Mitt's Mormon Dilemma

...The constitutional scholar Akhil Amar has pointed out that this provision was well ahead of its time: In 1787 no fewer than 11 states, following the practice in Europe, actually imposed religious qualifi cations on government officials...

...It is, he said, “as if they are intent on establishing a new religion in America—the religion of secularism...

...These are points that, to one degree or another, the other Republican candidates would agree with...

...Romney’s statement in his speech that “I do not defi ne my candidacy by my religion” may fairly be read not only as an effort to calm anxieties about the prospect of a Mormon in the White House, but also as a response to how Huckabee is offering himself to Iowa voters...

...Huckabee has emphasized that his faith “defi nes” him—and by implication his candidacy...

...Indeed, he vigorously rejected the idea that he should distance himself from his religion—“say that it is more a tradition than my personal conviction, or disavow one or another of its precepts...

...This article states: “No religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualifi cation to any Offi ce or public Trust under the United States...

...He continued: “I believe in my Mormon faith and I endeavor to live by it...

...Nor is there any aspect of Romney’s tenure as governor of Massachusetts that suggests he failed to observe the distinction between church and state...

...Even, he said, if it costs him the election...

...They are wrong...

...The promise Romney made in his speech—that he would serve “no one religion, no one group, no one cause, and no one interest,” but “only the common cause of the people of the United States”—is credible...

...Knowing this, a candidate might offer his faith as a reason to vote for him—and perhaps not for someone else...

...Article VI, wrote Amar, made possible the election of “presidents of various denominations and even some men with no explicit religious affi liation, such as Jefferson and Lincoln...

...My faith is the faith of my fathers—I will be true to them and to my beliefs...

...Nothing the current Mormon authorities have done suggests they would fail to stay within their churchly jurisdiction...

...One is whether as president he would take directions from the Mormon hierarchy in Salt Lake City...

...He presents himself as a “Christian leader...

...A fair reading of Iowa was that Romney’s religion was not helping him with evangelicals...

...BY TERRY EASTLAND The question that has preoccupied the Mitt Romney campaign since its outset is whether voters will hold his Mormon faith against him...

...Romney raised the question of “how my own faith would inform my presidency, if I were elected,” and his answer included nothing distinctively Mormon...

...With that strategy imperiled by the movement of evangelicals in Iowa toward Huckabee—a movement that could well presage similar developments in South Carolina and Florida—Romney gave a speech on religion last week at the George Bush Presidential Library at Texas A&M...

...Americans are of course free to vote for any reason, including the religion of a candidate...

...That I will not do...

...Instead, as he explained, where Mormonism supports the same values as other faiths, those values—such as that of “compassionate care to others”—would inform his presidency...

...But Romney fi rmly declined to go into LDS beliefs (though, in the course of stating that “my church’s beliefs about Christ may not all be the same as those of other faiths,” he did profess that “Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Savior of mankind...

...These polls also indicated that evangelical conservatives, who may constitute upwards of 40 percent of the caucus goers, were breaking for Huckabee, the former Southern Baptist pastor...

...Romney hasn’t directly challenged Huckabee on this, and chances are he won’t...

...God “should remain on our currency, in our pledge, in the teaching of our history, and during the holiday season, nativity scenes and menorahs should be welcome in our public places...

...Romney called for public acknowledgments of God—“in ceremony and word...

...To this he said, drawing sharp lines of jurisdiction, “Let me assure you that no authorities of my church, or any other church for that matter, will ever exert infl uence on presidential decisions...

...Romney wanted his listeners to know, however, that the distinctions he draws between church and state do not mean that he only weakly believes...

...Terry Eastland is the publisher of THE WEEKLY STANDARD...

...The question assumed greater urgency in late November when polls showed Romney had lost his lead in Iowa—which kicks off the primary schedule with its caucus on January 3—to Mike Huckabee...

...Romney is evidently concerned that Huckabee is just that kind of candidate and that this explains in substantial part his changing fortune in Iowa...

...The unique challenge for Romney was to allay the concerns some people have about his church...

...The Romney campaign’s strategy is based on winning in Iowa and then, fi ve days later, in New Hampshire...

...He also mentioned “the right to life itself,” a movement not yet fi nished—and clearly of importance to many Republican primary voters...

...He implied it is, amongst all our liberties, the very fi rst...

...First, there was Romney’s treatment of religious liberty...

...Evangelicals have tended to object more strongly than most other religious groups to the beliefs of Mormons, with some regarding Mormonism as a “cult...

...Third, Romney affi rmed that religion is a force for the nation’s wellbeing...

...There was much in the speech that evangelicals and other religious conservatives will fi nd to their liking...

...For some voters, the issue, of course, is not that he believes but what he believes—i.e., what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints teaches (such as that God has a material body and that there are other books of Scripture besides the Bible...

...LDS teachings are at variance with the basic beliefs of historic Christianity, held to not just by evangelicals, but also by mainline Protestants and Catholics...

...Their authority is theirs, within the province of church affairs, and it ends where the affairs of the nation begin...

...He gave a reason for his position: To have a presidential candidate “describe and explain his church’s distinctive doctrines would enable the very religious test” for offi ce prohibited in Article VI of the Constitution...

...He may wind up being the victim of a dynamic that he had no effective means of overcoming...

...The theory is that these victories would generate the momentum necessary to go all the way...

...Second, Romney took a whack at those (unnamed) who take “the notion of the separation of church and state . . . well beyond its original meaning” by seeking “to remove from the public domain any acknowledgment of God...

...No movement of conscience can succeed in America that cannot speak to the convictions of religious people,” he said, citing as examples abolition in the 19th century and civil rights in the 20th...

...Thus, while Romney has sought to downplay his Mormonism—it is not an electoral asset in Iowa—Huckabee has played up his faith...

...Romney even managed to work in a reference to judges, saying we need jurists who will stick to original meaning and let stand, for example, “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance...

...He said it is an inalienable right “with which each is endowed by his Creator...

...Romney said he understood the religion clause of the First Amendment as being fundamentally about securing “the free practice of religion” and pointed out that while achieving religious liberty has been a long and arduous process, its benefi ts—“diversity of cultural expression” and “vibrancy of . . . religious dialogue”—are evident and contrast sharply with what you fi nd in Europe, where established churches seem to be “withering away...

...He is too risk-averse to do something so bold...

...Here Romney came across as an authentic believer...