The SPEECH

Today Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney gave a much anticipated speech in response to concerns voiced by many voters about his Mormon religious faith (full text here). Rather than directly address Mormon beliefs the speech Mr. Romney spoke about the place which religious faith has occupied in America from its very founding.

The speech was very well written and very well delivered. It hit upon points which very much needed to be addressed in our increasingly secular age. I believe that Mr. Romney hit a "home run" in his effort to reassure voters that his faith would not adversely affect his conduct as president.

In listening to the reactions of talk radio hosts and callers today two separate and completely distinct issues were raised which, it grieves me to say, were completely confused by both hosts and callers - as well as by numerous bloggers.

First there is the issue of whether Romney's Mormonism disqualifies him for the presidency. In the legal sense the answer is absolutely not. The Constitution specifically disallows any religious test for those wishing to hold any public office. The other part of the question is whether electing a Mormon to the presidency is a good idea even if it is not illegal. To that question I can only answer from my own perspective as an evangelical Christian and a political conservative.

As a Christian I realize that we are electing the nation's president not the nation's pastor. As long as the man is honest and of good character and holds to conservative fiscal, moral/social and foreign/military/national security policy it matters not if he is a Christian, Jew, Mormon or even atheist.

Mitt Romney clearly is saying the right thing on all those topics. This is not surprising since Mormons are, as a rule, conservative. They tend to be pro-life, pro-gun and pro-family. They tend to vote Republican; they do have their moonbats, like Harry Reid, but in the main they are intelligent when it come to politics.

Of course there is plenty in Romney's record to make one wonder how truly committed to conservative principles he is, but that is not a matter of his professed religious faith.

The second issue I've heard discussed today is whether Mormonism should be considered a legitimate part of the greater Christian Church. This is what has had me tearing my hair out all day long.

First of all in the interest of full disclosure I will tell you that I am an Evangelical Christian and I consider myself a fundamentalist. I have been a Christian for over 25 years and have studied Christian theology extensively. I am an elder in my church, teach Sunday school and lead the Wednesday night adults' service.

I have known a number of Mormons and have liked every one I have met. I have been impressed with their good character, honesty and loyalty. However my study of both Biblical theology and the Mormon religion has convinced me that the Mormon faith, however laudable it is in some respects, is not a legitimate form of Christianity. It is another religion and because it claims to be Christian it is "another gospel" and stands under the curse of God.

It is a cult and there is no salvation in it. Those who die having placed their faith in its doctrines are condemned to eternal hell just as those who died following Jim Jones, Marshall Applewhite, the Buddha, Zoroaster or any other non-Christian religion.

What I have been hearing today is an attempt to redefine Christianity to include any religion which uses the name "Jesus" and upholds conservative political and moral principals. Sean Hannity, who I have come to believe is a true and total idiot, has been the worst.

I am sick of being scolded by hypocrites who try to use the Constitution's exclusion of a religious test for public office as a club to beat people of conscience into abandoning any consideration of faith in their choice of whom to support.

Why do I call them hypocrites? Because they do not really mean their words. These people obviously do not believe that no religious belief could disqualify a person from support. They would never in a million years vote for an Islamofascist who wants to put America under sharia. They would not vote for a follower of Moloch who thinks we should worship the god by tossing infants into a bonfire. They would not support anyone who wanted to cut out the beating hearts of of 20,000 people in one day and toss them into a stone urn as an offering to the Feathered Serpent.

What these people mean is that because they personally don't find Mormonism too far "out there" to automatically reject a Mormon candidate that no one else should either.

Sorry, but I bow down to no pope, either the one in Rome or a self-appointed nag here in the US. The last human who I hold to have had the power to bind my conscience laid down his pen nearly 2000 years ago (the Apostle John, if you were wondering). Christians who feel that electing a Mormon president would give the Mormon cult too much credibility and aid their recruitment have a valid point, but not ultimately a convincing one. The Mormon cult gains far more credibility from dolts with microphones who point out that the Presbyterians have differences with the Methodists who have differences with the Baptists and so on, implying that the massive theological differences between Mormonism and Christianity are mere trifles like whether you sprinkle or immerse at baptism or drink wine or grape juice during communion.

By all means support Romney in the primary and the general election (if he is nominated) if you feel he is the best candidate. I am a Thompson man, but if Romney is the candidate I will have no problem voting for him. But do not attempt to make Romney more palatable by redefining the Gospel.