Are You One of Those Trying to Overlook Romney’s Mormonism?

Do you even know what Mormons believe? Or, have you bought into the line that Romney is essentially Christian in his beliefs or, since he is pro-life, then his religion and the other aspects of it are irrelevant? Consider some comments from James White from a recent post, The Spin in Salt Lake City:

First, what other Christian church believes Jesus is the divine Son of God in the way Mormons do? Who else teaches Elohim lives on a planet that circles a star named Kolob, and that he has a physical body of flesh and bones (no blood), and that he begets spirit children with an entire harem of heavenly wives, who likewise have physical bodies, yet give birth to spirit babies, and that Jesus was the first begotten son of this exalted man from another planet? I’d really like to know who these “other Christians” are. And which of these groups, even if they held all of those views, likewise believe that Jesus was “sired” by Elohim in a physical body, making him the only begotten of the Father “in the flesh”? I think the list is pretty small. And surely the folks in Salt Lake know this, yes? So why speak in these words? Mormonism does not teach what the historic Christian faith has taught about the divine sonship of Jesus, so why pretend otherwise?

Consider also these comments by Steve over at Triablogue on Mormon-Bashing:

When, therefore, Romney presents himself as a Christian, that, of itself, is reason enough to publicly question his theology. This represents a rival interpretation (or radical reinterpretation) of the Christian faith. If Romney were a nobody, it wouldn’t matter. But it does matter when a popular, high-profile cult-member or cult-leader is identified with the Christian faith.

Like it or not, Romney is a de facto evangelist for Mormonism. Just by calling himself a Christian, his sheer celebrity catapults him into the role of a Mormon missionary—with vastly more media penetration and potential impact than the square young men in the Eisenhower era business suits. He’s a national ad for the equation between Christianity and Mormonism. You couldn’t have a bigger, louder commercial for the Mormon cult than a promising presidential bid.

Finally, consider Steve’s response to Grudem’s approval of Romney’s speech concerning his being a Mormon, in which Steve said the following after quoting some of Grudem’s remarks:

“But he also said that he thought questions about different doctrines of his or anybody else’s faith were out of bounds, they are inappropriate for someone to ask someone as a candidate for president because that’s not relevant for his suitability for office. I thought that was a good distinction.”

i) The first problem with this distinction is that it’s clearly overstated. Sometimes doctrinal differences are politically irrelevant, and sometimes they’re not. Would Grudem support a Scientologist for high office? Or would that say something important about the candidate’s intellectual discernment? Belonging to a religious cult is a reflection on your powers of judgment.

Would Grudem support a jihadist for high office? Is it “out of bounds” to oppose a jihadist simply because he’s a jihadist?

I agree with Steve when he said, “In some ways, this election is shaping up to be a referendum on the state of Evangelical leadership as much as political leadership.”