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

Posted by: John Schroeder at 11:17 pm, February 6th 2008 &mdash 14 Comments »

The MSM Narrative…

The movie The Big Chill contains one of my more favorite movie quotes. Jeff Goldblum plays a writer for People magazine and by the end of the film he decides to quit, saying he is “tired of writing stories which can be read in the duration of the average crap,” or a very close approximation thereof. As I review the MSM coverage of Super Tuesday, that seems a most apt description of MSM writing in general.

They want to describe the results in simple terms, which includes a straightforward religion-based narrative. Consider the coverage from the Boston Globe and Alabama.com. But then they also want to establish a simple identity-based narrative for the Democratic primary as well. They are even trying to establish it going forward.

But like any story, things are much more complex than these stories let on. There is a lot of emotion roiling out there and there is a temptation in the face of it to say things that are not smart. Buying into these simple narratives would be one of them. Certainly these things are true to some extent and with some people, but that far from makes it true for the nation as a whole.

The fact of the matter is, Romney is staying in. If we buy these narratives, that means war. If we think, and reason, that becomes an opportunity to building a coalition, and for healing what are clearly damaged relations between Mormons and Evangelicals. If we want to make any progress on the political goals that we clearly hold in common, we have got to achieve that coalition.

The Mormon View of All This (from Lowell)

Well, at least it’s this Mormon’s view. I want to write about the “damaged relations between Mormons and Evangelicals” to which John refers. After very late night last night (I was actually a guest on Irish Public Radio, certainly a first for me), I’m a little too low on energy to do a long post. I’ll look at this from three perspectives.

1. The surprised Mormon.

I am convinced that my own experience, as the Romney candidacy has unfolded, has been shared by most of my fellow Latter-day Saints. We have been genuinely surprised by the reactions to the Governor’s run. We did not expect Al Mohler to agonize publicly over whether he could, as “a matter of Christian discipleship,” justify voting for a Mormon. We did not see Huckabee’s question, “Don’t Mormons believe Jesus and Satan are brothers?” coming, and we were stunned when it did. (The outrage came later.) The Iowa outcome caught most of us flat-footed too.

This group saw these developments “in sorrow more than anger.” We received an e-mail from a reader that expresses that reaction well:

I am LDS and I wanted to chime in. I remember a time, maybe in the early summer, when the Mormon question was a bigger issue. Huckabee was asked a number of times when he was polling at 1% whether Romney’s religion was relevant or not. This was a time, in my opinion, where he could have been a real leader and denounced bigotry in general. Instead he stayed mum and said things like ‘of course religion influences me’, and so forth. He had an opportunity to bring tolerance and acceptance.

What if he would have said: “We wont compromise our doctrines, but we need each other in this war for values, and we should be proud to work together.” [Ed.: That’s what Romney was saying then and has always said.] Something like this would have strengthened the cause of social conservatism much more than what he chose to do instead: He chose to use religion as a weapon. He used religion and values voters to drive a wedge, and in my opinion set back the conservative values movement a long way.

George Bush won with evangelicals AND Mormons and others of faith and values, and even then only narrowly. Now, there is a divide. I still believe in conservative principles but I will never support a ticket with Huckabee anywhere close to it. I was hoping that this election could have brought about more acceptance and a greater desire to work together. Sadly it didn’t happen. . . . Who is going to bring harmony to the values movement? Bush at least paid respect. I am not sad that Romney lost. I am sad that the movement of faith and values lost and it seems like our collective influence has been marginalized.

I can attest that our reader has a lot of company among LDS folk.

2. The offended Mormon.

A good friend of mine is a long-time Republican activist and was a presidential appointee during the current Bush administration. He and I were talking at the time of the “Jesus and Satan are brothers” brouhaha. In exasperation, he said something like this to me, referring to Evangelicals who were either critical of, or hesitant about, Romney based on his Mormonism:

I’m done with these people. Mormons have become the blacks of the Republican party. The religious right is happy to take our money, our volunteer time, and definitely our votes, but they don’t want us to have a place at the table. Sure, we can serve in Congress, but we’d better not get uppity enough to run for president. Well, now that I know how they feel, they’re getting nothing from me.

I don’t share my friend’s view, but I certainly understand it. I must say, it’s tragic and totally unnecessary that this has occurred, but people are people.

Mormons (including Mitt Romney) did not come into this election looking for a fight. We have always voted for a candidate of another faith; that’s just normal life to us. The idea of not voting for a presidential candidate because he’s a Baptist or a Methodist or a Catholic is simply foreign to us. (Hence the “surprised Mormons” described above.)

John breaks in for a moment: At the risk of offending Lowell’s friend, which is not my intention, consider the quote “I’m done with these people…” To my LDS friends, please note how that sounds just as intolerant and small minded as the less-than-charitable of my creedal brethren. To my creedal Christian brethren, do we want to be such exasperating souls? Is that really what you think our faith guides us to?

Back to Lowell:

Clarification: In fairness to my friend, by “these people” he meant religious conservatives who make an issue of a politician’s Mormon faith but still want the political help of the poltician’s co-religionists. He wasn’t divorcing himself from Evangelicals.

3. The bridge-building Mormon.

I aspire to membership in this group. My sense is that I have a lot of company. We of this bunch are dismayed at what has happened but, consistent with our faith’s general attitude, we seek out people of good will and high moral standards with whom we can make common cause in civic matters.

It’s significant, in that regard, that the new president of our church, Thomas S. Monson, said this on the day his selection was announced:

Responding to a reporter’s question about the Church’s openness in working with other churches and groups, President Monson said: “We should not be sequestered in a little cage. We should eliminate the weakness of the one standing alone and substitute it with the strength of working together to make this a better world.”

That’s a very, very familiar teaching to me, as a Mormon; I’ve been hearing it all my life.

There are far too few voters who care about families and marriage and protecting youth from the rot of our continually coarsening and secularizing society. We cannot afford to fragment ourselves.

It would help us all if the candidates would echo that theme. I think Romney has been doing that. John McCain does not care about social issues much, but he could do the Republican Party, and the base whose support he needs, a great service by:

Denouncing religious bigotry and the abuse of identity politics.
Picking up the phone and calling his ally Huckabee and insisting that Huck do the same thing.
If McCain gets the nomination, pointedly involving Romney in his campaign and announcing, before the election, that he will invite both Romney and Huckabee to have a significant role in a McCain administration, and that he expects there to be no sectarian divisions in his team.

Now that would be leadership. Let’s see if we get something close to it.

Back to John, and the real MSM Agenda . . .

Which is to weaken the voice of religion in the nation and its politics. Consider:

I still fear greatly for the religious voice in politics and if we let these narratives hold, we are damaged.

If you think about it, it’s really funny.

You know, sometimes the insults go so far over the edge that you have to laugh. For example, consider this web site from publicity hog Bill Keller. Yes, the banner is ugly, but look at it! Come on - that rises to the level of self-parody. Don’t you think Keller makes a fool of himself here? - it looks like something SNL would do.

And then this blog post is the mother of all conspiracy theories. Once again, self-parody and comedy.

Relax and laugh a little.
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14 Responses to “Religion - Was It Or Wasn’t It? And Can’t We Build Some Bridges?”

4thnephite on 07 Feb 2008 at 2:41 am #

Anytime, all religion is discussed and brought out to light of the day, that subject has a silver lining in it. I praise all Latter-Day-Saints for bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the forefront.
For those in the media, who truly wish to know us, we believe in Christ, we know Jesus is the son of God, and we will never forget what He has done for us. Yes, we are Christian, but I must add during this time and season we are citizens of this great nation and we will not go down the cliff with the rest of the media. I have witness in way too many cases, the so-called back-seat quarterbackers what to lead us in their direction. I for myself will remain focused on the issues.
Our history and our future demands we stand firm on correct principal.
I’m happy to know Mitt has learned how to be a survivor.
fitzwdarcey on 07 Feb 2008 at 7:24 am #

Count me as a surprised Mormon. I even read the God Makers when I was a teenager and investigating the church, and I still was shocked at the amount of hatred and anti-Mormon sentiment displayed in the election. Furthermore, when Huckabee blatantly played on anti-Mormon sentiment, I was shocked again to see exactly how acceptable his behavior was both among Christians (Christians for crying out loud) and in the media. However, I have to disagree with the angry Mormons, though I have been one at times as well. We would be every bit as mistaken to make blanket statements about all evangelicals because of the sad actions of some. That is every bit as unChristian as the behaviour of some evangelicals. To abandon good causes because some don’t want us, is to abandon our values. We should continue to support what is good, because it is what is good.

That being said, though I don’t support a blanket isolationism from the larger Christian world, I would understand every member of the LDS Church who refused to vote for Huckabee. Not too long ago on this blog, there was a series of articles posted that pointed out that the proper question wasn’t could one vote for a Mormon but could one vote for this Mormon. Ironically, it has become the same issue for members of the LDS faith. LDS members have do and will continue to vote for evangelicals. It has just never mattered to them before. Issues mattered. In this election, many will decide that they can’t vote for this evangelical, and surely John can understand why.

Let’s remember though that if we fail to be bridge builders and fail to continue in our good work, we will fail to do as we should. We will fail to rise above it. We will become what we are surprised at and angry at.
James on 07 Feb 2008 at 8:26 am #

I think that there is a fourth category that Lowell didn’t consider.

4. The not-surprised Mormon: I’m saddened by the fresh wave of anti-mormon bigotry that the Romney campaign has uncovered but I’m not surprised. With due respect to John, I’ve never really trusted the religious right because I’m aware of the virulent anti-mormon rhetoric that is preached in many of their churches from my youth in the midwest. I’ve always expected that they would throw us under the bus if any member of our church got too ambitious politically and that is exactly what has happened. What this really means is that we have to be much more selective about who and what party we grant our support. The republican party should not assume that ~80% of LDS voters are going to support them any more. They should have to earn our support.
benjensen on 07 Feb 2008 at 9:00 am #

Thought you might be interested in and article that appeared today on American Thinker:

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/02/huckabees_antimormonism_an_old.html
tern on 07 Feb 2008 at 9:03 am #

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?
paawa on 07 Feb 2008 at 10:00 am #

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.
HaroldHutchison on 07 Feb 2008 at 10:43 am #

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.
jmh on 07 Feb 2008 at 11:22 am #

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.
Sherry on 07 Feb 2008 at 12:28 pm #

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.
Mikeh on 07 Feb 2008 at 2:56 pm #

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
ncultra on 07 Feb 2008 at 7:12 pm #

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.
CarlH on 07 Feb 2008 at 10:41 pm #

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.
jmh on 08 Feb 2008 at 1:33 pm #

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.
jmh on 08 Feb 2008 at 1:37 pm #

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???