Romney Foes Mount Anti-Mormon Campaign

Campaign Prepared To Strongly Oppose Efforts To Paint Religion In Negative Light

(CBS)  By The Politico's Mike Allen.

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The Monday morning blast e-mail to radio talk show hosts was headed, "Can Mitt Romney Serve Two Masters? The Mormon Church vs. the United States of America." It went on for eight pages, with color photos, about "secret names and many other bizarre proceedings" of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

A series of sensational "Mormons believe" bullet points concluded: "If Mitt Romney does not follow what the prophet of the Mormon Church dictates, he will be an apostate."

The e-mail was offering guest appearances by Tricia Erickson, who was described as heading a modeling agency when she represented Fawn Hall (of Iran-contra fame) and Donna Rice (who derailed Gary Hart's presidential campaign) but who now bills herself as a crisis-management expert.

She also claims to have been raised in the Mormon Church before deprogramming herself and tells bookers she can help their listeners "make an informed judgment about whether Mitt Romney should be the president."

Erickson is a fringe figure who is not likely to be embraced by Romney's GOP rivals or taken seriously by mainstream journalists. But that does not mean Erickson and her online pamphleteering are not serious concerns of the former Massachusetts governor in his 2008 presidential bid.

As Romney tries to capitalize on a polished performance in the Republican presidential debates, questions about his religion and its political implications remain a fundamental challenge for his campaign.
The campaign is emphasizing Romney's faith and downplaying his specific religion. Romney press secretary Kevin Madden said: "Governor Romney is running for commander in chief, not chief theologian."

But as Romney attracts increasing attention, agitators like Erickson exert influence, largely through e-mail, blogs, anonymous fliers and assorted other channels of below-the-radar political communication.

Polls continue to show skepticism about Romney's church, with a headline last Saturday in the Deseret Morning News of Salt Lake City declaring, "Anti-LDS Bias Running High."

It reported an unfavorable impression of Latter-day Saints in a two-year study of 1,269 social science and humanities faculty members by the Institute for Jewish & Community Research. In several polls, a third or more of registered voters have said they would not vote for a member of the church.

In Spartanburg, S.C., an hour from the debate site, the Herald-Journal reported last week in an article headlined "Critics Target Romney's Mormonism" that a wave of anti-Mormon literature had poured into South Carolina mailboxes ahead of the debate.

The paper said the "eight-page diatribe," which does not mention Romney but is a clear attack on him, is titled, "Mormons in Contemporary American Society: A Politically Dangerous Religion?" The Herald-Journal could not discover who had paid for or mailed the brochures, which had no return address and were postmarked Providence, R.I.

Romney hit back hard last week after provocateur and self-styled civil rights leader Al Sharpton questioned Romney's faith in God, which others also called a false depiction of church teaching.

Romney told MSNBC he considered it "an extraordinarily bigoted kind of statement" and added, "As I go around the country, the overwhelming majority of people I meet welcome a person of faith. They want a person of faith to lead the country." Later, campaigning in Ames, Iowa, Romney was even sharper, declaring Sharpton's comment "un-American."

The Romney campaign has been closely watching the other Republican candidates for any sign of anti-Mormon innuendo, and it plans to respond with similar overwhelming force if one of Romney's opponents is caught in a slur on his faith.

In a telephone interview, Erickson said she is Republican and supports one of the lesser-known candidates, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., but did not discuss her flier with his campaign. She said she sent her offer to a media list of hundreds of newspapers and radio and television stations. "I'm not biased — I'm knowledgeable," she said.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recognizes the educational job it faces. The current lead item on the church's website provides links bolstering an affirmative answer to the question, "Are Mormons Christians?"

It sounds like a basic question, but some evangelical voters in South Carolina and other Southern states have been taught that the answer is "no."

Church officials are not backing Romney's candidacy, pointing to the church's policy against taking stands in political campaigns or allowing candidates to use church property or other resources.

Richard Bushman, a professor emeritus of history at Columbia University who is both a devout Mormon and a religious scholar respected in secular academia, says conservative Christians — one of the most important blocs of early Republican voters — should be natural allies for Romney.

Several evangelical leaders have said Romney's Mormonism should not be disqualifying, and his campaign has been doing personal visits to key pastors and denominational leaders.

Bushman said it's not yet clear whether Romney will be able to resolve doubts about the influence his faith would have on his government, as John F. Kennedy did with his Roman Catholicism.

Romney's campaign has indicated he's likely to give a major speech to serve as a counterpart to Kennedy's 1960 address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, in which he declared:

"I am not the Catholic candidate for president. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for president who happens also to be a Catholic." But Romney's advisers have not settled on the timing.

Can Romney overcome doubts about his faith? "I think it's going to depend heavily on his personality and character: Can he sell himself and his views?" Bushman said. "He's a very winning person. I think he's going to win over a lot of wavering middle people, including some evangelical friends who'll say, 'Look, this is a godly man. He's a faithful family man. He believes in good values. Why not?' Then there's going to be the suspicion factor from many others that will simply exclude him."

An indication of the tough questions ahead for Romney came this week at a conference for national religion and political reporters in Florida, where Bushman spent an afternoon answering pointed questions at a forum sponsored by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

One of them was whether Romney's candidacy could wind up being a public relations disaster for his church.

"If it compels people to think not just about these horror stories they hear about Mormons but compare it to Mormons they know, they will begin to realize Mormonism is something different than is depicted in those extreme examples," Bushman said.

"I don't think there's any other way to do it except to know a lot of Mormon people and how they live their lives.”

[conspiracygirl]

I'm sure evangelical pastors everywhere are cringing and wondering what they have done.... The finest candidate on the scene may not get the nomination due to their own careful programming of their flocks, "Mormons are evil, Mormons are evil." Now what are they going to say...? "Uh... you'd all better vote for the adulterous womanizer rather than the honest, incredibly capable guy because, you know, Romney thinks he has to do good deeds to go to heaven, and we can't have this country led by someone trying to be good. I mean, how evil is that?"

[spudwilkins]

Dwayne, have you read the Bible? If you are going to argue that Romney is unfit for office because of a few verses in Mormon scripture, at least try to put forth the appearance of being unbiased and apply the argument to all of the candidates.

According to your argument, shouldn't belief in the Bible also disqualify someone from seeking elected office? Or are you OK with David killing 200 Philistines to obtain their foreskins as a dowry so he could marry Saul's daughter?

How about 1 Samuel 15? Should someone who believes it's OK to wipe out an entire community, including women, children and animals, be allowed to command the military of the most powerful nation on earth?

My point is not to attack the Bible. Rather, it is to show how silly your argument is. There's some wacky stuff in all books of scripture. Your argument narrows the field of qualified candidates to atheists only.

[duwaynea]

As a devout Mormon, the voting public should be looking at Romney%u2019s religious beliefs for the simple reason that they *will* affect his judgment and policy if elected. It%u2019s time for the press to stop being kowtowed by the LDS PR machine into withholding tough questions because they are afraid of being labeled %u201Canti-Mormon.%u201D

For example, as a faithful LDS member, Romney votes %u2013 twice each year %u2013 to sustain the Doctrine and Covenants, even though the Doctrine and Covenants has a revelation saying that a man can essentially own ten virgins with God%u2019s approval.

See http://scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/132 and read verses 61 and 62.

The media should be asking Romney if he really believes this stuff, and if not, why he continues to sustain it.

Mitt Romney also sustains the Book of Mormon as scripture, yet the Book of Mormon says that God uses black skin as a curse.

See http://scriptures.lds.org/en/2_ne/5/21#21 and read verses 19-22.

Romney%u2019s campaign, and the LDS Church, would rather nobody know about these verses, and they certainly don%u2019t want their candidate to be put on the spot, having to explain how he can be the president of all Americans if he really, truly believes that (for example) God uses black skin as a curse.

Duwayne Anderson
Author of %u201CFarewell to Eden: Coming to terms with Mormonism and science%u201D

[spudwilkins]

Mormons are "desperate, clinging rubes"? I believe this statement says a lot more about its utterer than Mormons. Numerous studies show that Mormons tend to have significantly higher educational attainment than the U.S. population as a whole. Having religious beliefs that differ from someone else's does not make one a "rube". Ignorantly labeling six million Americans "rubes" because of their religion does.

[jacksteen1]

Mutt Romney's 'religion' is as bogus as John Travolta's 'scientology' scam; both dreamed up by rural bumpkin losers and adhered to by the same type of desperate, clinging rubes.

Pie in the sky - but with a sinister, secret twist. White salamander led Joe Smith to the Golden Plates. Yeah - right.

[savagesteve13]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7v_V8qSIIo

What Mormons Believe.

[savagesteve13]

I have first hand experience at living under the thumb of a mormon. For two terms my district suffered under a Mormon who spent most of his time trying to insert his religion into state government and pushed the boundaries of separation of church and state. He finally lost and interestingly, picked up a job as an advisor to the rightwing controlled state senate majority leader. We can't get rid of this guy!

Earth to Republicans, if you put a mormon in the white house, we ALL will regret it.

[dkaw1]

Packham, I have a question. What sin do you love too much to repent of so that you can continue as a member of Christ's church?

[spudwilkins]

To jsweeney67:

Thank you for your cogent comment. I couldn't agree more, and in fact, I would apply your logic to all religions.

For example, if one wants to know if Christianity is true, one should naturally ask a Muslim, atheist or other non-Christian. The opinions of Christians would have to be dismissed as too biased, and the Bible of course could not be used as evidence, since it was written by believers.

Likewise, if one would like to know whether or not the biblical account of creation is accurate, they should naturally ask a scientist who is an atheist.

And if one wants to know whether or not donkeys can talk (see Numbers 22:28-30), one should naturally ask a non-Christian zoologist.

Yes, I think we have finally discovered the method by which we can discern the veracity of all religions. Now we can save all that time asking people what their religion means to them and go straight to the unbiased opinion of its detractors. Simple, isn't it?

[packham33]

The problem with Romney's religious beliefs is that the crucial ones are secret. He's not talking about them. Mormons believe that God intends Mormons to run the U.S., as preparation for Christ's Second Coming. Adult Mormons (including Romney)have taken a secret oath as part of the "endowment" in the temple to "consecrate" all their time, money, and talents to bringing this about.
I was Mormon for 25 years, and was taught this, and was required to take the same oath.
Most non-Mormons are completely ignorant of this dark side of Romney's religion. And Romney isn't about to reveal it volunarily.