On Feb. 7, two days after a disappointing showing on Super Tuesday, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney ended his presidential campaign. Observers say his Mormon faith was one factor in his inability to attract more support among voters. An August 2007 poll found that one in four Americans say they would be less likely to vote for a Mormon for president. Romney gave a speech on the role of religion in America’s public life on Dec. 6, 2007, though he made scant reference to his own faith. Romney is just one of a number of Mormons prominent in U.S. politics, and his campaign served to increase some Americans’ understanding of Mormonism while also raising questions about the viability of Mormons for national political office.
Mormons say they are Christian because they believe in Jesus Christ and consider the Bible Holy Scripture. However, many Christian groups say they do not accept Mormons as Christian because of their beliefs on the nature of God, salvation, and scripture (Mormons revere three other scriptures, including the Book of Mormon, some of whose teachings differ from the Bible).
Evangelicals - a large and important constituency in the GOP - in particular often reject Mormon theology as un-Christian. But political observers say Mormons and evangelicals also share concerns that could unite them politically - both groups oppose abortion, physician-assisted suicide, same-sex marriage and gay rights, and both generally support "traditional" marriage. Likewise, Roman Catholic beliefs do not accord with Mormon doctrine, and Catholics make up 27 percent of the American electorate. Still, traditional Catholics' views on some social issues also accord with Mormons'.
Evangelical support was closely watched in the race between Romney and Sen. John McCain, whose positions have alienated some religious conservative leaders, and Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and Baptist preacher. Romney was endorsed by several evangelical leaders, including Paul M. Weyrich, Mark DeMoss, and Bob Jones III.
Why it matters
The religious faith
of presidential candidates has grown in importance among voters since 1960,
and it will likely influence the 2008 election. The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints is one of the fastest-growing religions in the world. In the
United States, it claims just
under 5.6 million members.
MORMONS
• Robert
Millet is a professor of ancient Scriptures at Brigham Young University in Provo,
Utah. He helped organize the 2004 gathering of evangelicals and Mormons in Salt
Lake City that included Richard Mouw and Ravi Zacharias and has frequently engaged
in Mormon-evangelical dialogue. Contact 801-422-7042, robert_millet@byu.edu.
• Kent
P. Jackson is a professor of ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University
in Provo, Utah. He wrote an article titled "Are Mormons Christians? Presbyterians,
Mormons and the Question of Religious Definitions" for the 2000 edition
of Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions. Contact
801-422-3139, kent_jackson@byu.edu.
• Michael
Otterson is head of public relations for the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah. He can discuss
the church and its stand on politics and government matters, including backgrounders.
Contact 801-450-8911, OttersonMR@ldschurch.org.
• Scott
Gordon is president of the Foundation
for Apologetic Information and Research, an organization that defends Mormon
theology, in Mesa, Ariz. Contact 530-225-4645, president@fairlds.org.
SCHOLARS • Francis
J. Beckwith teaches a course on politics and religion at Baylor University
in Waco, Texas, where he is also associate director of the J.M.
Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies and associate editor of the Journal
of Church and State. He is co-editor of The New Mormon Challenge:
Responding to the Latest Defenses of a Fast-Growing Movement (Zondervan,
2002), a book of essays by evangelical scholars about Mormon growth. He says
if Romney, like Kennedy, were to declare that his religion would have no bearing
on his decisions, most religious voters would not vote for him. Contact francis_beckwith@baylor.edu.
• Craig L. Blomberg contributed an essay titled "Is Mormonism Christian?"
to the book The New Mormon Challenge: Responding to the Latest Defenses of
a Fast-Growing Movement (Zondervan, 2002). He is a professor of New Testament
at the Denver Seminary in Littleton, Colo. He thinks Romney's religious affiliation
"would still be more of an obstacle" than Catholicism was in 1960. But he says
much could affect the way religious voters think of Romney, including how alike
politically he and his fellow Republican front-runners are, and who his Democratic
opponent(s) might eventually be. Contact Sarah Rymer in the seminary's public
relations office, 303-762-6884, sarah.rymer@denverseminary.edu.
• Kathleen Flake is a lawyer and professor of American religious history
at Vanderbilt Divinity School at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. She
is the author of The Politics of American Religious Identity: The Seating
of Senator Reed Smoot, Mormon Apostle (University of North Carolina Press,
2004). Contact 615-343-3978, kathleen.flake@vanderbilt.edu.
• Terryl
L. Givens is a professor of literature and religion at the University of
Richmond in Richmond, Va. He is the author of several books on Latter-day Saints,
including The Latter-day Saint Experience in America (Greenwood Press,
2004). He predicts Romney's religious affiliation will have little net impact,
with those who are against Mormonism being balanced by those who find its morality
refreshing. Contact 804-289-8303, tgivens@richmond.edu.
• David Leege is an emeritus professor of political science at the University
of Notre Dame who lives much of the year in Arizona. Leege is a leading expert
on Catholic voting patterns. Contact 520-399-9874, David.C.Leege.1@nd.edu.
• Greg
Johnson is a founder of Standing
Together a Utah-based group that promotes evangelical-Mormon dialogue and
understanding. He says a Romney candidacy will cause great concern among evangelicals,
many of whom think of Mormons as a non-Christian cult. Contact 801-474-1363,
info@standingtogether.org.
• Richard
Mouw is president of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. In
November 2004 he participated in a joint celebration between Mormons and evangelicals
in Salt Lake City in which he apologized to members of the LDS church for "bearing
false witness" against them in characterizing their beliefs. His comments generated
criticism from other evangelicals. Contact 626-584-5201, rjmouw@fuller.edu.
• R.
Philip Roberts is president of the Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
in Kansas City, Mo., and the author of Mormonism Unmasked: Confronting the
Contradictions Between Mormon Beliefs and True Christianity (Broadman and
Holman, 1998). Contact 816-414-3701, proberts@mbts.edu.
• Geoffrey
Layman is an associate professor of government and politics at the University
of Maryland in College Park. He wrote The Great Divide: Religious and Cultural
Conflict in American Party Politics (Columbia University Press, 2001). Contact
301-405-9709, glayman@gvpt.umd.edu.
• Carl
Mosser is a co-editor of The New Mormon Challenge: Responding to the Latest
Defenses of a Fast-Growing Movement (Zondervan, 2002). He is an assistant
professor of biblical studies at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pa. Contact
610-341-5850, cmosser@eastern.edu.
• Boyd
Petersen is interim chairman of the Mormon studies program at Utah Valley
State College in Orem, Utah. He says he thinks Romney will have more trouble
with the voters regarding his Mormon faith than Kennedy did with his Catholicism.
But Petersen thinks that if Romney is open about the similarities and differences
between Mormonism and mainstream Christianity, his candidacy may benefit relations
between the two groups. Contact 801-863-6181, petersbo@uvsc.edu.
• Corwin
Smidt is director of the Paul
B. Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics and a professor
of political science at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich. He is author,
editor or co-author of 10 books on religion and public life, including In
God We Trust? Religion and American Political Life (Baker Academic, 2001).
Contact smid@calvin.edu.
• Rodney
Stark is the author of The Rise of Mormonism (Columbia University Press,
2005), a collection of essays. He is a professor of sociology of religion at
Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Contact 254-710-7220, socstark@aol.com.
• Alan
Wolfe is director of the Boisi
Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College. He says
Romney's major hurdle will be in winning the nomination, especially if another
Republican candidate is appealing to evangelicals. Contact 617-552-1862, wolfe@bc.edu.
POLITICAL
ANALYSTS • John
C. Green is director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the
University of Akron in Ohio. He says Romney's Mormon faith may help in drawing
together a grass-roots support network from his co-believers, which Green says
could have a large impact in the Western states. Contact 330-972-5182, green@uakron.edu.
• Michael
Barone is a political analyst, senior writer for U.S. News & World
Report and principal co-author of The Almanac of American Politics
(National Journal, 2004). He has said Americans increasingly vote as they pray,
or don't pray. Contact via Patricia Jackson in publicity at Regnery Publishing,
202-216-0600.
• Mike
Murphy is a Republican political consultant with DC
Navigators who has advised candidates, including John McCain of Arizona,
Jeb Bush, former Michigan governor John Engler and Romney. In February 2006,
Murphy stepped away from Romney's campaign. Contact 202-315-5100.
• Amy
Sullivan is an editor of Washington Monthly magazine. She wrote a September
2005 article in which she described Romney's Mormonism as a problem for
evangelical voters. The results of the straw poll have not changed her views
because, she says, they do not reflect the views of the Christian Right base
nor "the results of any whispering campaigns" by other candidates.
Contact amysullivandc@gmail.com.
• The
Rev. Richard John Neuhaus is the founder and editor of First
Things, a monthly journal promoting orthodox religious thought. Contact
at 212-627-1985, ft@firstthings.com.
• Trent
Wisecup is the former director of Romney's Massachusetts political action committee.
He is a vice president at DC
Navigators. Contact 202-315-5100.
ELECTED
OFFICIALS • U.S.
Representatives who are Mormon are listed under Regional
Sources.
• Mitt
Romney is the Republican governor
of Massachusetts and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
He is campaigning for the 2008 Republican nomination for president. Contact
Eric Fehrnstrom, director of communications in the governor's press office,
617-725-4025, communications.director@state.ma.us.
• U.S.
Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah)
is a member of the LDS church. His father was also a senator from Utah. Contact
via Mary Jane Collipriest, 202-224-5444.
• U.S.
Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho)
is a member of the LDS church. Contact via Susan Wheeler, communications director,
202-224-5150.
• U.S.
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is a member
of the LDS church who has run for president. In the 2000 presidential primaries,
he encountered anti-Mormon sentiment in the Midwest and ultimately withdrew
from the race. Contact 202-224-5251.
• U.S.
Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.)
is U.S. Senate Majority Leader and a member of the LDS church. He has been mentioned
as a possible contender for the Democratic presidential or vice presidential
nomination in 2008, raising the possibility of a choice between two Mormons.
Contact 202 224-9521.
• U.S.
Sen. Gordon Smith
(R-Ore.) is a member of the LDS church. Contact via Chris Matthews, 202-224-3753.
DENOMINATIONAL
SOURCES • Stephen Drachler is executive director of public information for
United Methodist Communications. The denomination has published guidelines
for accepting members from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that
outline some of the key theological differences between the two groups. Contact
615-742-5411 or 615-456-4710 (cell), SDrachler@UMCOM.org.
• The
Salt Lake City Diocese says at least 120,000 of Utah's 2.4 million residents
are Catholic. They are awaiting the appointment of a new bishop. Contact Shirley
Mares, 801-328-8641 ext. 304, Shirley.mares@dioslc.org.
• R.
Philip Roberts is president of the Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
in Kansas City, Mo. He is the author of the Southern Baptist Convention's statement
on Mormonism and Mormonism Unmasked: Confronting the Contradictions Between
Mormon Beliefs and True Christianity (Broadman and Holman, 1998). Contact
816-414-3701, proberts@mbts.edu.
CRITICS • John
Ankerberg is president of the Ankerberg
Theological Research Institute in Chattanooga, Tenn. He has a daily radio
and television show. An FAQ
on his web site asks whether Mormons and Christians believe the same thing.
His conclusion is they do not. Contact 423-892-7722.
• Roberta
Combs is president of the Christian
Coalition, a political action organization that describes itself as "pro-family."
According to news releases on its web site, the coalition has several times
agreed with statements made by Mitt Romney. Contact Michele Combs in the press
office, 202-479-6900, michele@cc.org.
• Ed
Decker is president of Saints
Alive in Jesus, an evangelical Christian mission to Mormons, Freemasons
and other groups the mission considers cults. He is a former Mormon and co-author
of The God Makers (Harvest House, 1997, revised edition). Contact ed@saintsalive.com.
• Fritz
Ridenour is the author of So What's the Difference (Gospel Light, 2001,
original publication 1967), in which he compares Christianity to other world
religions, including Mormonism. The book is endorsed by Focus on the Family
and declares that Mormonism is not compatible with Christianity. Ridenour lives
in Santa Barbara, Calif. Contact via Gospel Light publicity manager Marlene
Baer, 800-235-3415 ext. 1256.
• James
R. Spencer is a minister and author of seven books on cults, the occult and
secularism. He wrote an article
about Mormonism and Christianity for the Assemblies of God magazine, Today's
Pentecostal Evangel. He runs the web site Maze
Ministry. He lives in Boise, Idaho. Leave a message at 800-871-7120.
