guillory said the fact Romney is Mormon would not be as significant to voters as his positions on issues like abortion and school prayer, his church attendance, whether he is comfortable with his faith, and what sense voters get of his family life.
"It's how he deals with those that are more potent than he being a Mormon rather than a Methodist," Guillory said.
In many ways, Romney is in step with evangelicals. He is a dedicated family man who does not smoke or drink and who has been a church leader.
He is a governor who personally opposes abortion and gay marriage but has said he would never interfere with a woman's right to choose and that he favors benefits for same-sex partners.
Romney rarely speaks about his faith in public, saying religion is a private matter. That stance proved largely a nonissue in his 2002 gubernatorial campaign, and his communications director, Eric P. Fehrnstrom, said recently, "His faith is something he shares with his family, and he keeps it separate from his public duties."
In a national race, however, Romney is certain to face questions about his religion, which has been called a cult.
William E. Gordon Jr., who serves as an expert in comparative religions for the Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board, would not label the Mormons a cult. But he said there are major theological differences between Southern Baptists and Mormons.
"We believe in a different God, and we believe in a different Jesus, and we believe in a different plan of salvation," Gordon said.
Mormons consider themselves Christians and believe God the Father and Jesus Christ are separate beings; the church leader is a prophet; and the Bible and the Book of Mormon are among four books of scripture. Many people may also associate Latter-day Saints with polygamy, though the church discontinued the practice more than a century ago.
The church was founded in 1830 in New York state by Joseph Smith, who reported he had been in possession of a set of gold plates that were a record of God's dealings with ancient people who lived in the Americas. He reported that he transcribed the plates with divine assistance, and published the record as the Book of Mormon.
Thomas S. Derr, who taught religion and ethics at Smith College in Northampton, Mass., for 42 years, said the Mormon Church is not a Christian faith.
"There's no way that a person with knowledge of history could regard the Mormons . . . as authentically within the Christian tradition," Derr said.
The Rev. Robert Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches and a former Pennsylvania congressman, believes Romney's faith will be an issue he will have to deal with should he run for president. Edgar does not, however, think being a Mormon automatically condemns a presidential bid. "I don't think it's a death sentence for a candidate or a super big obstacle," Edgar said. "I do think that people who express what their faith tradition is have to be authentic about expressing it.
"I think Lieberman did that well when he ran for vice president," Edgar said, referring to Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., Al Gore's 2000 running mate. "You know he's an observant Jew, and he's not ashamed of that and you connected with that."
Still, while the polling data may be in short supply, there is evidence voters have been much more accepting of the idea of a Jew, a Catholic or a Baptist running for president than of a Mormon running for the office. In fact, opposition to a Mormon presidential candidate failed to decrease in separate polls taken nearly 32 years apart.
Romney's late father, George, who was also Mormon, ran for president in 1968 when he was the governor of Michigan. He dropped out before the primaries, but in an April 1967 Gallup Poll 17 percent of respondents said they would not vote for a Mormon for president, even if their party "nominated a generally well-qualified person" of the faith. Thirteen percent said they would not vote for a Jew; 8 percent would not vote for a Catholic; and 3 percent would not vote for a Baptist.
A Gallup Poll in February 1999 that repeated the question again found 17 percent of respondents saying they would not vote for a Mormon, while 6 percent opposed a Jew and 4 percent said they would be against a Catholic or a Baptist candidate.
Tell this to all the freepers who would crawl over broken glass to vote for a certain pro-abortion black female who serves in G.W.'s cabinet. Perhaps if Romney weren't a white male, they'd be proclaiming he's "libertarian" on abortion and sweep it under the rug.
>> pro-gay <<
Please explain to all the gays in Massacuttes that Mitt is somehow "pro-gay". Last time I checked, there is no person they loathe MORE than Mitt Romney. Can you say "worked his butt off to thwart gay marriage"?
>> will sink his candidacy first -- if he even gets reelected next year. <<
Again, he just needs to change his name to "Condi Rice" or "Arnold Schwarzenegger". Then droves of "conservatives" here will worship the ground he walks on. Romney is Jesse Helms compared to some candidates favored by certain "conservatives" around here.
I don't know about the rest of Mormons, but I'm sure against him if he's pro-gay and pro-abortion. I'd like to officially introduce a new acronym to FR lexicon:
Mormon In Name Only or MINO
then again, maybe it won't
True. You never know what could happen in the next few years. I was very impressed with Mitt Romney and how he turned the 2002 Olympics around. He is a very able administrator. As President? I'm reserving judgement.
The same could be said about Christianity at the time of Christ and for the first few years afterwars.
There are a lot of misperceptions and half-truths out there still about the LDS church IMHO. Like some lady was trying to convince me, a member, that polygamy is still practice today because she saw it on TV so it must be true. Sheesh
Surprisingly, LDS figures such as Romney tend to get more favorable treatment from the liberal media than one might expect, and for many of the same reasons highlighted by the critical evangelical baptists quoted in this article. The chief reasons are that Mormons are not evangelicals and thought by many on the left not to be Christian.
And yet the LDS Church is every bit as socially conservative as as any fundamental baptist faith. This results in some rather curious media coverage.
However, Romney is out of the mainstream in terms of traditional LDS social conservatism. Had he remained in Utah after the Olympics he would have fit in more easily as a Democrat than as a Republican.
I will stay home on election day before I will ever vote for a mormon.
God bless everyone and good night.
What is the reason for such hatred? Are there any other religious groups you think should be excluded from the Presidency?
Its not hatred. I base my vote on moral and religious issues. If a mormon wants to run for president, go for it. But I would not vote for him.
This secular voter would like to know what problem you have with LDS members. Yeah, they're a little heterodox in their beliefs, but so are many other faiths.
>>if he's liberal enough to get elected in Massachusetts
Most state officeholders in Mass. are Dems, as are both
US Senators (Swimmer and Lurch) and all 10 Reps. (Barney
Frank, Marty Meehan, etc.) But the last time Mass. elected a Democratic governor was 1986: Mike Dukakis. Two years later when he ran for prez people found out that his
"Massachusetts Miracle" was a mirage.
In 1990, Bill Weld, a social liberal Republican, was elected and he was re-elected in '94. Midway through that term, he left after an unsuccesful bid to become Ambassador to Mexico, leaving the state in the hands of
fellow Republican A. Paul Celluci (Mass. is one of those states where you can't have a Gov. and Lt. Gov. of
different parties).
I don't think Celluci was all that far to the right. Anyway, when he left to become Ambassador to Canada,
the amazingly inept Jane Swift became governor but she
pulled out of the '02 race after her behavior drove
her polls way down. Romney came in as the knight in
shining armor and defeated Democrat Shannon O'Brien
("you want to see my tattoo?") for governor.
Romney is up for re-election in '06 (as is The Swimmer;
Lurch's next Senate turn comes up in '08--and he can't
run for both prez _and_ Senate, so it's decision time).
I don't know if a conservative Republican could get elected in Mass. Since '90, the voters have chosen
fiscal conservatives/social liberals, knowing full well
what could happen if another Dukakis (can you say,
"Willie Horton"?) got in. They want someone to be a kind of check-and-balance on the state Legislature.
As for the Mass. GOP, it is in pitiful shape with hardly anyone in office. Not even some posts like Treasurer or
Sec. of the Commonwealth--Democrats once again. OK, so my county sheriff (I'm in Essex County, MA), Frank Cousins, is a Republican...can't think of too many others...
I was just stating my opinion that there will never be a majority of voters for an LDS candidate. See post 28 for example. There's just a strong, negative reaction. I didn't say it was rational, makes no difference to me. I'm a member of a minority faith myself.
The media would have a field day with any LDS who took his faith seriously. Many members of mainstream churches have a real dislike for what they view as a cult.
They believe Joseph Smith was the prophet of God. Joseph Smith was a sexual pervert. If he saw a petty girl and he wanted her, why he had a vision from God that she was to be his. And many times women believed him. And lo and behold he found in Bible that its ok to have more than one wife. WOW. Brigham Young had a huge house, the size of a hotel, and all the residents were his many wives. The perversion that started that religion is astounding. I could never vote for someone who thinks Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.
Now imagine posts like this, hundreds of them, every day of the primaries.
He'll never make it out of New Hampshire.
But to be kind for a change, I like their way of life, very family oriented. And the morman tabernacle choir is the best choir.
Agreed.
Orin Hatch tried once and he never made it out of Iowa.
[Now that I think about it, I don't think anyone named Orin or Mitt was ever going to be president anyway]. ;-)
"Are there any other religious groups you think should be excluded from the Presidency?"
Islam makes me really uncomfortable.
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