It took a little longer than expected, but it’s finally happened: Mitt Romney’s opponents have played the Mormon card. The former Massachusetts governor and current Republican presidential candidate’s Mormon religion has been a topic of debate for his entire career, so it was only a matter of time until it surfaced in the presidential candidacy race.
This talk of religion is distracting from the real issues at hand, but the right tends to get really hung up on it, and now that it’s been brought up, I don’t foresee it being let go any time soon. At the Values Voter Summit, a conservative Christian political conference, Rev. Robert Jeffress, a prominent Baptist pastor and supporter of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, spoke out against Romney on the basis of his religion.
“Do we want a candidate who is a good moral person, or do we want a candidate who is a born-again follower of the Lord Jesus Christ?” Jeffress said in his introduction of Perry.
Afterward, Jeffress labeled Mormonism “a cult,” thereby opening the floodgates for the inevitable religious debate.
“I think Mitt Romney’s a good, moral man, but I think those of us who are born-again followers of Christ should always prefer a competent Christian to a competent non-Christian like Mitt Romney,” Jeffress later told CNN.
The first and most obvious, though potentially irrelevant, question here is “is Mormonism Christian?” The answer is actually more nebulous than one might expect. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints identifies itself as a Christian religion, and most of its doctrines line up with those of mainline Protestantism. Some Protestants, however, point out that some Mormon beliefs, such as nontrinitarianism and acceptance of sacred texts in addition to the Bible, are contrary to some essential Protestant doctrines and therefore condemn Mormonism as “non-Christian” altogether. By that logic, however, some Protestants don’t consider Roman Catholics or Jehovah’s Witnesses to be Christian either.
What this discussion comes down to is the fact that for some conservative Christian voters, Mormonism just isn’t Christian enough, and Romney’s suffering for it. But should he be?
A candidate’s religion has nothing to do with his competency in the Oval Office, but Americans seem to think it does. Just look at the nonsense President Barack Obama has had to deal with because people thought he was Muslim. Furthermore, Article VI of the Constitution states that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” Voters, however, want to elect officials who share their religion, and for half of the United States population, that religion is Protestant Christianity. I can’t say I blame them, either. If any of the candidates were Roman Catholic, I’d certainly give them a closer look, although our shared religion wouldn’t be my primary criterion.
What really is relevant, however, is a candidate’s morality, which is by all accounts important in terms of decision-making, especially in a position of power like the presidency. But this does not necessarily have anything to do with religion. Morality doesn’t need to stem from a belief in a higher power, however. It’s completely reasonable to base one’s morality on secular beliefs and have the results be the same as a moral code stemming from a divinity.
Jeffress’ imposed choice between “a good moral person” and “a born-again follower of Jesus Christ” is not mutually exclusive, and though he clearly meant for the right choice to be the latter, I sincerely hope American voters will choose the former.
