What were you saying, Ed?


Romney Faces Uphill Battle for Evangelical Voters
by Barbara Bradley Hagerty

All Things Considered, July 5, 2007 ú

Nearly a half-century after John F. Kennedy broke the Catholic barrier
to the presidency, Mitt Romney is attempting a similar feat.

His Mormon faith raises the fur of some conservative Christians. Many
evangelical believers -- a group that Romney must win over to prevail in
the primaries -- say the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is
not Christianity.

A Bumpy Campaign Trail

At a forum in Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday, other Republican hopefuls
such as Sam Brownback and Mike Huckabee spoke repeatedly about their
Christian faith. Mitt Romney barely mentioned God, much less the Church
of Latter-day Saints. Instead, he invoked Ronald Reagan, the military,
the economy and family.

The former governor of Massachusetts -- the first state to legalize gay
marriage -- Romney drew the biggest applause with this line: "I believe
every child deserves a mom and a dad, and I think it's critical for our
nation that we put in place a federal amendment that protects the
sanctity of marriage."

For Romney, this was not the easiest crowd, filled with pro-life
Christians who, polls show, often vote along religious lines. Reaction
to Romney was mixed.

Mary Doren, a stay-at-home mom, said Romney's Mormon faith was a deal
breaker.

"I'm a Christian," Doren said. "I don't think a Mormon or a
Catholic is
a Christian."

Suzanne Clackey, who home schools her children, echoed similar
theological concerns.

"My understanding is they don't believe in the triune God, and so that
would bother me," she said.

But others, like Amy Neihaw, argued that Romney's values trump religion.

"I'm familiar with the religion," Neihaw said. "And although I don't
believe it, their morals are very biblical -- as far as I can tell -- and
he supports the issues that I care about."

A Conversion to Conservatism

Some conservative voters wonder about the depth of Romney's sincerity on
litmus-test issues such as gay marriage and abortion.

When Romney was running against Sen. Edward Kennedy in the 1994
Massachusetts Senate race, he wrote the Log Cabin Republicans a letter
in which he stated: "I am more convinced than ever that, as we seek to
establish full equality for America's gay and lesbian citizens, I will
provide more effective leadership than my opponent."

On abortion, the bright line for evangelicals, Romney's own words have
come to haunt him. In a 1994 debate with Kennedy, Romney said: "I
believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country. I
believe that since Roe v. Wade has been the law for 20 years, we should
sustain and support it. And I sustain and support that law and the right
of a woman to make that choice."

At the time, Romney insisted he would not impose his personal morals on
others. But now that he is running for president, more than a decade
later, his philosophy has turned 180 degrees.

"I proudly follow a long line of converts -- George Herbert Walker Bush,
Ronald Reagan, Henry Hyde -- just to name a few," Romney told pro-life
activists in June. "I'm evidence that your work, that your relentless
campaign to promote the sanctity of human life, bears fruit."

His turnaround, however, has left some unconvinced.

"My hesitation doesn't stem from faith," Greg Hartzel says. "My
hesitation stems from his recent conversion to conservatism."

Mormonism and Skepticism

While many might be skeptical about the depth of his commitment to
conservative values, Christian conservatives have another layer of
issues with Romney.

For a group of people who often vote along denominational lines,
Romney's candidacy poses a basic problem.

"Mormonism is not Christianity," says Albert Mohler, president of
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a powerful voice among
conservative Christians.

Mohler and other evangelical theologians point to the origin of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Some 180 years ago, Joseph
Smith translated golden plates provided by the angel Moroni and wrote
down those revelations in the Book of Mormon, which is considered a
sacred text. Smith was told that Catholic and Protestant Christians were
hopelessly lost.

"Historically, the whole idea of Mormonism was to repudiate
Christianity, to replace Christianity," Mohler says. "Joseph Smith
claimed to receive this revelation that would restore the true Church --
the Church that, according to the documents of Mormonism, fell into
corruption immediately after the death of the apostles."

Mohler and others say Mormon theology differs from that of the Catholic
and Protestant churches on many of the key issues, such as the Trinity,
the nature of God, the nature of Jesus Christ and the role of the
crucifixion in personal salvation. The Church of Latter-day Saints
maintains, for example, that God began as man and progressed to deity,
something other people can do today.

Bridging the Christian Gap

Whether Romney will deter Christians from voting for him remains to be
seen, but John Green, a senior fellow at Pew Research Center says that
it might. Polls show that Americans say they are less comfortable with
the idea of a Mormon president than with a Catholic, Protestant or Jew,
though Mormons rank higher than Muslims or atheists.

"When asked in polls whether they would vote for a Mormon candidate, a
substantial minority of conservative Christians say they would be less
likely to vote for a Mormon candidate," Green notes. "And when those
questions are followed up, there's a significant group that says there's
no chance that they would vote for a Mormon candidate."

That could be a problem, Green says, because any Republican candidate
needs the evangelical base to win the primaries and get to the general
election.

"When President Bush was re-elected in 2004, approximately four out of
10 of his votes came from conservative Christians. In some Republican
primaries, that might even be larger -- particularly in the South," Green
says.

The South is an area rich in religious conservative voters. But Green
says even evangelicals don't vote on religion alone -- especially if they
feel that Romney's Republican and Democratic rivals may say they are
Protestant or Catholic, but fail to take enough of a pro-life and anti-
gay-marriage stance.

Albert Mohler of the Southern Baptist Seminary says the squeaky-clean
Romney, who has been married to his wife for 38 years, scores awfully
high on family values and morality.

"There are circumstances in which I might well vote for Mitt Romney as
president of the United States," Mohler says. "In the right political
context, there could be a lot of evangelicals voting for a Mormon
candidate."

http://tinyurl.com/o47noe

--- Xnews/5.04.25