Jerry Falwell. Pat Robertson. CBN. The Family Channel.
Regent University. Liberty University. Each of these terms came out of the
Religious Right movement of the 1980s, and coalesced into a political movement
which Ronald Reagan tapped into as the Silent Majority. Thirty years later,
this movement no longer exists as a distinct political unit but the
institutions remain. Liberty University, an Independent Baptist university with
well over 10,000 students, adheres to a clearly Evangelical perspective on education.
With rigid rules governing behavior and dress, it has become the favored school
for many Evangelicals to send their children to for higher education.
Liberty University announced on their website that Mitt
Romney will come to Liberty to deliver the 2012 Commencement Address. What
impact does this have? Romney’s struggle in this election rests not in his politics
or governmental experience, but in his religion. As a committed, unapologetic
Mormon, Romney needs to convince Christians all across America he is one of
them. Maybe a slightly different variety, but he is a type of Christian. After
all, he talks about Jesus, God, morality, the family, and limited government.
Are these enough to make him acceptable in the eyes of Christians throughout the
United States? For many, speaking at a prestigious private Baptist university
will go a long way in helping Romney to project a quasi-Christian image.
But let’s stop for a moment. If Mitt Romney is a Mormon, and
served for years as a pastor in the Mormon church, what does he believe? First,
Jesus is God’s son, along with Satan. Jesus and Satan are spirit-brothers,
fighting a dualistic war. Secondly, the Garden of Eden was in Jackson County,
Missouri. Thirdly, until 1978, the Mormon Church officially taught that Black
people were physically stained with sin. Fourth, as a good Mormon Romney should
someday inherit his own planet to be god of, and if he chooses he may bring his
wife along for an eternity of popping out spirit-babies to populate the planet.
Fifth, the current president of the Mormon Church speaks directly to God and
his revelations can completely overturn any written text the Mormon Church
adheres to. Finally, Mitt Romney believes that Jesus came to America to
physically rule over the Nephites and Lamenites for a 400-year period after his
resurrection.
Mitt Romney believes all of this, and he is speaking to the
graduates of Liberty University. At best, Liberty is helping a Republican
candidate to garner support from their Evangelical base. Unfortunately, many
will see this as Liberty’s endorsement of Romney and include him in their
thoughts as a sort of Christian candidate for President.
This year's presidential election will certainly be an interesting one and it creates quite the moral dilemna for many evangelical conservatives. Problematic in that if they are politically conservative, voting for President Obama will not be favorable given his more liberal views of on the role of governemnt and his desire to see this broadened and expanded. It is also problematic for the very reason you have stated from an evangelical Christian perspective in that Romney's faith is certainly, at its roots, not what American Christian Conservatives have come to be comfortable with historically.
ReplyDeleteThis will be very unpopular to attack his Morman faith given our freedom of religious exppression that we value in this country. While this is true, there will have to be forums to clarify what Mormanism is and what it is not. Anyone who studies this closely will be hard pressed to not see clearly that mainline evangelical Christianity and Mormanism are very different. Many will say "I am electing a commander in chief" not a "Pastor or pope in chief!" This is true, however, beliefs drive behavior. What a person beleives is central to what he or she does.
Mitt will be hard to challenge on a moral basis, meaning the world is not harmed by people being nice, clean cut, honoring a sabbath day, having larger families, not drinking caffiene, and the like. Many will be drawn to this clean-cut, well mannered behavior and see this as an improvement for America (not compared to the current president, but to overall American population.)
The bottom line, Mormonism is not the same as orthodox Christianity and saying so will not be popular among many of this year's conservatives. Many will adhere an old adage, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," if they see Obama as their enemy.
This will make two controversial speakers at Liberty this spring if you include protests against Mark Driscoll speaking there.
I feel bad for the graduates. When he gave the 2008 commencement at Hillsdale, it was miserable. And now Jason has to deal with answering "Who was your commencement speaker?" with... ".... Mit Romney."
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