Today’s Reading List: July 14, 2006
This article, written for an international audience, includes perceptions of Romney’s religion and his position on the ideological spectrum:
The other serious candidate is Mitt Romney, currently Governor of Massachusetts. Romney, who would like to become America’s first Mormon President, is the only one of the four who could be described as handsome, a radical departure for Republican presidential hopefuls. Romney will be the “life, liberty, and happiness” candidate, but Romney has a problem. As governor, he enacted universal health care in his state, an approach to human affairs that the Republican faithful have traditionally equated with rampant socialism. But that was Massachusetts, and Romney is running for the country. Now what we hear from this custodian of liberty is pride in his vocal anti-gay sentiments. Romney is the champion of traditional marriage, which the homosexuals of America, we are told, have in the cross-hairs of their war against all that is good.
As John has commented before, after all is said and done it may be Romney’s ideological position (really, the perception of his position) that is more important than his religion. I think he’s a center-right conservative. But if his heath care plan, which is not anti-market at all (just anti-libertarian), is successfully used to paint him as a “moderate,” he may have some trouble.
Writing in Christianity Today, Ted Olsen comments on how Mormons and evangelicals “fret over each other:”
As the National Association of Evangelicals’ Richard Cizik told The Washington Monthly, “Most evangelicals still regard Mormonism as a cult.” Even more see Mormons as non-Christians—or worse—while seeing liberal Protestants as “bad Christians”—though both groups equally deny classical Christian doctrine on revelation, the full divinity of Christ, the nature of man, and other key points.
With their strong family values, constant Jesus talk, and passion for evangelism, Mormons seem almost like evangelicals’ cultural twins. In some ways, they represent our ideal.
Maybe that’s one reason why so many evangelicals are more comfortable with liberal Protestantism than with Mormonism. We like our differences stark, with red-and-blue color coding.
It’s interesting that Olsen suggests Mormons “deny classical Christian doctrine” on revelation and the full divinity of Christ. It’s more accurate to say that Mormons disagree with creedal Christianity on those points of doctrine. There is certainly room for disagreement in all of Christianity. Just ask around among your serious Christian friends about whether baptism is necessary, and if so whether it must be by immersion.
Mark O’Brien writes in the Pensacola News Journal about things he learned on his summer vacation, incluiding:
Massachusetts, the only state that allows gay marriages, also has the lowest divorce rate in the nation. It is more than 50 percent Catholic, yet its governor, Mitt Romney, is a Mormon and a Republican.
It really is quite remarkable when you think about it.
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