The American Spectator

home
ADVERTISEMENT
Political Hay
Print Email
Text Size

Political Hay

Prejudiced for Eternity

A new reason for evangelical alarm over Mitt Romney's Mormonism.

This summer, as has been its custom in recent years, the megachurch (Southern Baptist, not Willow Creek) I attend brought in a series of guest speakers while the pastor caught a break.

One of the most compelling was James Walker, president of the Watchman Fellowship, which fancies itself a Christian discerner of new religious movements, cults, the occult, and New Age-ism. On the Sunday he visited my church, Walker preached about the folly of Oprah Winfrey-ism, exposing her New Age beliefs and showing a clip from her program in which a Christian confronted her (and her panelists) with Bible truths.

While Oprah wields enviable influence throughout the country, Walker has also seen a noticeable uptick in inquiries to Watchman about a certain presidential candidate's faith. The curiosity is over the Mormonism of Republican Mitt Romney, and let's just say Walker -- himself a former Latter-Day Saint church member -- is concerned.

So what's the worry -- that his religion taints his stance on political issues?

"There are a lot of things I find in common with him," Walker said with sincerity.

Is it that their beliefs are a little, uh, wacky?

"An atheist could make the same case about a Christian," Walker responded, obviously thinking about seas parting and Lazarus rising.

So what's the problem, then?

"My main concern with a Romney presidency is the hundreds of thousands of new converts that would be brought into the Mormon church," he said.

While Walker gives pause, others in the conservative movement -- even Christians like talk show host Hugh Hewitt, who wrote a whole book backing Romney, and Bob Jones III -- have supported him. They argue for his morally upstanding lifestyle and principled stances that place him in the social conservative fold, despite his theological aberrations.

p>The former Massachusetts governor himself was dismissive of the potential influence he would have upon the growth of Mormonism should he be elected. From Hewitt's book, A Mormon in the White House : br> /p>
Page: 1 2  

topics:
Harry Reid, Religion

About the Author

Paul Chesser is executive director for the American Tradition Institute and a senior fellow for the Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives. The views he expresses do not necessarily reflect the views of these organizations.

Letter to the Editor Leave a comment

Leave a Comment

N.B. We encourage readers to share and discuss their thoughtful and relevant comments about this Spectator article. Comments are routinely monitored and will be deleted if profane, bigoted, or grossly impolite. Please be respectful. (And don't feed the trolls!) Thank you.

Related Articles

More Articles by Paul Chesser

More Articles From Political Hay

http://spectator.org/archives/2007/11/01/prejudiced-for-eternity
ADVERTISEMENT

Clip of the Day

Most Popular Articles

Who Castrated Ann Coulter?

David Catron | 2.6.12

The Delousing of a Movement

R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. | 2.9.12

Bigoted Barack, Red in Tooth and Clause

George Neumayr | 2.10.12

Justice Ginsburg Should Resign

William Tucker | 2.8.12

Coulter Care

Peter Ferrara | 2.8.12

Unsafe at Any Smoke

Eric Peters | 2.10.12

Middle-Aged Man Takes a Holiday

Christopher Orlet | 2.9.12

ADVERTISEMENT