Contender’s religion: A test run

By Michael Mishak

Saturday, May 5, 2007 | 6:58 a.m.

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney intends to skip past a critical issue today in a speech to a largely evangelical Christian audience: He will not try to sell them on the Mormon religion.

Romney's campaign said this week that he will not address the topic directly in his commencement address at Pat Robertson's Regent University in Virginia.

Romney has said he does not believe his job as a candidate includes educating people about his faith. But religious leaders and political observers said this week that if he wants the Republican nomination, he must address perceptions about the Mormon religion at some point, especially with evangelicals who are such a vital force in Republican politics.

To Nevadans, being Mormon is hardly a disqualification for public office. Gov. Jim Gibbons and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are Mormon, as are Rep. Dean Heller, a number of state lawmakers and four of the seven Clark County commissioners.

Nevada church members are excited by Romney's candidacy and have contributed heavily to his campaign. Romney raised $397,000 from Nevada donors. Not surprisingly, three of the seven members on his state finance committee are Mormons.

Among some evangelicals, particularly in the early voting state of South Carolina, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is considered a fringe religion.

"Mormonism is a far greater issue for Romney in the South and the Midwest, where it's a less common religion," Nevada Republican consultant Ryan Erwin said.

Evangelicals have deep theological differences with the Mormon church. Most don't view the faith as Christian. And many still connect the religion with the polygamist lifestyle - despite a church ban on polygamy in 1890.

Suspicion of Mormonism extends well beyond Christian conservatives. A recent CBS poll found that 57 percent of survey respondents knew little or nothing about Mormon beliefs or practices. In the absence of knowledge, political and religious observers say, comes the potential for prejudice.

Romney's candidacy has sparked a national discussion about religion and politics not seen since John F. Kennedy campaigned for president in 1960. Kennedy addressed the issue directly by speaking about his Catholicism to a group of Protestants in Houston.

Today, however, "the conversation is much more difficult," said John Green, a senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. "Americans in general do not know a lot about Latter-day Saints, and many of the things they do know cause them concern."

Evangelicals tend to know more about Mormonism than most Americans - if only to refute its beliefs. Many find some core tenets of the faith heretical. Among them: Mormons have three books of Scripture other than the Bible. Mormons see people on a journey toward godhood. They believe the dead can be baptized and that God speaks to man today through living apostles and prophets.

"Mormonism is not a conventional church like Protestantism or Catholicism," said Richard Ostling, co-author of "Mormon America" and a longtime religion reporter for the Associated Press. "It takes us further afield, and thus makes people wary."

On top of that, Ostling said, is the church's institutional secrecy, making it even more of a question mark in the minds of many Americans.

Amid growing concerns about Romney's candidacy as reflected in public opinion polls, especially among evangelicals, today's speech would be the ideal venue to address the issue of his faith head-on, observers said.

"He needs to do it, and sooner rather than later," Ostling said. Such an effort, he said, is even more incumbent on Romney given that he's a "true blue Mormon." He held a leadership post in his church in Belmont, Mass., for four years and oversaw all Mormon congregations in Greater Boston for nine years.

So far, Romney has chosen to keep public comments about his faith brief, preferring to address concerns privately.

Last fall he met with several influential evangelical leaders, including the Rev. Jerry Falwell, at his home, and in February he addressed a group of ministers and religious broadcasters in Florida. He's also discussed the issue with Republicans in South Carolina.

Romney's approach is to try to sell his values rather than his religion. He emphasizes his opposition to abortion and gay marriage, two core issues among social conservatives, despite criticism that he has shifted his views in the name of political expedience.

"Gov. Romney has a proven conservative record and will lead based on the principles our nation was founded on," Romney spokeswoman Sarah Pompei said. "When he is given the opportunity, folks recognize more often than not that he shares their values, he shares their concerns on the important challenges we face and his aspirations for the nation are often their aspirations."

The campaign can point to some signs of success. Last month, Mark DeMoss, an evangelical public relations consultant who represents many conservative Christian groups, wrote on the Web site of The Politico: "For years, evangelicals have been keenly interested to know whether a candidate shared their faith. I am now more interested in knowing that a president represents my values than I am that he or she shares my theology."

Still, Romney should address the issue of his faith in a substantive way, before it becomes the subject of negative campaign ads, said Alan Wolfe, an expert in religion and politics at Boston College. Public opinion polls show that more Americans are willing to accept a woman or a black as president than a Mormon.

Merle Black, an expert on Southern politics at Emory University in Atlanta and co-author of "Divided America," says Romney's focus should be on scoring an early win in Nevada, where his religion is more familiar. Without that, Southern Republicans won't take him seriously, he said.

UNLV political scientist David Damore agreed. "He'll need to break through in one of those early contests, and Nevada would be his best shot," he said.

Evangelicals don't have the same influence here as they do in the South. So why have Nevadans elected so many Mormon candidates to public office?

Unlike many Christian conservatives, Mormons don't drag their religion onto the soapbox, Damore said.

"Mormons may be politically active but they don't let their church become a vessel for politics," he said.