Ryan Streeter
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David French, who founded Evangelicals for Mitt, has a column in today's Daily Caller defending Romney from attacks by other evangelicals who say voting for Romney is a vote for Mormonism.
Haven't we been around this block before?
French writes:
Presidents aren’t pastors. We don’t look to presidents for pastoral guidance but instead for national leadership. We don’t think, “I like those Bush tax cuts. I think I’ll check out the Methodist church.”
Applying these same lessons to Mormons, does watching Harry Reid make you want to talk to a Mormon missionary? How about when you fly JetBlue? During a smooth, comfortable flight do you use the in-flight Wi-Fi to surf LDS.org? Does a particularly elegant turndown service at a high-end Marriott put you in the mood to download the Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s greatest hits? If you’re a sports fan, did watching Steve Young connect with Jerry Rice make you complete an application to BYU?
His point is a good one - as far as it goes. Some people do harbor the view French argues against, but the issue is a bit deeper than that.
The larger issue on many peoples' minds isn't whether supporting a Mormon (for President, or as quarterback of the 49ers, or whatever) turns you into a Mormon. The issue, rather, is whether someone's choice to belong to a particular faith raises questions about their judgment.
Think of it this way: what if Mitt Romney were a Zoroastrian or belonged at one point to that funny little cult where people wore the black sweatpants and white sneakers?
My guess is the bar he'd have to clear with voters would be a lot higher. Evangelical voters who share French's view on Romney's Mormonism might have a harder time supporting him were he a part of a smaller, fringe cult.
So it seems there is another test at work here: has a religious movement sufficiently mainstreamed, with a track record of unobjectionable and good work in the world, so as to remove qualms about the character of its adherents?
Mormonism, as French's series of rhetorical questions suggests, has definitely mainstreamed. Mormons are big corporate players, they are professional athletes, they have known records of faith-driven public service that help others, and they are family-centric in ways that - despite HBO portrayals - are respectable and even exemplary.
But some people don't think of Mormonism this way. Some still regard it as a fringe cult whose adherents must have more than a few screws loose. And some in the mainstream media like to encourage this view, too, as the current Newsweek cover (above) suggests.
These people should simply acknowledge this: whatever one thinks of Mormonism's articles of faith, the track record of Mormons in the world should remove any fear of ulterior motives, weird plots, or questions about the public character of LDS adherents.
Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman are pretty good evidence of the kinds of professional achievement and public service that are consistent with Mormon belief. There's not much to fear there.
Apparently, Romney's run in 2008 didn't sufficiently put the "Mormon thing" to bed. Let's hope we can do so this time.
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