Mormon in race for White House
PM - Thursday, 15 February , 2007 18:43:00
Reporter: Michael Rowland
MARK COLVIN: In the United States, the race for the White House in 2008 is breaking all stereotypes.

Prominent candidates include a woman, an African-American and, most recently, a Mormon.

The former Republican governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, has many strengths, but his Mormon faith may not be one of them for many Americans.

Opinion polls show more than a third of them would not vote for a Mormon president, while the powerful religious right sees Mormonism as nothing more than a cult.

John Green is a Senior Fellow in Religion and American Politics at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

He spoke to our Washington Correspondent Michael Rowland.

JOHN GREEN: Governor Romney's faith as being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter-day Saints, or a Mormon, will pose something of a challenge for him in the upcoming Republican primaries, because one of the key religious constituencies of the Republican Party, evangelical Protestants, many have negative views towards Mormons.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: Why are they so negative? Why do they fear Mormonism so much?

JOHN GREEN: Well I think the biggest source of the disagreement between evangelicals and Mormons is theological. Simply put evangelicals and Mormons see a sacred text and the role of prophecy and other religious issues very, very differently. And so there's a genuine disagreement over articles of the faith.

But there's also another factor, both evangelicals and Mormons are very actively engaged in seeking converts and prosthelitising and so in some sense they're competing groups in the United States and in fact around the world.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: Even if Mitt Romney makes it through the Republican primary process, it appears he still has a challenge convincing the broader American electorate to vote for a Mormon. Opinion polls show a lot of Americans are also very wary about his faith.

How much of a challenge will that present for him?

JOHN GREEN: It probably will be a little bit less of a challenge for Governor Romney if he gets the Republican nomination because the other groups in American society that are sceptical of Mormons are not as troubled by that issue. And also many of the actually already lean Democratic and so it might be difficult for Governor Romney to get their votes in any event.

But there are many minority Christians who are sceptical of Mormonism. Many non-religious Americans worry a little bit about this.

So I think Governor Romney does face a double challenge. The first is to overcome these questions in seeking the Republican nomination but then also, should he get the nomination, overcome those questions among other voters.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: Do you see any parallels between Mitt Romney's challenge this year and the challenge faced by John F. Kennedy in 1960 in trying to convince Americans to vote for a Catholic for the first time?

JOHN GREEN: There were some similarities between Governor Romney's situation with his faith as a Mormon and John F. Kennedy's situation as a Catholic in 1960. In both cases there were some significant number of voters who didn't feel comfortable voting for them because of their faith.

But I think there's a little bit of a difference in that even in 1960 Roman Catholics were a very large portion of the electorate in the United States, so there was a way in which Senator Kennedy could offset some of the problems that Protestants had with Catholics voters, by simply mobilising Catholic voters.

In contrast, the Latter-day Saints are actually a very small group in the United States, less than two per cent of the electorate and so there's not that counter-balance that might favour a Mormon candidate.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: We've seen the influence of evangelical Christians arguably wane as a result of the Republicans poor showing in the recent mid-term elections. How much influence will they have, in your view, in the presidential campaign in two years' time.

JOHN GREEN: Evangelical Protestants are very likely to have a very large influence in the Republican nomination process, because many of the key primaries and caucuses occur in states, such as South Carolina for example, where evangelical Protestants are not only very numerous, but very Republic in their leanings.

When we get beyond the primaries, though, the influences may be somewhat less than in the past, partly because the issues have changed a bit in American politics from a couple of years ago. And also because even among evangelicals themselves, there is some disagreement, new issues have arisen on their agenda and so they may not be quite as united a voting block as they were in 2004.

MARK COLVIN: John Green, a Senior Fellow in Religion and American Politics at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, speaking to our Washington Correspondent Michael Rowland.

Would be like giving the Whitehouse to a megalomanic...

I've pointed this out time after time that spiritual leaders of cults or religions where radicalization is nothing short of megalomaniacy. It has at it's heart the idea of either inciting the destruction of the world or doing the destroying themselves through belief in a world ending doctrine effected through an apocalytic event or series of apocalyptic events in the service of renewal or rebirth.

1. Milieu Control
2. Mystical Manipulation
3. Deman for Purity
4. Ethos of Confession
5. Sacred Science
6. Loading of the language
7. Doctrine over the Person
8. Dispencing of existence

Allowing all those points above to overtake humanity is what leads to world wide or mass functional megalomaniacy!

he will never win

Thats for sure ..could you imagine it...the worse case senario is if a Seven Day Adventist was ever to make office...you know in the 7DA Bible they openly name the muslims and islam as being the evil spawn of locusts that come up out of the pit of darkness as a cloud of smoke with the false prophet and the beast as their leaders...they say they cover the earth in the last days like a black cloud of smoke before the white cloud comes and consumes them ....

first off a mormen is not seventh day adventist they are associated with the laderday saints

and being a seventh day adventist i use the same bible as the babtist or any one i do believe that sunday is the first day of the week and saturday is the sabbath but that is a matter for another discussion

Yeah I know they ain't the same ...I was making that point when I suggested the 'worse case senario', unrelated to the cult of Morman, but, having the similar ideological punch line.

I didn't know you were 7DA ..hope I haven't offended you there m8 .. but I can't deny what 7DA represents for me ...For me 7DA is just another cult expecting a world ending in the service of renewal after total destruction has been forged.

Keeping the Sabbath Day or the Ten Commandments is not a requirement for non-Jews ...as Gentiles we are not to be judged by Jewish Laws ...it's know wonder why we couldn't allow ourselves to have Islamic Laws judge either....That was Jesus' message to all Christains concerning the Judgment.

no worries mate

Ahh haa...YOU see now how it works m8 ...if ideologies promote sets of rules for each sect to adhere to then that in it'self creates apathy and indifference between them...you just showed you understood that and chose not to as I have chosen not to.

If that is our good brother's teaching then thats what all the religions should teach...they should all teach not to be apathetic and indifferent of peoples and nations...thats being tolerant of one another but how to topple the radicals who would want you and I to be apathetic and indifferent towards one another based on religious conviction... faith owned is a fallacy ...no one can own any faith, least of all can they be faithful through being owned by a god.

Comes back to those two things eh...one and ten...the beginning and the end...first and the last ...alpha and omega, coveting a god and making a name of a god for one's selves exclusively.

Should we move this topic now to Religion where it belongs?

yea if you will