Ray Ciervo Ministries

The confusion of our faith and politics affords uscontinuous errors. After listening to Mitt Romney’s speech, some people areimpressed. He compared himself with JFK and his speech when he ran forpresident. JFK made the point that he was not a “Catholic running forpresident. He was an American running for president who happened to be aCatholic. Romney followed suit. He claimed he is not a Mormon running forpresident, but an American who happened to be a Mormon. His major appeal was tothe Christian right. Although Romney didn’t say anything contorversial, he didobscure some very important facts about his Mormon beliefs. I don’t believe hewas trying to be deceptive, but he used terms that would “acceptable” toChristian listeners. He referred to the “founding fathers” which is anacceptable buzz word for Christians. He definitely got in line with theChristina arguments for a moral society. But, there were some tricky points inhis speech which may go unobserved or uninterpreted.

First, let’s lay things out in a more apparent way.Mormonism began as a cult and has grown into a “folk-religion.” It may well bethat Mormonism is America’s folk-religion. When Joseph Smith received his“revelation” it was to announce that the church had altered the Scriptures, hadleft the religion of the apostles and prophets and that he was chosen torestore it. He was the undisputed leader of the new cult that broke away fromtraditional Christianity. Smith was an authoritarian leader that bandedtogether his followers who sought a place to carry out their new revelation.Mormonism refined its beliefs through the years, at least the ones that wereclearly offensive, like bigamy.

Some Christians were impressed that Romney declared that hebelieved Jesus to be the Son of God and the savior of mankind. This is veryChristian-like. However, Mormons have said that for a while. Jehovah witnesseswill say similar statements. What Mormons will not say is that Jesus Christ isGod’s unique Son. Nor will they say He is God, the Son. Mormons have alwaysasserted that Jesus is the Savior of Mankind, but they do not believe that hedied for you personally. His redemption is kind of a corporate redemption thatis only available to those who walk the Mormon path. They also believe that Jesuswas pre-existent as a “spirit baby” and the brother of Lucifer. We don’t havespace to go into the “special under garments” nor the need to get married inthe Mormon temple in Salt Lake City. Mormons do have some different beliefsthan orthodox Christians.

It’s amazing what some Christians will accept. To many thestatements Romney made sounded authentic. But, this is where the confusion lay.Because someone is a Mormon doesn’t make him a bad candidate for president.Nor, should it be the test whether he will be a good president. Mormons aremoral, for the most part. However, I can’t categorically say that any Christiancandidate will be moral either. If morality is the issue, we ought to make thatthe issue. There was a muddying of the waters in Romney’s speech that may pavethe way for him to become the Republican candidate. The problem will be if he’saccepted because of his allusion to Christian beliefs.

Romney’s hurdle is to garner support from the Christianvoters – he’s looking for the conservative right’s Christian voting block.Pundits like Pat Buchanan have given Romney’s speech high marks. But PatBuchanan is the poster child for Libertarian Christianity, not exactly thecenter of the stream. Buchanan aside, the other apologists have not have notsounded off. They’ll be others who criticize what he said, more than I have.

Here’s what Romney did in his speech. He alluded to apseudo-Christian faith in his statements about Jesus. He then picked up theargument of fighting the secular left. This was a smart move, very smart. Theknee-jerk Christians, whose faith has been politicized, will rally right behindhim. Not a bad political move, not at all.

Here’s the downside of it for Christianity: Romney becomes president and people look at Mormonism in a new light. Mormons can’t be thatbad, look at Mitt. Romney will secure Mormonism as America’s folk-religion.Mormonism is spiritual enough to satisfy many.

I know people will misunderstand my next statement. However,I’ll try to make this as clear as I can. I don’t have a problem with Romneyrunning for president. Nor do I have a problem with him becoming president. Butplease, leave my Christianity alone. It’s muddy enough with all the press itgets. It’s muddy enough with the politicized mumbo jumbo of pundits who don’tunderstand the Scripture and use it for their own political prowess.

Aside from my own consternation about my faith, this oughtto be interesting to watch as it plays out. Romney’s ploy to talk about hisfaith will prompt a response from Mike Huckabee.  This ought to make things interesting, really interesting inthe coming months.