Article VI Blog

A decidely Mormon take on The Question. Decent summary of where the issue has been, but its general tenor reveals Mormons as ignorant of Evangelicals as the other way around. I'm wondering if there not ought to be some sort of conference or something?

Lowell: Well, I must admit, we Mormons don't spend much time in Sunday school talking about comparative religion . . . a conference is not a bad idea at all. Also, Meridian Magazine is just a popular slick magazine for Mormons, not a place to go for heavyweight writing on in any field– politics, religion, or culture.

Polling data. Something's fishy - Gore and Clinton pulling exactly the same numbers?

Byron York at NRO on Romey's changing positions. The more this meme keeps rolling, the more I am concerned about a potential religious angle. The "anti-cultists" amongst Evangelicals are very fond of painting Mormons as "say anything" types. That is to say, the basic theme is that Mormons say one thing until they have you hooked in and then they change their story. Thus, I as an Evangelical, cannot really trust what my partner Lowell has to tell me about Mormons because that is just "the front." If I only knew "what really goes on" behind the walls of the stakehouses, Temples and Tabernacles.

This kind of conspiracy thinking is routinely discharged as nonsense in so many areas (e.g. NASA never really landed on the moon….), but for some reason it sticks with very reasonable people when the "cult" charge is being leveled.

Certainly the recent attacks based on Romney's evolving positions feed into this mode of thought. The trap here is interesting for it leaves a Mormon with "no way out" as it were. They are presumed liars. Can we really conduct business in this way and call ourselves a reasonable nation?

Lowell: I think Romney has some work to do here. He's no Rockefeller Republican, but he's not a movement conservative either. I am not as worried as John that religion will enter the discussion here. I'm more worried that Romney's articulate style will come across as glib. Once the MSM gets its teeth into a notion like that, it can take on a life of its own.

A Heritage Foundation paper on the positive impact of religion of society. The conclusion:

A steadily increasing body of evidence from the social sciences demonstrates that regular religious practice benefits individuals, families, and communities, and thus the nation as a whole. The practice of religion improves health, academic achievement, and economic well-being and fosters self-control, self-esteem, empathy, and compassion.

Religious belief and practice can address many of the nation’s most pressing social problems, some of which have reached serious levels (e.g., out-of-wedlock births and family dissolution). Research has linked the practice of religion to reductions in the incidence of divorce, crime, delinquency, drug and alcohol addiction, out-of-wedlock births, health problems, anxiety, and prejudice. Faith-based outreach has been uniquely effective in drug addiction rehabilitation and societal re-entry programs for prisoners. Furthermore, the effects of religious belief and practice are intergenerational and cumulative. In a sense, they "compound the interest" of our social capital.

Allan Bergin, a research psychologist who received the American Psychological Association’s top award in 1990, summed up the impact of religion in his acceptance address: "Some religious influences have a modest impact whereas another portion seems like the mental equivalent of nuclear energy."

Note, no distinction is made in this piece between religions. The positive effects would appear to be true if creedal or Mormon Christian, and these effects are what matter in matters of faith and poltics. When it comes to matters of policy and governace, there appears to be no distinction.

Lowell: Ironically, Allan Bergin, quoted just above, is an emeritus professor of psychology at . . . BYU! Yep, he's a Mormon too.

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