Sunday, December 16, 2007
Did Romney's speech reach evangelicals?
From the RoundTable blog
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Gerald McDermott
McDermott, professor of religion at Roanoke College, is co-author, with Robert Millet, of "Claiming Christ: A Mormon-Evangelical Debate."
Everyone agrees that Mitt Romney cannot win the Republican nomination for president without the evangelical vote. But did his recent "religion speech" convince evangelicals they could vote for him with a clear conscience?
It depends on whether evangelicals can believe civil religion is more important than theological purity when it comes to a national election.
Theological differences have led evangelicals and Mormons to demonize each other since the beginnings of Mormonism in the 1830s. Evangelicals have considered the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be a cult, and typically think Mormons are not real Christians.
The reasons, say evangelicals, are theological: Mormons add new revelation to the Bible and reject doctrines such as the Trinity and creation from nothing.
Since some of the most important evangelical doctrines have to do with Jesus, Romney was shrewd to say that he believes "Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of mankind."
But Romney will have a tougher time than did (Catholic) JFK in 1960. Back then evangelicals shared with Catholics a common view of Jesus. The Mormon Jesus, however, is different in two ways. First, Mormons believe Jesus is now God but only gradually grew into that status.
Second, Mormons believe humans are the same species as Jesus and therefore can someday attain his divine status. Evangelicals, on the other hand, are insistent on an infinite distance between Jesus' deity and our humanity.
Romney knew he could never persuade evangelicals that Mormonism is part of traditional Christianity. But what he could do -- and he did so brilliantly -- was to appeal to a common "civil religion." This is a term made popular in the 1970s for the faith that different kinds of religious people can work together for a moral and just nation under God.
Romney sounded all the right notes in playing this hymn. He called for a nation founded on religious liberty and denounced "theocratic tyranny." He said he believed in separation of church and state, which means there would be no established church (no special privileges for Mormons) and no special doctrine (from the Book of Mormon) that would ever supersede "the plain duties of [the presidential] office and the sovereign authority of law."
While Romney thereby swore a Mormon church would always be separate from a Romney-led state, he also promised this would not mean the separation of the people from God, for it is "God who gave us liberty." Religion in this civil religion is not "merely a private affair with no place in public life."
In words that are music to many evangelical ears, Romney avowed he would not let "the religion of secularism" become its own establishment of religion. He implied that the words "In God We Trust" should remain on coins, and called specifically for the retention of the pledge of allegiance, the teaching of an American history that recognizes religion's role in American history, and nativity and menorah displays during the holidays.
Other components of Romney's civil religion include freedom from religious tests, religious tolerance, appreciation for the prayers of all faiths, recognition of virtues in every major American religion (including Islam), compassion for the poor, and the equality of every human being.
In a move that will both please evangelicals and distinguish him from Rudy Giuliani, Romney forcefully endorsed a pro-life position, asserting "the inherent worth of every [human] life." He also claimed "these truths" could be seen in his "marriage and family"--perhaps a subtle comparison to Giuliani's troubled marriages and family.
Will this appeal to family values and "the great moral inheritance we hold in common" be enough to swing the evangelical vote?
It will ... if evangelicals remember three things. First, some of our best presidents rejected orthodox Christianity. George Washington was a deist who spoke of the deity in vague and impersonal terms. Thomas Jefferson denounced the Trinity and salvation by faith. John Adams also denied the Trinity, while Abraham Lincoln attended séances and never joined a church.
Second, the office of the president calls for a commander-in-chief, not theologian-in-chief. And finally, evangelical-favorite Martin Luther affirmed in principle his preference for civil religion over theological purity in the public square when he said, "The emperor need not be a Christian. It is sufficient that he possesses reason."
