Mormons at the Gates

Just thought that title would get everyone's attention. This article is intended to indicate why Mormons tend to be assumed to be Republican. Some political commentators would even tend to think of Mormondom as a "wholly owned subsidiary of the GOP" (Not my phrase, it was a phrase which the Vice President of the American Evangelicals used to describe how people felt about the political stance of the Evangelicals -- but Mormons for some strange reason get dumped into the same political pot with the Evangelicals who deny that Mormons are even Christian.)

Mormons tend to be busy. They have their work, above average sized families, and Church callings that frequently take up most of their spare time. As a result they get their political awareness in sound bites and inferences drawn from clear Church stances on a very few political issues. Although Mormons are warned prior to the heavy onset of national political campaigns, not to ascribe endorsement of any candidate or party to the Church -- many would feel such an ascription would probably be of minimal value anyway, since most members have a radar lock on who they are going to support based on sound bites.

So how does that happen? Certain issues like abortion and gay marriage are routinely brought up by the Republicans. The Church's stance if read closely is not necessarily inconsistent with pro-Choice or at least responsible pro-Choice. I would suspect that there are only a minimal number of Mormons who are radically pro-Life. But, the Church, and rightly so, considers abortion to be a very, very grave decision -- and if it is a gratuitous abortion (where the pregnancy is not a result of incest or rape, necessary because the mother's life is in danger, or involves an extremely impaired embryo) then the woman may well be in serious jeopardy of her standing in the Church. So when abortion is mentioned, most Mormons are going to click on gratuitous abortions and make inferences about pro-Choice politicians which may or may not be correct. They may not have the time or wish to devote the time to figure out exactly where the politician stands.

Because of the centrality of the marriage covenant to Mormon beliefs, the Church feels compelled to speak out against Gay Marriage. With respect to Gay Marriage the gloves are more likely to be taken off and actual political activism encouraged. That does not, however, mean the Church is saying vote for this candidate or that candidate -- it is merely trying to denounce Gay Marriage. So when Gay Marriage comes up, most Mormons are going to take a peak at which party or candidate is advocating or fighting against Gay Marriage. Once that quick observation is made by the individual Mormon, they can then pull their head back into their ordered shell and move on to other matters in life. They may not feel they have the time to figure out what the other issues may be.

Outside of these "morality" issues, the Church tends to rarely get involved in politics -- it did oppose the ERA and it also opposed the MX Missile system since that would have directed all of the USSR's nuclear missiles at Mormondom.

The ecumenical outreach programs that were assigned to Dallin Oakes when he was called to the Quorum of the Twelve sought to reach out to the Protestant Christians and Christian Fundamentalists in particular. Whether that was wise or not is hard to say, I assume there was a good reason for doing so. On the other hand, the most vehement persecution of the Mormon Church has never come from the liberals or from the left, it has always come from the conservatives and from the right. Its like Mormons have taken "turn the other cheek" to a whole new level like, "here's the other cheek, top of my head, my back, my knees, etc." Out here in Vermont you hardly ever hear anti-Mormon attacks, back in Indiana the attacks from various fundamentalists and other Protestants was constant and vicious.
But now, the Christian right has a problem. For a number of years now they have been able to count on two regions as part of the power base: the South and the Rocky Mountain West. The South being represented by the Evangelicals and the Rocky Mountain West by the Mormons. They have certainly not been above using the Mormons as a political cudgel to bash and batter the liberals, and since the Christian right is focused on the "hot button" social issues -- well its pretty obvious the election of significance to them is the Republican Primary where they cull out moderates and libertarians overly attached to liberty. But now they are confronted with a maverick who seems to be foundering in the polls (McCain), a Republican whose "morality" may be in question as well as some of his social conservative credentials (Guiliani), and a Mormon who currently is singing their tune, but for a slight lapse necessary to get elected Governor of Massachusetts (Romney.)

Their quandary is not well hidden. When you have a political base which puts religion before law, and the Fundamentalists have been very clear they would basically use the Bible to interpret the Constitution and find the establishment clause to be nothing more than a very low speed bump -- well religion is actually important! The problem they now face is that their political operatives are standing behind pulpits and they have been declaring that Mormons are not Christians ever since Joseph Smith, Jr. disclosed the First Vision to his local ministers. Its a tough choice, 30% of Americans have said that they would not vote for a Mormon for President under any circumstances. Wonder how many of that 30% are Democrats? Not likely -- more likely it is the Christian right.

So will the Christian right stand by their political agenda, or cave into religious bigotry? Tough choice -- but its one they set themselves up to have to make. You live by using religious beliefs as a political weapon -- you die because of your political weapon. Life is not fair -- at least that is what the Christian right has been screaming in a very shrill voice for sometime now.
And when a Mormon is rejected as being unfit to be a President because of his religion, by his fellow Christians? How will that go down? Will it cause Mormondom to start taking a much wider view of the issues facing the country than what the pregnant women and gays are up to? Maybe, then again...probably not.