Thursday, August 30, 2012

The fly in the ointment

Republicans have a good chance of winning the presidential election this year. Romney is a respectable man with a respectable economic plan, and Paul Ryan adds a kind of excitement that Republicans haven't seen for years.

But I was greatly disappointed when I read this:

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will deliver the invocation. And Grant Bennett, a longtime friend who has served in Mormon leadership roles with Mr. Romney, will speak to the Republican convention here....

... both Mr. Romney and his wife, Ann, recently have begun to share a little more about their religious life, even allowing a small group of reporters to attend church with them earlier this month. Mr. Robinson supports the move, saying that understanding the Romneys' faith is central to understanding them.

"This is just the fabric of their being," he said....

During the current campaign, the most notable issue related to religion is how it has all but ceased to be an issue. It was almost a year ago when Robert Jeffress, a Baptist pastor in Dallas, called Mormonism a cult. Since then, religion seldom has come up in the campaign.

But polls show Mr. Romney's support still lags among evangelical Christians, a key group within his party. In the latest Wall Street Journal/ NBC News poll, only 55% of evangelicals said they have very positive or somewhat positive feelings about Mr. Romney. Among all Republicans, 74% had positive feelings.

Ralph Reed, founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, acknowledged that some evangelical voters may shun Mr. Romney because of his faith, but said most of them reside in heavily Republican states, such as Arkansas, Oklahoma and South Carolina.

"We don't need 'em," he said.

As one Reformed writer said:

Senator Hatch says of Mitt Romney: “He literally lives his religion.” That’s the problem, and it’s an expected one. Romney’s demonic religion has a massive influence in his life and decision-making. Should that cause anxiety to the Christian voter? Is that anxiety such a problem that a Bible-believing person could not, in good conscience, vote for Mitt Romney or any other Mormon?

I'll vote for Romney. But I'll be holding my nose while I do it.

5 comments:

  1. My impression is that the relatively lukewarm support for Romney among evangelicals is due to the perception that he is not conservative enough. I don't see any reason why an evangelical should be afraid of Romney's Mormonism, unless I'm missing something. It's not as if McCain was particularly evangelical-friendly in 2008.

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  2. I'll be holding my nose while I vote too- for Obama.

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  3. Why do evangelicals continually bring up this issue?

    The question of Romney's religion is simply irrelevant since it's not as if Obama is a conservative, Bible believing Christian.

    And all the secularists know this. The issue of Obama's "Christianity" never even arises with them, because they know it is just a sham and a con. He belongs to a faux denomination and has sat under the teachings of a faux pastor for over 20 years. He has rarely attended church since his inauguration, and most obviously, endorses policies and exhibits ethics that are antithetical to Biblical Christianity.

    Why would this even be an issue at this point? Are people still being conned by Obama's token religiosity?

    If the choice is between Cyrus and Nebuchadnezzar, I'll take Cyrus, thank you very much.

    Please. The biggest concern about Romney is about his RINO-ism. But as to the religion thing? Just give it a rest. Obama himself makes it a non-issue.

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  4. I'll be holding my nose and not marking the vote for either Presidential candidate.
    Take heart, though - your vote means literally nothing in the Presidential race.

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  5. I'm voting for Romney because he's simply the man with the best chance to beat Obama at this point. Would I prefer that he be a Christian? Absolutely.

    However, one particularly impressive aspect of Romney's character that has been revealed during the convention is his charity to those in need. I'm very envious of his charity. I feel conviction over it. The reports of his kindness towards others, which I have no reason to doubt, are worthy of emulation.

    Part of being in a fallen world is to be led by rulers who are not Christians. Romney is a member of a Christian cult and that's a shame. For whatever reason we have a dearth of politically appealing Christian leaders. I have never been convinced of Obama's claims of being a Christian; he's simply never conducted himself or spoken in in a way that would make me think of him as a follower of Jesus Christ. With that said Romney is a far better choice than Obama in relative terms.

    Let's pray for better Christian leaders. And let's pray to be better Christians ourselves.

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