The Washington Post’s Libby Copeland wonders whether the presidential candidacy of Fmr. Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) was “good for the Mormons.” She never really answers her own question, but The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press do: No, it was bad for the Mormons, because Romney’s run for the White House unambiguously revealed - perhaps for the first time - how far out of the mainstream many Americans consider Mormonism.
A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll taken in January “showed that far more Americans say they’d never vote for a Mormon than those who admitted they wouldn’t choose a woman or an African-American,” according to The Journal. Two months earlier, half of those participating in an Associated Press-Yahoo poll said they had “some problems supporting a Mormon presidential candidate. Among white evangelicals, more than half expressed reservations about backing a Latter-day Saint,” reports AP.
The antipathy was broad-based, with atheists and evangelicals alike taking a dim view of Mormon beliefs and practices – and they made no bones about it. As AP puts it: “Mitt Romney isn’t the only casualty in his failed presidential bid. The Mormon church, yearning for broad acceptance, also took a beating.”
You could call it the “Shawn Bradley” effect.
This, from The Journal:
In December, political pundit and actor Lawrence O’Donnell Jr. unleashed a tirade on the “McLaughlin Group” television talk show, tearing into the Mormon Church and Mr. Romney’s faith. “Romney comes from a religion founded by a criminal who was anti-American, pro-slavery, and a rapist. And he comes from that lineage and says, ‘I respect this religion fully.’…He’s got to answer.” …
On the Internet, the Romney bid prompted an outpouring of broadsides against Mormonism from both the secular and religious worlds. Evangelical Christian speakers who consider it their mission to criticize Mormon beliefs lectured to church congregations across the country. Richard John Neuhaus, editor of the Catholic journal First Things, wrote that a Mormon presidency would threaten Christian faiths. Atheist author Christopher Hitchens called Mormonism “a mad cult” on Slate.com, and Bill Keller, a former convict who runs an online ministry in Florida, told a national radio audience that a vote for Mr. Romney was a vote for Satan.
This, from AP:
Extremists denounced Romney’s campaign as a Mormon plot to take over the country. Some Evangelicals feared that a Mormon in the White House would draw more converts to his faith. …
Many Christians said they were raising legitimate theological concerns, not Mormon-bashing.
The news service of the Southern Baptist Convention, which considers the LDS church a cult, ran a six-part series through December explaining why they don’t consider Mormonism to be Christian. (They also profiled a distant Romney relative who is Protestant and manages a Southern Baptist-affiliated bookstore in Salt Lake.)
In just one example of the practices that set Mormons apart, LDS church founder Joseph Smith revised — and in his view corrected — parts of the Bible.
Interviewed by AP, Brigham Young University professor Robert Millet, wondered: “How can it be the case that Gov. Romney and his feelings about Christ and his feelings about religion have been so little understood?” Because – as The Stiletto has repeatedly argued – Romney either dismissed people’s questions about his belief system as “bigotry” or glossed over the doctrinal differences between Mormonism and gospel-based Christian religions. He never invited understanding.
Ironically, Fmr. Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR), an ordained Baptist minister, may get hoist by the same petard: That Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll also found that 45 percent of voters are not thrilled by the idea of a president who is an evangelical Christian.
Why? Probably because they’re discomfited he can quote scripture better than they can. When National Public Radio recently sent a crew to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., they found that few people understood the biblical allusions with which Huckabee lards his speeches. NPR could not find a single person who knew that the “little boy with two fish and five loaves” who “fed a crowd of 5,000 people” was Jesus; or that “one small smooth stone is even more effective than a whole lot of armor” refers to David slaying the giant Goliath with his slingshot; or that “the widow’s mite has more effectiveness than all the gold in the world” refers to a parable in which Jesus tells of a poor widow donating two coins of the smallest denomination in circulation to G-d – which was all she had.
Note: The Stiletto writes about politics and other stuff at The Stiletto Blog.
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14 users commented in " The “Shawn Bradley” Effect "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackIgnorance and bigotry are what held Romney back in the primaries. Romney was the best qualified candidate by far. In the west, voters are used to Mormons so Romney’s Mormonism was even seen as an advantage to many voters in the west. The east and the south would need to know some Mormons personally to overcome much of this prejudice. This is easier done in the west where most know Mormons.
The Stiletto marvels at people who cling to the fiction of “anti-Mormon bigotry” as the sole reason Romney - who was an inept candidate - did not catch on with voters. The fact is, on a percentage basis, more evangelicals voted for Romney than Mormons voted for Huckabee. One can make a more plausible case that Mormons are bigoted against Baptists, given that 90 percent of them voted for Romney in NV and UT and Huckabee never got nearly that level of evangelical support. Yes, there was some anti-Mormon bigotry at work here - which Romney could have overcome by being forthright about his beliefs instead of resolutely ducking questions - but the main reasons Romney failed as a candidate is that he was regarded as lacking candor, being a flip-flopper and being a panderer.
Stiletto,
It was bigotry. In Iowa, Missouri, and Georgia the Huck/Romney split had more to do with household income, and population density. Romney won in the more urban areas, Huckabee won decisively only in small town areas. In Iowa we knew exactly what Huckabee was up to. Huckabee didn’t moderate the comments on his own website which was a hotbed of anti-mormon bigotry. His supporters were all about wink/nod anti-mormon get out the vote efforts. You can’t overcome that by getting pulled into a debate over theology.
I’m in a more populated part of Iowa- Davenport. Romney won my precinct, and my county.
To insinuate that Mormons have an anti-evangelical bias is misleading as well. Mitt Romney got less of a percentage of the vote in Nevada among Mormon voters than George W. Bush got in 2004.
All you Mormons reading this - educated evangelicals may have a problem with your religion, but most of us have gotten past that in the political sphere.
Anti-Mormon bigotry gave Iowa to Huckabee, just as it was the hardened core, the lifeblood of the Huckabee minority. Huckabee’s anti-Mormon bigotry was alarmingly effective. It is a sad day for America when someone uses religious bigotry against another candidate as a campaign tactic…and becomes a top-tier candidate because of it.
Unfortunately, this may have the effect of “legitimizing” anti-Mormon bigotry, currently the only form of bigotry that is now acceptable, with the exception of general anti-conservative bigotry. Now that bigotry has proven to be an effective tool in a political campaign, we will only see its use grow whenever a Mormon is running for office.
Anti-Mormon bigotry, such as the comments trying to pretend that support for Romney is somehow bigoted, is itself obvious anti-Mormon bigotry, and has no place in American politics.
Mitt Romney was far and away the best candidate, from every single perspective, that Republicans have had on the national level since Ronald Wilson Reagan. Unfortunately, Mike Huckabee and Juan “Amnesty” McCain are willing to be dishonest and say anything to win, and those with class, like Mitt Romney, are too honest to lie to win, and unfortunately, it appears that not enough people in America value honesty to reject the McCains and Huckabees of the world. I fear for our nation.
Granted, there was some anti-Mormon prejudice here and there, but what about areas that did not have a huge population of evangelicals? Why did conservatives nationwide shy away from Romney until it became apparent that they were getting McCain? Because Romney did not run a good campaign, plain and simple. He spent $35 million of his own money plus millions more raised from his investment banker friends, on TV commercials and the voters still did not buy what he was selling. Sorry, but that’s how The Stiletto sees it.
Actually, Mormons understood every one of Huckabee’s Biblical allusions. That’s why we were flabbergasted at the subtle anti-mormonism of his campaign and the blatant anti-mormonism of his supporters–including their comments on his own website. You’ll notice that the Mormon church doesn’t publish any anti-baptist or anti-catholic or anti-anyone books and pamphets and movies. Why? Well, we simply don’t believe it’s very Christian to do that.
It’s no wonder why the NPR crew couldn’t find anyone who didn’t understand that the “little boy” who is refered to in the story of the loaves and fishes is Jesus. It’s because the little boy IS NOT Jesus. As the linked Wikipedia description of the event points out, “the Gospel of John adds that these (few loaves and fishes) came from a single boy (a “lad”)in the crowd. Jesus blessed the food, broke it, and gave it to the disciples, who distributed it to the people…” So Jesus was not the “little boy” in the story. If Huckabee refereed to Him as such, no wonder the people were confused.
And by the way, the bigotry/ignorance/misunderstandings regarding the LDS church existed independent of Romney’s campaign. The campaign served to bring much of these sentiments out into the open. In some cases, new understanding resulted. New dialogues were established. Some of the misconceptions were addressed. I see all this as a positive step towards better understanding of “Mormonism”. Of course, there will always be those who chose to listen and prescribe to the anti-mormon sentiment. But Mormons have been dealing with that for over 175 years.
The more telling aspect of this whole election is that it proves, for the most part, what an utterly religiously bigoted country this is. I don’t remember Romney EVER bringing up his religion but EVERY debate and EVERY interviewer brought it up and asked very personal questions that clearly were nobody’s business—such as—Did you and your wife have sexual relations before marriage!!! How crude is that!!! Not one other candidate of either party were grilled about their religion and nobody asked tasteless questions such as—Mr. McCain, did you have sexual relations with your current wife while you were still married to your first wife? Romney answered questions over and over again but it still wasn’t good enough. Evangelicals were all concerned that the LDS church might tell Romney how to run the country when they clearly know nothing about LDS church protocol. Romney stated on numerous occassions that he was not running for pastor in chief—Huckabee is CLEARLY running for pastor in chief and personally, I am growing very weary of his constant religious references. He needs to save that for Sunday services. And the vitriol, hatred and prejudice coming from a lot of the evangelicals against a Mormon candidate makes me feel like—you know what? If your behavior is what you consider true Christianity and Mormons just aren’t Christians—I say to you, I want no part of YOUR Christianity because the Savior would NEVER treat people like you do. You should hang your heads in shame! Romney was clearly the most intelligent, qualified, dignified, presidential candidate running—but sadly, this country is going to get exactly what it deserves.
When Mitt Romney’s campaign was in full swing posts ‘exposing’ the Mormons clogged the campaign blogs and comments. Anti-Mormon messages morphed out of nowhere like mushrooms after a rain storm. LDS authorities seemed astonished at the intensity of the criticism…
Read the entire article at:
http://mittromney.townhall.com
Mormons are not Creedal Christians. However, they do believe in the Jesus Christ of the New Testament:
The Church of Jesus Christ (LDS) is often accused by Evangelical pastors of not believing in Christ and, therefore, not being a Christian religion. This article http://mormonsarechristian.blogspot.com/ helps to clarify such misconceptions by examining early Christianity’s comprehension of baptism, the Godhead, the deity of Jesus Christ and His Atonement.
The Church of Jesus Christ (LDS) adheres more closely to First Century Christianity and the New Testament than any other denomination. For example, Harper’s Bible Dictionary entry on the Trinity says “the formal doctrine of the Trinity as it was defined by the great church councils of the fourth and fifth centuries is not to be found in the New Testament.”
One Baptist blogger stated “99 percent of the members of his Baptist church believe in the Mormon (and Early Christian) view of the Trinity. It is the preachers who insist on the Nicene Creed definition.” It seems to me the reason the pastors denigrate the Church of Jesus Christ (LDS) is to protect their flock (and their livelihood).
“In December, political pundit and actor Lawrence O’Donnell Jr. unleashed a tirade on the “McLaughlin Group” television talk show, tearing into the Mormon Church and Mr. Romney’s faith. “Romney comes from a religion founded by a criminal who was anti-American, pro-slavery, and a rapist. And he comes from that lineage and says, ‘I respect this religion fully.’…He’s got to answer.” …”
UNBELIEVABLE……..Who IS this arrogant Lawrence O’Donnell, JR.???? He knows nothing and his ignorance is shameful to any intelligent human being! First and foremost, if I wanted to know something about America, I would NOT go to Osama bin Laden and consider that my source! That seems to be what happened with o’donnell!! In looking for TRUTH, you would check a variety of OBJECTIVE sources, not just ENEMIES.
But, you know, some people DON’T WANT TRUTH, they just want scandal, lies and hate. Congratulations, to all those who promote such feelings of lies and hate amongst our country…….from the media to the false idols of Hollywood to “Christians” who in their “code” stir up dislike, distrust and hate against Mormons….to promote themselves/agenda politically! For the good, Christian lives Mormons are encouraged to live, to support our country, to reach out and help others irregardless of their religion, what ignorance and fear exist in the minds of waaaaaay too many people!
Also……every campaign makes mistakes and I’m sure Romney’s did. However, the Huckabee religious distrust/hate manuevering starting in Iowa, followed by the good ‘ole boys back scratchin’ between McCain and Huck had an OBVIOUS impact.
Mormons are not biggoted against Baptists, but they knew that Huckabee was dumb. Just like Evangelicals knew that a successful business man, successful father, and a successful governor is not necessarily a successful president.
The Huckster’s use of the “Christian Leader” title and the Cross in his ads and his attempt to denigrate Mitt Romney’s religion is a thinly-veiled attempt to impose a religious test in violation of Article Six of the Constitution
The Huckster was the keynote speaker at a 1998 anti-Mormon conference in Salt Lake City. And he says he knows nothing about Mormons? If he knew nothing, why was he the keynote speaker at an anti-Mormon conference? And the “Christian Leader” doesn’t want to release his sermons?
He led the Arkansas Baptists liberal congregations in a dispute with the conservative Southern Baptist Conference. Why did “real Southern Baptists” vote for the Huckster?
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