Comments on: Religion - Was It Or Wasn’t It? And Can’t We Build Some Bridges?

By: jmh

jmh — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 20:37:11 +0000

P.S. Does anyone really believe that Sen. McCain would be in the position he now finds him in if HE were the “Mormon” candidate???

By: jmh

jmh — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 20:33:51 +0000

Gov.Romney’s act of honor and class stands in contrast to the behavior of the remaining two candidates, and makes me proud to have supported him and to be LDS.
I feel however, that once again, Sen. McCain could not resist one more poke in our eye.
His perfunctory acknowledgement of the gift to him and the Republican party that was Gov. Romney’s suspension, is contrasted by his warm and effusive thanks to Gov. Huckabee.
Call me bitter, but I note that Fred Thompson has not endorsed Sen. McCain, and I hope that Gov. Romney witholds his as well…at least for now.

By: CarlH

CarlH — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 05:41:23 +0000

Despite the rather incendiary heading, “Should Mormons Hate Huckabee?” this particular answer (from an LDS Republican who didn’t support Romney, and wants a more “populist” conservatism within the GOP) in a post on one of the LDS-”intaleckshul” blogs, Times & Seasons, may surprise many, LDS and non-LDS alike, and the comments provide a window on some of the wider, and pretty diverse, sentiments among LDS voters.

By: ncultra

ncultra — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 02:12:10 +0000

I’m surprised. And I’m changed. I am going to be more vocal and assertive in a positive but firm way when challenged, as I have been in the past, by evangelicals here in the Southeast. I am most surprised at how wisespread the view that the LDS church and its members are deceptive and untrustworthy. I guess I have been naive. The discussion about Romney not being forthcoming when professing his Faith in Jesus Christ, the recent Voters Guide issue when Romney was credited with “admitting he is not a Christian,” all these things have changed me, because I am a co-religionist of Governer Romney and I take such comments personally. There are apparently not a few who would proscribe the language I can use to describe my personal faith, who will accuse me of being deceptive when I use the sacred language of my faith. I could go on, but my hope is best articulated by Reverend Murray in the interview recently posted.

The answer to The Question is no. Not when you look at the Super Tuesday numbers from the South. A candidate simply cannot win with that amount of negative bias.

In four years, I’m hoping the answer to The Question is YES.

By: Mikeh

Mikeh — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 21:56:48 +0000

While I am very disappointed that Romney dropped out of the race. What I do take from the experience is that Evangelicals, in significant numbers supported Romney. I have gladly supported non-Mormons for office all my life, never even thinking about the religion or being glad they are “God fearing”, regardless of their specific denomination. I have seen that happen from other Christians (I am sorry if that is offensive if I consider myself a Christian) time and time again. I am delighted there were so many willing to stand up and denounce religious bigotry.

It reminds me of when I was in retail sales, one cranky shopper could ruin my entire day. Even thought there had been sever hundred shoppers I had contact with during that day.

This seems similar, very few bigots made a lot of noise. Many Evangelicals supported Mike Huckabee not because they hated Mormons, but for a number of reasonable reasons. There are a few that would never vote for a Mormon under any circumstances. I believe there are fewer of them today than there were a year ago, and for that reason alone I am encouraged.

Mike Hunsaker

By: Sherry

Sherry — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:28:21 +0000

I’m not sure which camp I am in. I still will support my local Mission. (I haven’t any idea what religious denomination it is, but they have the best program I’ve ever seen for helping the homeless.) I still will enjoy the company of my not-LDS neighbors. I will still discuss my religion with all of those who inquire in the spirit of interest and curiosity. I still will consider myself a conservative, values voter. But I am seriously thinking of looking for a new party to support. I’m kind of hoping for an actual conservative party to emerge, though I will probably take a serious look at the Republican party again in the future.

I truly don’t believe that McCain can win the general election. I think the man has offended too many conservatives of all sorts of stripes. I really believe the economy, not the war, is the critical issue of this election. We have discussed Obama and Clinton and come to the conclusion that voting for a socialist isn’t the answer. So now I’m not sure what I want to do.

I am writing this after Romney dropped out. I realize that I am quite upset at Romney for not allowing me to cast my vote for him. I think one thing we LDS folks have to be wary of is that we don’t mistake dislike of Romney for dislike of Evangelicals or others. I expect emotions will run pretty high for a while, but eventually we will need to get back to the business of building strong bridges with other conservatives. I would urge caution.

By: jmh

jmh — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:22:20 +0000

well, it appears as though Mr. Romney has done the honorable thing and is trying to build that bridge.
can’t wait to see how Gov. Huckabee and Sen. Mc Cain walk all over it.
But, hey, it is all water under the bridge and we just need to swallow hard, right?
sadface.

By: HaroldHutchison

HaroldHutchison — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:43:43 +0000

I’m firmly in the second camp at this juncture. I just see no reason to politically empower or work with people who seem to hold my religion in contempt. The odds are worse than a coin-flip, based on the Vanderbilt study (57% of evangelicals having an anti-Mormon bias).

While I know some evangelicals are not like Huckabee, it appears many either are, or are not bothered by those who use such tactics.

If there are evangelicals who can prove they are not religious bigots, I will work with them. But they need to prove they have no anti-Mormon bias.

By: paawa

paawa — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:00:19 +0000

I have been following this website on a regular basis for several months, and have been a Romney supporter for some time now. I greatly admire and respect John, Lowell, and other web site authors (The folks at evangelicalsformitt.com, Hugh Hewitt, etc) who have both supported Romney and have tried to build on the common ties that bind us conservatives of different religious beliefs together. As a member of the LDS faith, I too agree with what Lowell said about being dismayed by what both McCain and Huckabee have done together to prevent Romney from getting the republican nomination, and particularly by Huckabee’s shameless use of his faith as a tool to help him in his political ambitions. Though I might be able to support McCain in a presidential bid, I could not under any circumstances support him if he chooses Huckabee as his running mate. I would go 3rd party and might even vote for Obama instead. My main reasoning here is that a McCain/Huckabee presidency would set the republican party back tremendously, and might even destroy a now fragile coalition of conservatives and moderates, and split the party, and also because I simply distrust both men to make honest, level-headed decisions at such a critical time in history. McCain has demonstrated a mean, vindictive temperament, and Huckabee has shown himself to be self-righteous, deceitful man that uses religion for personal ambition, that I also cannot trust, and would not want to encourage in any way the possibility of him running for president at some point. I also think that a McCain/Huckabee ticket would be destined to fail against Obama or even Hillary. Both men just have too much baggage, particularly Huckabee, that the democrats will have a “field day” in finding flaky behavior with. The liberal biased media has been holding back on criticizing Huckabee but will do so no longer if he is on the ticket. I also see one outcome of this election and a kind of “rift” appearing within the evangelical world, and in society in general, between those who are virulantly “anti-Mormon” and those that are more accepting and tolerant of the religious beliefs of others. This I feel is a good thing because it helps to expose bigotry so that it can be recognized and shunned, as a necessary step in eradicating it. As this website points out on a regular basis, religious bigotry is the one last, persistent form of bigotry which needs to be overcome, and not just ant-Mormon bigotry, buy any form of religious bigotry, or “belief system” bigotry, for that matter.

By: tern

tern — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:03:23 +0000

Speaking as a Mormon who is undecided between all three camps, and closest to the offended camp:

The comment “these people”, at least for me, isn’t evangelicals. It’s the members of the Republican party who have either agreed with the anti-Mormon tactics or who have been complicit through their silence. This includes many evangelicals, but is not limited to them.

And what one tends to forget is that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a very big tent in doctrinal terms. In other words, we don’t have to be Republicans to be good Mormons. While the Democratic Party is probably further away from LDS teachings than the Republican party, both have values and platforms (different ones, of course) which resonate with the Gospel.

So if the Republican party spits on Mitt Romney because of his religion (for other reasons, it is . . . okay), they are spitting on me. Romney reminds me of every good Stake President that I’ve ever had. As a Mormon, he not only comes across as genuine, but he comes across as a role model. He’s an ideal Mormon. So if they hate the best of us, what does that leave for the rest?

At any rate, the question for me now is: If McCain wins (highly likely) and picks Huckabee as his VP candidate (possible), should I grit my teeth and vote for him?