Romney and the Republicans: Outsourcing Religion

[cbayer]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/randall-balmer/romney-and-the-republicans-outsourcing-religion_b_1810996.html

Randall BalmerChair, Religion Department, Dartmouth College

Posted: 08/22/2012 10:35 am

Mitt Romney's choice of Paul Ryan as his running mate marks the first time in American history that no Protestant will appear on a major-party ticket for president. Ryan is Roman Catholic, and Romney, of course, is Mormon.

Alfred E. Smith, the Democratic governor of New York, broke the Roman Catholic barrier (nomination) in 1928, and John F. Kennedy became the first, and only, Catholic to win the presidency, in 1960. Romney, formerly a stake president (essentially a lay bishop) for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is the first Mormon to win a place on a major-party ticket.

But aren't Mormons Protestants? That would require a much longer conversation, but historians of religion generally do not classify Mormons as Protestants. Many people, in fact, especially evangelical Protestants, deny that Mormons are even Christians -- although Mormons themselves take great umbrage at even the suggestion that they are not Christians. The very name of their church, they hasten to point out, is Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The real puzzle, at least on the face of it, is why Romney didn't choose an evangelical for his running mate, especially if he was so concerned, as widely reported, to solidify his base. The religious right, after all, has been the core constituency of the Republican Party ever since the 1980s. Throughout the primary season, evangelicals were profoundly suspicious of Romney's Mormonism, especially because he studiously avoided talking about it.

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[dimbear]

1. Some Mormons are proud to consider themselves Christians, others are proud not to do so.

It's not so simple. Mormon theology is just not transparent, and purposefully so.

For outsiders, just remember that the Mormons don't generally believe in Hell. That stamps them far outside the mainstream.