From the WSJ Opinion Archives
Questions of Faith
Does it matter that Mitt Romney is a Mormon? To some extent--but it shouldn't.
Since 1960, when John F. Kennedy settled the issue of whether a Catholic could be president, there's been general public agreement a candidate's religion shouldn't matter.
But now that proposition is being tested. Republican candidate Mitt Romney is a Mormon, just as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and 14 other members of Congress are. But to some people a Mormon running for president is an issue. Al Sharpton made a rare apology after suggesting Mormons don't believe in God. Just this past Friday, John McCain's campaign had to apologize because one of its Iowa county chairmen, in an April meeting of party activists, suggested that the Mormon church supports the terror group Hamas and likened its treatment of women to that of the Taliban.
Similarly, the campaign of Rudy Giuliani was forced to make an apology earlier this month after the New York Sun reported that Giuliani aide Katie Harbath had forwarded to a blogger a story linking Romney to the "White Horse Prophecy," a Mormon legend, disavowed by the church, according to which the Constitution will be hanging "by a thread" in the last days and a member of the faith will ride in to save it to save it.
Other attacks have been even uglier. A Florida televangelist, Bill Keller, told followers recently that a vote for Romney is a vote for Satan. Tricia Erickson, a public relations agent, has sent out a blast email to talk show hosts headlined "Can Mitt Romney Serve Two Masters? The Mormon Church vs. The United States of America."
In an era when criticism of Jews, or of the lone Muslim in Congress, Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota, is taboo, a remarkable number of people still feel it appropriate to slam members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "Those comments are troubling," Mr. Romney told reporters on Saturday. "The fact that they keep on coming up is even more troubling." But it's clear that anti-Mormon sentiment is out there and needs to be addressed.
A survey of 1,269 faculty members by the Institute for Jewish and Community Research just found that 38% of social sciences and humanities professors, a highly liberal group, viewed Mormons "unfavorably." According to the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll, some 15% of Republican voters say there is "no chance" they would back a Mormon for president. "In some ways, [Romney's candidacy] is the best test of whether Americans have really put some of the old religious differences aside," Alan Wolfe, director of Boston College's Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, told the Boston Globe. "And my guess is that they haven't."
It would help if everyone laid down some ground rules for the treatment of Mr. Romney's religion. As his biographer Hugh Hewitt has noted, if Mr. Romney is perceived to have lost his bid for the presidency because of his religious beliefs "it will prove a disastrous turning point for all people of faith in public life."
First, any expression of religious bigotry should be roundly condemned as not fit for the public square in a religiously tolerant country. It's not enough for rival campaigns to apologize when one of their workers steps over the line. It would help if every presidential candidate issued a public statement urging their supporters not to engage in whispering campaigns or even blanket assertions to the effect that a Mormon can't be elected president. Social disapproval can make a difference. Mike Bloomberg, who is Jewish, will have a more healthy environment if he runs for president because any religious smears against Sen. Joe Lieberman when he was the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee were nipped in the bud.
That said, Mr. Romney could sometimes do a better job addressing questions about his faith. He knocked one out of the ballpark during a GOP debate in New Hampshire when he said, "Some pundits out there are hoping that I'll distance myself from my church so that that'll help me politically. And that's not going to happen." But at other times he has appeared defensive. When a reporter asked him if Mormonism is similar to Scientology, Mr. Romney curtly replied "It's not." David Weigel of Reason magazine suggests he should have deflected the comment with a joke about Tom Cruise: "When we're in love, we don't celebrate by jumping on couches."
Mr. Romney has to tread a fine line between allaying concerns about his faith and not alienating his coreligionists. When George Stephanopoulos of ABC News quizzed him about a Mormon belief that Jesus will return and build the new Jerusalem in America, Mr. Romney replied that Mormons believe the Messiah will return to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, "the same as the other Christian tradition."
Tom Grover, a Salt Lake City talk-show host, says that some of his Mormon listeners were upset. "They are just in disbelief, saying that's not true, Jesus is coming back to Missouri." The truth is that while it is Mormon doctrine that the new Jerusalem will be built in Jackson County, Mo., the church also holds he will return and appear in old Jerusalem. "So the evangelicals are right, the Mormons are right, and can't we all just get along?" asks Lee Benson, a columnist for Salt Lake city's Deseret Daily News, which is owned by an LDS Church holding company. Well, not quite. Even Mr. Benson says that Mr. Romney was "employing a good bit of doublespeak" in his answer.
Doublespeak may be good enough for some issues, but not for something as touchy as anti-Mormon prejudice. Mr. Romney doesn't have to give an exact repetition of John F. Kennedy's famous statement to Houston's Protestant ministers, in which he said that he would resign if his religious beliefs conflicted with his public duties. But Richard Bushman, a professor emeritus of history at Columbia University who has written the leading biography of Mormon founder Joseph Smith, told a Pew Forum on Religion in Public Life seminar I attended in May that Mr. Romney could say, "I'm going to follow my own conscience, come what may." Mr. Bushman noted that under Mormonism "politicians are not required to comply" with the dictates of the church in public life. If Mr. Romney makes that explicitly clear at some point in his campaign, he will allay some fears and stifle some criticism.
None of this is to say that there aren't legitimate issues around Mr. Romney's Mormonism. Reporters have noted that he has raised a stunning $2.8 million in lightly populated Utah and hopes to raise another $1.5 million there before this Saturday's filing deadline for second-quarter fund raising. USA Today examined 7,000 interviews it conducted as part of polls it does jointly with the Gallup organization and found that "Mormons comprise 21% of [Mr. Romney's] supporters," even though they represent only 2% of all Republican voters. That helps explain why Mr. Romney is spending big money early on TV to broaden his base and establish leads in early-voting Iowa and New Hampshire. His Mormon support may also explain why he can expect to do well in Nevada, which has a large Mormon population and will hold an early caucus.
Recognizing that Mr. Romney's faith is in some ways a major benefit to him while also discussing the backlash some voters have against him is perfectly appropriate. But journalists and supporters of other candidates should also strive to include another perspective. Mr. Romney notes the indisputable fact that most Americans are religious and goes on to say: "I think the American people want a person of faith to lead the country. I don't think Americans care what brand of faith someone has."
That is not entirely true. But it would help all of us if everyone in the political community worked towards that goal. In a country as diverse as ours, we will benefit if there are as few religious barriers as possible to those seeking high office. We've made great strides. After all, few people know or care that there are now two Buddhists in Congress--Democratic Reps. Hank Johnson of Georgia and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii. We will be a better country if even people who don't support Mr. Romney for president come to recognize that our country is better off if his candidacy rises or falls on factors that have nothing to do with his faith.
Editor's note: This article originally referred incorrectly to the "White Horse Prophecy" as the "White House Prophecy." The error has since been corrected.
