Could religious differences dissuade people from voting for a qualified Mormon candidate?
"No religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." - Article IV, U.S. Constitution
Between two prominent Latter-day Saints tossing their hats in the ring for the 2012 Republican presidential candidacy and Broadway buzz for the Tony award-winning Book of Mormon: The Musical, there seems to be a lot of chatter lately about how this could be the "Mormon moment."
However, a lack of change in voters' anti-Mormon sentiments across nearly 50 years makes me wonder if - and by how much - people's conceptions of Latter-day Saints are evolving, despite a flurry of media and pop culture interest.
While a Bloomberg poll released today says Huntsman's and Romney's Mormon faith doesn't appear to be a major hurdle to the candidates, a Gallup poll released yesterday questions whether a Latter-day Saint has a realistic shot at the White House.
According to the Gallup poll, 22 percent of Americans say they would not vote for a Latter-day Saint. That places Mormons as the least favorable religion among voters, whereas fewer than 10 percent of those polled say would not vote for a nominee who is Jewish, Baptist or Catholic.
Those numbers are nothing new - Gallup reports that the opposition against Latter-day Saints for president has held around 20 percent since Gallup first measured it in 1967. However, similar resistance to other faiths has tapered off to single digits in the last 44 years.
Why, then, is there the continued resistance to a Mormon president? If you think about it, those of Baptist or Catholic faiths generally share many of the same conservative stances as Latter-day Saints, like being pro-life and pro-traditional marriage. Each religion has its share of doctrinal quirks and history that can be potentially embarrassing. What makes Mormons different from their fellow religious counterparts?
In my view, one difference could be that if you're an "active" (orthodox, pious) Mormon, then your actions will inevitably fall out of step with the mainstream. You abstain from alcohol, coffee, tea, tobacco, and sexual relations outside of marriage - all things that are unquestioned parts of daily life for so many in the world. However, with a little explanation, many of the "Mormon quirks" don't seem nearly as quirky.
Part of the problem, though, is that those thrusting Latter-day Saints into the limelight in pop culture and media have an outside-in perspective. Big Love, The Book of Mormon: The Musical, and a myriad of other media pieces either blatantly lambast and skewer Mormon doctrines and culture, taking things completely out of context, or they perpetuate misconceptions like polygamy. For the record, polygamy was banned in 1890 - anyone practicing it since gets excommunicated from the LDS Church.
How do you turn around more than 180 years of misconceptions?
The LDS Church has taken a stab at it with their "I'm a Mormon" campaign, which recently made its debut in New York City. In this effort, everyday members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints discuss who they are and how their faith influences their lives. I've been impressed with this crowdsourced campaign because it gives face and voice to who Mormons really are - not who outsiders make us out to be, either from ignorance or from an agenda.
Will that be enough? I guess we'll see. The church-driven branding campaign has nothing to do with the political one, but how politics play out for Romney and Huntsman may reflect a shift, if there is one. I, for one, will be eager to see what's around the corner for these two.
the challenges to a mormon trying to get into the white house
The challenges facing any Mormon running for high office would not be in the “quirks” that are similar to other “christian” religious practices….it would be in the uniquely Mormon ones…first being that Mormon’s do not believe in the atonement Jesus brought to mankind, but instead they practice proving “worthiness” and the many things connected to this concept…things like special undergarments only given to those who have earned temple privileges and the right to “celestial” marriage (where,in the afterlife, a man gets his own planet and CAN have as many wives in spirit as he desires! oh, and his wife has to have a code word to join him in this “heaven”)The LDS church sells itself as Christian, but behind the scenes there is a lot you don’t know til you are a member! i am not affiliated with any religion…i’m not christian, although was raised catholic…am not a LDS member (so i’m not making an argument for anything other than telling the truth about being mormon), but lived as one and attended BYU and have lived in Idaho for many years (more per capita mormons here than Utah)i know many LDS who have left the church after a lifetime of belief because it’s just too “out there”, especially for educated women…also, the main LDS church claims to have a stance against polygamist offshoot cults, but there is ZERO support from the main church for those who have escaped the abuse in the desert these sect members have dealt with….they turn a blind eye because they know poly marriage is what the first prophet believed in. the main church banished polygamy for political reasons only! if you read the book of mormon as originally written you see that polygamist marriage was a cornerstone.the changing of this one thing is what led to the poly sects leaving, a large number of members at the time!... Utah was being denied statehood at the time of the “change” in doctrine…i suggest reading “escaped”, by caroline jessop and “the 19th wife”...look into the history of the church, not just what the LDS archives let people see…
Posted by disciplescientist
07/15/2011 at 09:33 AM
misunderstood in deed
Lisa, you seem to know and associate with several ex-mormons. However and very unfortunately, all things you point to as practices of the LDS church are not so!
The Gospel Principles book (http://lds.org/manual/gospel-principles?lang=eng)
describes the core belief and practices - there just are not any ‘secrets’ that are hidden from anyone (temple ordinances don’t change any of these and do not really add any additional doctrines either).
While several doctrines can be seen as unique to LDS Church, our belief in Christ as the Savior of the world is not. His Atonement is absolutely central to the gospel. And yes the church teaches adherance to the commandments layed out by Him, but so do other churches.
As to the afterlife, we do not know the details but no promises of own planets or additional wives are given anywhere in the scriptures.
And the peoples in the Book of Mormon never practised polygamy nor is it taught there (while very minor puntuation, correct spelling and word choice changes have been made in the Book, no meaning has been altered in the least, nor anything removed - 1st edition copies are available for you to see!)
The short answer is SURE. But not BECAUSE the person is Mormon. I vote according to the candidates’ positions on the issues, not their religious affiliation. Do I think it’s LIKELY that a Mormon would publicly take the positions I favor? No, but it could happen.
It's understandable that Mormon candidates meet resistance
One’s religious beliefs are one’s own business, but the problem with the Mormons are their attempts to impose their beliefs on others. The Mormon Church ordered its members to donate large sums of money for the Prop. 8 campaign, and to work to amend California’s constitution out of church offices in Utah. And we don’t see prominent Mormons challenging these efforts (as we do, for example, with Catholic politicians). Ultimately, whether or not a candidate is Mormon is less important than his/her political beliefs, but the Mormon candidates are too conservative for most Jewish voters. It’s telling however, that the Mormon candidates are less extreme than their competitors Bachmann, Perry, and Santorum, who represent other Christian sects.
You remember, John the Baptist and Catholic denominations in general share more of the same conservative positions that Latter-day Saints, such as marriage pro-life and pro-traditional.iphone sport case
These numbers are nothing new - Gallup reports that opposition to the president of Latter-day Saints was about 20 percent since Gallup first measured in 1967. However, resistance similar to that of other religious figures have fallen over the past 44 years.
However, no change in voters’ anti-Mormon feelings through almost 50 years makes me wonder if - and how - the ideas of the people of the Latter-day Saints are changing, despite a spate of media media and pop culture interest.
Places less favorable to the Mormons than among religious voters, while fewer than 10 percent of respondents would not vote for the candidate who is registered-jew, Baptist or Catholic.
“No religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” This rule applies to our country as well. As someone doing online data entry jobs , for me, it doesn’t matter from what religion you came from as long as you can serve your countrymen.
Hi, I believe anybody who is american and loves this country can make president as long as they are commited and they give 100%, on the other hand, a mormon has other faiths and beliefs they follow everyday so i don’t think they would give 70% max.
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06/30/2011 at 10:25 PM
The challenges facing any Mormon running for high office would not be in the “quirks” that are similar to other “christian” religious practices….it would be in the uniquely Mormon ones…first being that Mormon’s do not believe in the atonement Jesus brought to mankind, but instead they practice proving “worthiness” and the many things connected to this concept…things like special undergarments only given to those who have earned temple privileges and the right to “celestial” marriage (where,in the afterlife, a man gets his own planet and CAN have as many wives in spirit as he desires! oh, and his wife has to have a code word to join him in this “heaven”)The LDS church sells itself as Christian, but behind the scenes there is a lot you don’t know til you are a member! i am not affiliated with any religion…i’m not christian, although was raised catholic…am not a LDS member (so i’m not making an argument for anything other than telling the truth about being mormon), but lived as one and attended BYU and have lived in Idaho for many years (more per capita mormons here than Utah)i know many LDS who have left the church after a lifetime of belief because it’s just too “out there”, especially for educated women…also, the main LDS church claims to have a stance against polygamist offshoot cults, but there is ZERO support from the main church for those who have escaped the abuse in the desert these sect members have dealt with….they turn a blind eye because they know poly marriage is what the first prophet believed in. the main church banished polygamy for political reasons only! if you read the book of mormon as originally written you see that polygamist marriage was a cornerstone.the changing of this one thing is what led to the poly sects leaving, a large number of members at the time!... Utah was being denied statehood at the time of the “change” in doctrine…i suggest reading “escaped”, by caroline jessop and “the 19th wife”...look into the history of the church, not just what the LDS archives let people see…
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