The religious issue swirling around governor's Romney and Huntsman just shouldn't be there, but it is. And it's not just that they're Mormons, they're Republican Mormons.
By contrast, since Mo Udall dang near displaced Jimmy Carter as the Democrat presidential candidate in 1976, up to the present day with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Mormon Democrats have been immune to theological stigma.
So what's the deal?
A few years ago I got into my car, turned to my 20-something son in the passenger seat and asked, "So what did you think?"
He was furious, "What's this [male bovine fecal material] about Jesus and Satan being brothers!"
Had we just left some anti-Mormon rally? Hardly, we were in the parking lot of a ward in Kaysville after the funeral of a relative. The speaker at the funeral who had offered the Mormon narrative about the plan of salvation was Greg Bell, the same luminary who is our current lieutenant governor. My son had learned the unique Mormon view of the relationship between the Savior and the devil in the most benign environment possible from an informed and sympathetic speaker who was thorough and crystal clear.
However, as Greg mounted the rostrum he said, "I know there are a lot of people from other churches here." In fact most of the people attending the funeral that day were folks from my congregation. He continued, "And I don't want you to be offended."
Why did Greg try to assuage his non-Mormon listeners? Well, he knew that his description of the Mormon plan of salvation would contain theology that would sound unusual and, to use his word, also be offensive.
This anecdote illuminates an important feature of Mormonism. Mormons have public and private ceremonies and doctrines. Only worthy Mormons can participate in temple rites. Mormons routinely avoid public discourse about essential tenets of their faith. On one hand, Mormons describe themselves as Christians just like everybody else. On the other, they prefer to keep private such core beliefs as the sibling relationship between Jesus and Satan, the plurality of gods, how they believe a god named Elohim instructed two demi-gods named Jehovah and Michael to organize (not create) our planet from existing matter, etc.
This style of religion is called a "mystery religion." We haven't seen a fully functional mystery religion since Mithraism evaporated 1,500 years ago. Mystery religions have a public and private side. The public or exoteric face of the religion looks culturally normal. The private and esoteric side is the reality.
This is not a negative judgment of Mormonism, just a description. It also explains why when Mormons declare "We believe in the Savior too," it is insufficient. By contrast, the late President Gordon B. Hinkley was always refreshingly candid in affirming the truth that Mormons do not believe in same Jesus as traditional Christianity.
Two points:
First, a year ago I led a group through a detailed study of the doctrinal essentials of historic and biblical Christianity. The folks in the class were from Catholic, Baptist, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, and non-denominational churches. We could study principal Christian beliefs together because we shared those exact same beliefs. There is one basic theology in the Church of Jesus Christ, but all of it in is stark contrast to what Mormons believe.
Second: There are three great Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. There's no question that Mormonism, while theologically distant from traditional Christianity, is also an Abrahamic religion.
If Romney's importunate candidacy is successful and he becomes the Republican nominee, Mormonism will be scrutinized as never before. While the media could care less about the religion of Democrat Mormons, the Republican-unfriendly media will air analytical specials that will ask the innocuous question, "Who are the Mormons?" But the focus will be on the esoteric, private beliefs and practices of Mormonism. The slightest distortion, which will happen, will make a Republican Mormon candidate look like a weirdo.
Romney and Huntsman are as qualified to serve as most of the presidential hopefuls we've seen in the past 20 years. I'm ready to vote for either of them. But as inappropriate as the religious issue is, both Romney and Huntsman have also been spectacularly inept in dealing with it.
Both of them have to Pget out in front of the religious question and affirm what they really believe. First, the restorationist character of Mormonism separates it from the rest of Christianity. But second and most important, Mormonism is a legitimate and fourth Abrahamic religion.
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