ARCA Article: Mitt Romney & Mormonism | The facts!

"Just the facts ma'am" sounds archaic and cliché-ish, but is critical to evaluate a position, idea or statement based on the facts. Sound bites, clichés, emotional charges, and personal opinion run amok whenever there is a political race for the presidency. Consequently, these very elements obscure the precious essential facts surrounding our candidates. Whatever ideas you have, whether they are economic, public or foreign policies, etc., you have to evaluate them to see if they carry serious consequences to the christian worldview.

However, this process is rendered useless when there a false dichotmy between what is rendered to Cesar and what is rendered to God. This could be largley due to the misunderstanding between the separation of church and state ideology in general and Christian naivette in particular. As I have mentioned before, Artistotle's remarks about what is virtuous or right is found in moderation; and while on one extreme we have a Christian nation (Theocracy) and on the other we a striclty secular one (false humility, isolationist), I think that our interaction with politics should be specifically that, interacive. Interactivity is the middle ground between isolationism and dominionist ideas. Now, how much this influence should be and what it contains are subject matters that could be further developed. 

Nevertheless, we must recognize that many ideas have consequences and we would be amiss to think that these ideas could become part of a political candidate and not have any effects whatsoever on his constituents. While all candidate have ideas that carry some effect on any particular religious belief, let us take a look at one of them to see how his specific ideas about ethics, religion and politics play out when analyzed through the lens of a Christian worldview. This is where Apologetics Resource Center comes in. I think that Craig Branch does a very good job of pointing out specific differences between the Mormon (Mitt Romney) & Christian worldview and the impact it has on us as Christians. I invite you to spend some time and read the article carefully, especially when it comes to the statistics. Let me point out some notable quotes from this article to wet your appetite:

…But along came Jerry Falwell and The Moral Majority. Conservative Christianity and conservative politics became a major focus of time and hope for Christian influence in culture. The concept has some legitimacy. There has been a neglected theological dimension of the role of the Church or believers as activists in shaping our culture. It is important to note that the baseless cliché, “you can’t legislate morality,” is without merit. All laws and ethics are based on someone’s morality.

So Christians work to influence lawmakers and even to become lawmakers, but not to make the country into a Christian theocracy. Our first priority is to see people converted to Christ via the gospel and to prioritize the spiritual kingdom, realizing that the Law can restrain evil (and provoke it) and can have some positive effect on the consciences of image bearers of God, but cannot convert people. Our priority and ultimate goal in the Kingdom is to make disciples of Jesus Christ, minister to those truly in need, and to promote mercy and justice. Our ultimate and proximal trust is in the triune God – not the Republican or Democratic parties. 

To complicate the issue more, there are a number of evangelicals who have openly stated that Romney’s faith should not be a factor. Chuck Colson, Ralph Reed, Southern Baptist leader Richard Land, and others have all said, “We are electing a Commander-in-Chief, not a Pastor (or theologian)-in-Chief.” Incredibly Pat Robertson had Romney come to Regent University to give the Commencement address last year! Fundamentalist Bob Jones III of Bob Jones University endorses Romney. The Roman Catholic conservative talk show host, Sean Hannity naively proclaimed that since Romney said he accepts Jesus Christ as his personal savior, it should be enough.

But it is precisely because of these perspectives that we need to seriously discuss this issue. Let’s take a moment to lay some foundations and to clarify and define the issues for this controversy.

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You can also look at Ray Ciervo's excellent article on the same issue here  

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