This is his opportunity to breakaway from the pack. To stand out and be bold. Not be safe. He showed a certain aggressiveness in that Jan Michelson interview. It is really worth watching. Mitt Romney needs to throw some punches now and wrestle in the mud a little bit. He has earned that right. Opponents are trying to take him off-course and he’s got to dig in and claim his real estate. It is what will define him and win more support. Fight back with honor and in a big way but get in that ring, get bloodied, get rumpled, be spontaneous. He needs to take it back. To show that he has the character depth and the leadership to take back his position. At some point a man or woman earns to right to close the deal and stand out. To not play it safe. This is Mitt’s time to do that. God Speed, Mitt Romney.

Tapscott seems to have no clue how ignorant he is of Mormon beliefs about Christ. Specifically, other than the term “ex nihilo” (which is nowhere in the Bible and in fact contrary to the sense of the Hebrew text of Genesis), the synopsis that Tapscott gives in his column about the “Christian” view of Christ could have come out of a Mormon sermon or the Sunday School New Testament lesson manual I teach from. Mormons believe all that the Bible teaches about Christ.

What Tapscott describes as Romney’s “Jesus problem” is that mainstream Christians like Tapscott devote so little study to what Mormons actually teach each other that they swallow and regurgitate the distortions that are promulgated by professional book- and DVD-selling Mormon bashers.

Whatever sin the Mormons may have committed against blacks in the past (churches without any history of segregation may throw the first stone), there are sadly many Christians in 2007 AD who refuse to read the thousands of pages of first hand information at Mormon.org and lds.org because they prefer to hear and believe in the convenient lies about Mormons that help them feel superior to Mormons and justifies denying them civil rights, like the right to run for government office. How different, really, are the fears some Christians express about Mormons and the fears that used to be were expressed and promoted about blacks? Remember, the KKK lynched Mormons too. Apparently “their Jesus” is OK with that.

Reverend Huckabee is chumming the baraccudas when he encourages religious prejudice by promoting religious differences as a sufficient reason to discriminate against other candidates. He is saying explicitly that Romney has the burden of proof of convincing the willfully ignorant, like Huckabee, that Mormons are really believers in the Jesus of the Gospels. So Huckabee is preaching that prejudice based on ignorance is a proper principal of political action.

In doing all this, Huckabee is playing into the hands of the earnest secularists who believe that the only way to maintain civil peace in a pluralistic society of religious diversity is to suppress all religions equally, but especially Christianity, following the French model, which accommodates the special needs of no religious believer, and produces the wonderful Muslim riots in Paris.

This is Romney’s opening: Romney can, in his speech, make the case that America is an example to the world that a society of intense believers in different religions can get along with each other as neighbors and fellow citizens, NOT by suppressing the expression of their religious beliefs in public, but precisely by grounding their mutual tolerance in their own deep commitment to the principles of tolerance and love of neighbor that were preached by Christ!

Christ taught that God commands we love even those whose religion seems to us a fraud or forgery, e.g. the Samaritans, who disagreed with the Jews on where the temple should be and whether the prophets after Moses had written scripture. The commandments to love God and love our neighbors were taught by Moses, but Jesus showed that attempts to cut other people out of the circle of “neighbors” to whom we owed love were sinful disobedience to God’s commandments. The attitude of Huckabee and some other Christians is that, were they in the role of the man who fell among thieves, their reaction would be “I don’t care if you are the best qualified rescuer I’m liable to see this week, you’re still a d–n Samaritan, so get your filthy hands off me.” They wouldn’t elect Romney their ambulance driver, let alone their president.

Reverend Huckabee didn’t know the answer to what Jesus would do about capital punishment. Apparently he doesn’t know what Jesus said about tolerance for Samaritans, or their modern equivalent, the Mormons.

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. (Matthew 6:1-6)

Reverend Huckabee is declaring his faith to gain praise from voters, not to praise God. His ad is ironic because, while he says that his faith in Christ is the highest priority in his life, he has demonstrated by the simple act of shouting it out over the airwaves that he does not take seriously Christ’s condemnation of religious braggadocio. While claiming his faith comes first, he is actually putting his popularity among men before the principles taught by Christ. Are any Evangelical ministers stepping forward to point out that Reverend Huckabee’s actions are subordinating Christian faith to the service of his political ambitions?

Matthew Chapter 4 tells us that Jesus was standing on the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem, a point over 80 feet above the ground and visible from a large part of the city and to those walking into the temple complex, when Satan tempted him to pull a publicity stunt, and throw himself off so that the angels would catch him and prove to everyone that he is the Son of God. Christ condemned Satan, but Reverend Huckabee has taken Satan’s advice and has jumped off, expecting the Evangelical voters in Iowa will catch him.