What he said.
Posted on 07/03/2010 12:29:01 PM PDT by Colofornian
WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney and his strategists expected his Mormon faith to fade as an issue for fundamentalist Christians during his first presidential campaign. This time around, should he choose to run again, they have doubts.
...But even as the national Republican establishment warms to Romney as never before, the former candidate and his closest aides now believe a group of voters will always be off-limits because of his religion.
SNIP
In Iowa, three-fifths of caucus-goers considered themselves “born-again or evangelical Christian,’’ according to a survey, taken for a media consortium as voters entered the caucuses.
SNIP
More than one-third of caucus-goers said a candidate’s religion matters a “great deal,’’ and Huckabee won more than 56 percent of their votes.
SNIP
Religious scholars have long debated the extent to which Mormonism is compatible with traditional Christian teachings...
“The question is whether a particular church-going Christian is willing to set those differences aside as irrelevant to holding the office of president, or take them quite seriously as heretical and cultish,’’ said James F. Gimpel, a University of Maryland political scientist who informally advised George W. Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign. “There are a great many evangelical Christians who would have a hard time justifying a vote for Romney under any circumstances.’’
SNIP
...In his best-selling book “No Apology,’’ published this spring, Romney mentioned his Mormon roots only in passing, and the two page section on “Belief and Purpose’’ strives for a common language that is secular and civic rather than theological.
SNIP
“I think for most Americans they’re not terribly concerned about someone’s religious beliefs, unless of course it relates to their love of the country or something like that,’’ Romney said in the interview...
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Wrong-o, boy-o. Well, that's what the polls have said in the past, anyway:
Besides the article mentioning that ”More than one-third of caucus-goers said a candidate’s religion matters a “great deal’’
A Freeper posted a Rasmussen poll less than about 3.5 years ago (late 2006) [see Election 2008: 43% Would Never Vote for Mormon Candidate (Rasmussen Poll) ]. According to that excerpt: The Rasmussen Reports survey found that 35% say that a candidate's faith and religious beliefs are very important in their voting decision. Another 27% say faith and religious beliefs are somewhat important. Ninety-two percent (92%) of Evangelical Christian voters consider a candidate's faith and beliefs important. On the partisan front, 78% of Republicans say that a candidate's faith is an important consideration, a view shared by 55% of Democrats. However, there is also a significant divide on this topic within the Democratic Party. Among minority Democrats, 71% consider faith and religious beliefs an important consideration for voting. Just 44% of white Democrats agree.
So…what % of the following groups found that a candidate’s faith and religious beliefs are an important consideration for voting?
(1) Americans: 62%
(2) Evangelical Christians: 92%
(3) Republicans: 78%
(4) Democrats: 55% [still a majority]
If we are going to judge our politicians solely by their religious beliefs, then we deserve Obama.
It’s his lack of honesty and any core principles that won’t allow me to vote for him ever.
Many Nevada Mormons back Harry Reid soley because Reid is one of them.
If Reid gets re-elected, are Mormons to blame?
If Romney wants to be President, he must tell Nevada Mormons not vote for Reid.
I’d vote for a Mormon...just not a fan of Romney. He’s okay, but there are others I’d chose before him as GOP nominee.
Evangelicals would rather have a Marxist atheist illegal alien sitting in the White House?!
Many people in church want a President who can use the power of the White House to restore America’s Christian heritage. They want a Christian President who can save souls for Christ. They see Romney as a man who will lead souls to Hell. Yes, they are Huckabee supporters.
What he said.
I maintain Mitt's Mormon beliefs are a critical election issue and I raise following arguments in support of this position:
It is not right to say doctrine doesn't matter at all. Take Islam, for instance. It would be dangerously naive to assume, as American civil religion does, that all religions are pretty much the same. It's true that most religions share core ethical teachings, but orthodox Islam also teaches unambiguously that there is to be no separation of religion and state, that non-Muslims are to live subservient under law to Muslims, and in some sects that Allah commands a jihad or "holy war" be waged against non-Muslim "infidels". To the extent that a Muslim wishes to preside over our pluralist liberal democracy, he will have had to break radically from his faith's fundamentals.
Liberals who insist that religion has no place at all in American politics have to account for the Christian roots of many social reforms. Consider for example the abolitionism and the civil rights movement. When faced with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and other black clergymen explicitly appealing to Christian scripture against Jim Crow, Southern segregationists groused that religion had no business in politics. You can't praise religion's role in political discourse only when it advances causes of which you approve or is practiced by constituencies blacks, say, that vote Democratic.
If God doesn't exist, then by what standard do we decide right from wrong? If a society recognizes no independent, transcendent guardian of the moral order, will it not, over time, lose its self-discipline and decline into barbarism? The eminent sociologist Philip Rieff, who was not a believer, said that man would either live in fear of God or would be condemned to live in fear of the evil in himself.
Mitt, himself, has placed his Mormon faith under scrutiny. In his famous speech on Mormonism, Mitt said that a person should not be rejected . . . because of his faith. His supporters say it is akin to rejecting a Barack Obama because he is black. But Obama was born black; Romney is a Mormon because he accepts the beliefs of the Mormon faith. This permits us, therefore, to make inferences about his judgment and character, good or bad.
Mitt has promised to fully obey Mormon teachings without hesitation and without question.
In his February 26, 1980 speech at BYU titled Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet, LDS President Ezra Taft Benson maintained the Mormon Church President spoke with inerrant authority on "any matter, temporal or spiritual " and was "not required to have any particular earthly training or credentials to speak on any subject or act on any matter at any time."Mitt either intended to honor his promises to follow another man's instructions, or he lied. In the case of the former, we are entitled to know where these directives lead, and in the alternative, we should be concerned about Mitt's honesty.As a Temple Mormon, Mormon Bishop and Stake President, Mitt has sworn among other things, he recognizes the President of the LDS Church as a "prophet, seer and revelator," and will "obey the rules, laws, and commandments of the gospel" as proclaimed by Mormon Prophets.
Mitt made these solemn vows with the understanding they effect "time and all eternity."
For these reasons, among others, I assert Mitt’s beliefs are indeed a legitimate issue for determining his qualifications for elected public office.
I implore Christian conservatives of all stripes no to reject Romney on account of his religion.
I really don’t have a problem with him being a Mormon. I have a problem with him claiming to be a Christian. Mormonism and Christianity are *not* synonymous with each other. They never have been. If he would engage in a little honesty and not try to cross boundaries then maybe he would garner more respect.
Bigots will always find some excuse to justify their religious bias. The Know-Nothings showed the way, leaving history to laugh at their self-righteous ignorance and the inadvertent appropriateness of the name of their movement.
Romney is probably better off without those sorts. Speaking generally, so would the nation.
I'm amazed that with all the money he has, with all that fabulous biz acumen he allegedly possesses, with all that "genius" marketing ability, that absolutely everybody working on his campaign is so utterly CLUELESS about modern America, that they don't realize that many Americans place mormonism in the same category as the cult Scientology.
That they were SURPRISED to learn this shows that they are utterly isolated & insulated from mainstream thought.
“It’s his lack of honesty and any core principles that won’t allow me to vote for him ever.”
He’s not in my fave 5 phone list either; BUT are you saying you would sit out or vote for Obamination if he were the nominee?
Who CARES about his RELIGION?
He’s a RINO! for GOD’s sake!
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