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April 30, 2007
Modern-Day Look at History of the Latter-Day Saints
A proposition: If your beliefs are any good, you needn’t be afraid to bring them out into the light. The proof: “The Mormons,” a thoughtful two-part series tonight and tomorrow on PBS. The tenets of the Mormon church may not be to everyone’s tastes, but the church members and leaders who speak in this program are admirably forthright about their religion’s history, strengths and challenges. It’s great to hear people who believe in something and can articulate it without sounding crazy or defensive.
Anyone who's planning to use the two-part, four-hour PBS documentary "The Mormons" in Sunday School at their local ward is going to be sorely disappointed. But then so is anyone who's planning to hang copies of the program on doorknobs to convince members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to abandon their faith. "The Mormons" is not a faith-promoting missionary tool. Although it might turn out to be that for some.
Imagine a four-hour documentary on the Mormon church that skips its most prominent member in the country today, Mitt Romney.
"The Mormons," a collaboration between PBS powerhouse series " Frontline " and " American Experience, " is that show. Yet its mere airing may finally force the former governor to explain publicly his faith and its influence on him as a politician, much as John Kennedy did with his Catholicism in 1960. What it will surely do is complicate his run for the White House.
Ask Mark Briscoe, leader of the Howell ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the greatest misconception about the church, and he doesn't have to think very long or hard.
"Sometimes people would say that we're not Christians," he said. "We definitely are. We believe in Jesus Christ."
Among several questions being asked with increasing frequency in the public square about “Mormon” beliefs is whether those who embrace the religion are really Christian.
The topic has also received attention from a number of leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was addressed as recently as the annual world conference of the Church, broadcast from Salt Lake City earlier this month.
Elder Gary J. Coleman of the Seventy, a general level of Church leadership, asked, “What could be more Christian than seeking to take His name upon ourselves and following His counsel to become like Him?” Elder Coleman said that members of the Church subscribe to basic doctrines that define and emphasize the role of the Savior, Jesus Christ.
Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, spoke of her Mormon lineage at a special naturalization ceremony Tuesday at the National Archives.
She told the soon-to-be-Americans that “it takes work to create a country and work to keep a country, and part of that work lies in appreciating our history; and it is our history, whether our ancestors were here or not in the early days.”
Towering over a Mississippi River bluff, the recently built Mormon temple symbolizes the central role this town played in Mormon history.
And the arrival of two Christian evangelists from the Chicago area, proclaiming an anti-Mormonism message to the world, recalls the troubled history of those early Mormons with neighbors of other faiths.
PBS's two-part, four-hour documentary "The Mormons" doesn't air until the end of the month, but The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is already trying to make it clear that the church itself did not produce the film.
"We simply want viewers to understand that the church is the subject of this film, not its producer," LDS Church spokesman Michael Purdy said. "This is an independent pro- duction."
While the church cooperated with award-winning filmmaker Helen Whitney, it exerted no editorial control over "The Mormons" and did not help fund the project.
The tension between the campaigns of Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney was palpable when Harvard University gathered together top GOP strategists last month.
The issue was Romney's Mormon religion and for a few minutes, the audience was transfixed by an exchange between McCain advisers Bill McInturff and Stuart Stevens and Romney advisers Alex Castellanos and Ben Ginsberg.
In May, Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and 2008 Republican presidential hopeful, will give the commencement address at Pat Robertson’s Regent University. What better opportunity for Mr. Romney to discuss the issue of his Mormon faith before an audience of evangelicals?
When John F. Kennedy spoke before Protestant clergymen in Houston in 1960, he sought to dispel the fear that as a Catholic president, he would be subject to direction from the pope. As a Mormon, Mr. Romney faces ignorance as well as fear of his church and its political influence. More Americans, polls show, are willing to accept a woman or an African-American as president than a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is the first Mormon in history to make a serious run for president. Notre Dame political science professor David Campbell speaks with Scott Simon about the role of religion in Romney's run for the Republican nomination.
Despite his early fundraising success, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is spending more and more time defending his religion on the campaign trail.
KUTV news reporter Katie Baker visited churches in Salt Lake City and found that faith seems to be a top campaign issue.
Mitt Romney is riding high this week after his victory in "the first primary," which consists of raising cold, hard cash to compete: more than $20 million in the first quarter, $5 million more than his closest contender, Rudy "Lay off my wife!" Giuliani. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) came in a lackluster third with $12.5 million.
Romney's campaign benefited from two distinct donor networks, according to media accounts: Wall Street and Mormons. GOP front-runner Rudy, struggling with one of those weird media freak shows erupting around his wife, Judith (her alleged participation in future Cabinet meetings and former puppy killings), must be a little envious on both counts.
Athens resident Kate Kinghorn is a fun-loving and active OU student, but she won’t be spotted grabbing a beer at The Pub or even sipping a café mocha at Perk’s Coffee House & Roastery. A dedicated Mormon, Kinghorn is expected to refrain from substances such as alcohol and coffee among others that are viewed as harmful by her religion.
Kinghorn, a sophomore interior architecture major, is an involved member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and has to deal with the daily pressures of college life while adhering to her own religious beliefs.
Mormon beliefs about God and Jesus Christ make them Christians, no matter what critics say.
This was the message repeated by several speakers on Sunday at the 177th annual LDS General Conference, held in the 21,000-seat Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City and beamed via satellite to Mormon chapels across the globe.
LDS a cult? 350,000 DVDs try to shake Mormons' faith
Evangelical Christians claimed they distributed 350,000 anti-Mormon DVDs in Utah on Sunday, hoping to convince members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that the church is a non-Christian cult.
They said they gave out another 150,000 across the U.S. and Canada - about a half-million altogether.
Hundreds of volunteers placed the discs, which feature a picture of the church founder Joseph Smith and the Salt Lake temple, on doorknobs in a white plastic bag that said, "Good News for LDS." Others handed out the bags after Monday night's Jazz game in downtown Salt Lake City. Some confused it with the LDS Church's own promotional material rather than seeing the DVD as a critique of Mormon beliefs.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was formed in 1830 by Joseph Smith.
The faith's followers, Latter-day Saints, are also known as Mormons.
As a young man, Smith was praying in a wooded area near his upstate New York home when he reported experiencing a vision of God and Jesus. Some years later, he is said to have encountered an angel named Moroni who gave him metal plates with details of an ancient people who had lived on the American continent during the time of Christ.
Conservative author says Romney can overcome "Mormon problem"
Conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt thinks Mitt Romney's biggest opposition comes not from evangelical Christians who view Mormonism as a cult, but rather from secular liberals who remain skeptical of anyone who believes in revelation, divine intervention or miracles.
Writers in Slate and The New Republic, for example, called Romney's Mormon beliefs ludicrous and suggested that believing them disqualified him from office. That is bigotry, pure and simple, Hewitt says, and all people of faith should condemn it - or no one is safe.
You've probably heard by now that Mitt Romney has a Mormon problem. It seems every pollster of note has published a poll showing that many Americans consider Mr. Romney's membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - commonly called the Mormon Church - a potential deal-breaker.
John F. Kennedy faced a similar challenge as he campaigned to become the first president who was a member of the Roman Catholic Church. Many are encouraging Mr. Romney, the Republican former governor of Massachusetts, to borrow several pages from the JFK playbook - especially the speech he delivered to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association in September 1960.
A top leader in the Southern Baptist Convention predicted that former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani would not succeed in winning the votes of Southern Baptists if he were to become the Republican nominee for president in 2008.
In brief comments after a chapel service at the North Carolina legislature on Wednesday, Richard Land, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich would likely fail for the same reason.
Many religious conservatives worry that if Mitt Romney becomes president, it will help legitimize LDS missionary work abroad and condemn extra converts to hell. Liberals, meanwhile, see a chance to use his faith to show he is "too weird" to be president.
That is according to conservative evangelical radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt, who just wrote a book titled, "A Mormon in the White House? 10 Things Every American Should Know about Mitt Romney." It is published by Regnery Publishing, which prints conservative titles.
Presidential hopeful and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney said faith is important to him, but voters should look at a person's entire character when choosing a president and not focus on just one area.
Romney made his comments Thursday night on CNN during an interview with Larry King.
A phone poll for King's TV show found that 63 percent of respondents believe religion should matter when considering a presidential candidate.
How much of a "Mormon question" does former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney face in his presidential campaign? According to recent polls, a quarter of Americans say they wouldn't vote for a Mormon as president. That compares with only 5 percent who say they wouldn't vote for a Catholic or a Jew.
Romney's biggest problem is with evangelicals, who constitute nearly half of all Republican primary voters in the South and more than one-third in the Midwest. A Rasmussen poll shows that 53 percent of evangelicals wouldn't vote for a Mormon as president.
The Mormon church, long known for its inward-looking self-reliant nature, is making overtures to other faiths.
"We're trying hard to reach out," said Pleasant Hill, Calif., Bishop John Muir.
By joining in multidenominational service projects and sitting on interfaith councils, Mormons are bridging a gap that has kept them and the surrounding society at an uneasy distance for 177 years.
America is supposed to be a country of religious tolerance. Just ask anybody — except, maybe, Mitt Romney. Almost 50 years after John F. Kennedy addressed the Greater Houston Ministerial Association — an act seen as tabling the issue of religion in presidential politics — the campaign of the former governor of Massachusetts, Mr. Romney, is still being dogged by religious prejudices.
The Roman Catholic, Southern Baptist and Methodist Churches remain the three largest denominations in the country, with the Mormon church fourth, according to the latest edition of the Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches.
The 2007 edition of the book, which is published by the National Council of Churches, an ecumenical group based in New York, tallied statistics collected by churches in 2005.
To Romney strategist, questions on faith fair game
It's appropriate for the public to ask questions about Mitt Romney's Mormon faith as he pursues his presidential campaign, a top Romney campaign strategist said yesterday.
Strategist Alex Castellanos was speaking at a forum of Republican presidential advisers held at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. He was asked why the media seemed to be celebrating the fact that the country may elect its first African-American or woman president, but treating the specter of its first Mormon president with suspicion.
As students at a Christian university debate the invitation of a presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, a Mormon, to speak at their upcoming commencement ceremony, a new Gallup poll found that Americans' favorable and unfavorable views of the Mormon religion are almost evenly split.
According to poll results, 46 percent of Americans say they have an unfavorable opinion of the Mormon religion in general while 42 percent have a favorable opinion.
If Republicans pick Mitt Romney as their presidential candidate and the country elects him to the White House, the Mormon Church will seize the Oval Office and realize its long-held political ambition.
Does anyone apparently believe that kind of gibberish? Apparently, alas.
Religion – that is, having a preference for a particular religion or denomination – is one of the key traits voters say they look for in a presidential candidate. And not believing in God is a major electoral turnoff, according to a new poll of voters.
CHARLES DUNN: Romney could do for Mormons what JFK did for Catholics
In 1960, the junior senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy, surprised political pundits by breaking through the anti-Catholic barrier and winning the Democratic Party's presidential nomination against the opposition of two long-powerful senators, Hubert Humphrey and Lyndon Johnson.
Today's political pundits discount the chances of a Mormon former governor from Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, in his battle against two better-known candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, Sen. John McCain and "America's mayor," Rudolph Giuliani.
Something about the Mormon religion apparently disturbs a significant portion of the American population. A quarter of Americans in a recent Gallup Poll said they would not vote for an otherwise well-qualified presidential candidate who is a Mormon. A Washington Post/ABC News poll found that 29% of Americans said they would be less likely to vote for a presidential candidate who is a Mormon.
Did you know about one in seven Wyoming residents are Mormon?
That equals about 14 percent of the population, or about 71,000 people.
That statistic is just one of many factors behind the creation of the Mormon Studies Initiative, a committee formed out of the Religion Department at the University of Wyoming.
Regent students upset at Romney’s choice as speaker
Selecting presidential candidate Mitt Romney as its May commencement speaker has riled some of Regent University's students and alumni who say his Mormon faith clashes with the school's bedrock evangelical Christianity.
"What we're against is the fact that Mormonism is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum from Christian values and what we believe," said Doug Dowdey, a Virginia Beach pastor who said he graduated from Regent's divinity school last year.
Days before presidential candidate John McCain visits Utah, his campaign says the Arizona senator condemns any attack against his opponent, Mitt Romney, over his Mormon faith.
It's an issue that has been popping up recently in South Carolina, a primary state that is home to many evangelical voters and one that Romney has visited often in recent months.
"A presidential contest is a leadership test, not a religious one," McCain spokesman Danny Diaz said Tuesday when asked whether the senator denounces such attacks.
Even before Mitt Romney's presidential announcement last week, his Mormon faith was becoming the hottest "religious issue" since 1960, when John F. Kennedy, a Catholic, became the first - and still only - non-Protestant to be elected president in U.S. history. This week, for instance, a USA Today cover story asked: "Will Mormon faith hurt bid for White House?" In December, Time magazine wondered: "Can a Mormon be President?"
While other Mormons hold important posts in Washington - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is the highest-ranking elected Mormon in the land - Romney is the first member of what is officially known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to have a shot at a major party nomination for president. Thus the questions about a church that some have accused of being little more than a cult.
Haynes: Romney’s religion shouldn’t matter, but it does
Where Mitt Romney goes to church doesn’t disqualify him for public office: Article VI of the U.S. Constitution famously declares that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”
But when the former Massachusetts governor declared his candidacy for president Feb. 13, news coverage focused heavily on one issue: Romney’s Mormon faith. Officially we have no religious test — but unofficially, religious affiliation (or lack thereof) can determine the outcome of elections.
Politics and religion were front and center on the campaign trail in a heated exchange for Mitt Romney this weekend. Evangelicals and Latter-day Saints are trying to make the topic of faith a polite conversation.
Traditional Christians have long had problems with some Latter-day Saint beliefs, as was the case in Florida this weekend. This is the reason for an ongoing event called "An Evangelical and a Mormon in Conversation."
Evangelicals Urged not to Shun Romney over his Mormonism
A law professor and conservative talk-show host says Republican presidential candidate "Mitt Romney has a Mormon problem -- and so does the rest of the country." He cautions Christians against criticizing the candidate's Mormon beliefs during the campaign, saying such an approach will inevitably backfire.
Even before Mitt Romney's presidential announcement last Tuesday, his Mormon faith was becoming the hottest "religious issue" since 1960, when John F. Kennedy, a Catholic, became the first -- and still only -- non-Protestant to be elected president in U.S. history. This week, for instance, a USA Today cover story asked: "Will Mormon faith hurt bid for White House?" In December, Time magazine wondered: "Can a Mormon be President?"
Am I the only practicing Mormon who's not excited about Mitt Romney's run for president? It's not like his first order of business will be a $10,000 tax credit for all Latter-Day Saints. (But imagine what that would do for the missionary effort.) In my mind there's very little to be gained from Romney's candidacy, and a great deal to be lost.
Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable Holds Concert on Temple Square
More than 700 people representing many faiths gathered on the afternoon of 11 February 2007 in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square to attend the Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable’s annual concert celebrating the culmination of its Interfaith Week. The concert was billed as a musical tribute to the human spirit, as “A Call to Prayer — A Call to Peace.” It featured three cantors from Islamic, Christian and Jewish traditions who called the concert attendees to prayer. Seven groups representing a cross-section of Utah’s rich faith traditions performed a series of musical numbers and dances based on the prayer and peace themes.
From myths to missionaries: Taking a look at the truth about Mormonism
The race for president is already underway. Hillary Clinton, along with other Democratic contenders like Barack Obama and John Edwards, dominate media attention, leaving readers to wonder about the Republican competition.
One such Republican presidential hopeful is Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts. Aside from a lack of front-page publicity, Romney finds himself facing other obstacles. Romney is being criticized because of his religion, according to a USA Today article by David E. Campbell and J. Quin Monson.
Romney's LDS faith examined on ABC's 'Nightline' *see the video*
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is the least-known of the top-tier candidates mentioned for president, the least-liked, and probably faces the greatest challenge of any of them.
U. chief exhorts students to push religious freedom
University of Utah President Michael Young put the secular rivalry between his school and Brigham Young University aside on Tuesday, asking LDS students to help create an environment that promotes religious freedom for all nations.
Speaking during a devotional assembly at BYU-Idaho in Rexburg, the former chair of the U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom said he believes Latter-day Saints "have the privilege and the opportunity to create a world in which the gospel can prevail. We have the opportunity to create an environment where people can choose whom they will serve," in a religious sense, he said.
