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The New York Times
Religion Looms Large
Over 2008 Race
By AP from
nytimes.com on the Web, July 30, 2007
WASHINGTON -- When George
Romney ran for the 1968 Republican presidential nomination, his Mormon heritage
was mostly a footnote. It was scarcely mentioned in news accounts of the
day. But for son Mitt Romney, the family religion presents a formidable
political hurdle.
The younger Romney repeatedly is called on to defend his membership in the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its teachings, encountering
skepticism particularly from Christian conservatives, a key component of the GOP
base.
''I believe that there are some pundits out there that are hoping I'll distance
myself from my church so that'll help me politically. And that's not going
to happen,'' Romney asserts.
Religion has not played so prominent a role in a U.S. national election since
1960, when John F. Kennedy became the first Catholic to be elected president.
And it's not only Romney under scrutiny. All the Democratic and Republican
presidential hopefuls have been grilled on their religious beliefs. Most
seem eager to talk publicly about their faith as they actively court religious
voters.
Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton emphasizes her Methodist upbringing and
says her faith helped her repair her marriage.
Chief rival Sen. Barack Obama frequently uses the language of religion and
proclaims a ''personal relationship'' with Jesus Christ. The Illinois
Democrat -- whose middle name is ''Hussein'' -- scoffs at suggestions of Muslim
leanings because he spent part of his childhood in Indonesia. He is a
member of the United Church of Christ.
In the most recent Democratic debate, a pastor in a YouTube video asked Democrat
John Edwards to defend his use of religion to deny gay marriage. The
former North Carolina senator -- a Methodist -- talked about his faith and his
''enormous conflict'' over the issue
Republican Sen. John McCain, an Episcopalian, says, ''I do believe that we are
unique and that God loves us.'' Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, an
ordained Baptist minister, emphasizes his belief that ''God created the heavens
and the earth. To me, it's pretty simple.''
Unlike the others, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, a divorced Roman
Catholic who favors abortion rights, sidesteps such questions, claiming one's
relationship with God is a private matter. But he attended Catholic
schools and at one point considered being a priest.
Clearly, the religious issue is the most problematic for Romney. Polls
suggest he faces continued misgivings over his faith. An ABC
News-Washington Post poll conducted July 18-21 showed that 32 percent of those
who said they leaned Republican described themselves as ''uncomfortable'' with
the idea of a Mormon president.
An earlier poll by the Pew Research Center said 30 percent of respondents said
they would be less likely to vote for a candidate that was Mormon. The
negative sentiment rose to 46 percent for Muslim candidates and to 63 percent
for a candidate who ''doesn't believe in God.''
Pollster Andrew Kohut, Pew's director, said that between the late 1960s, when
Romney's father ran, and now there has been ''one of the great transformations
of our era. There is more mixing of religion and politics than there was
then. As a consequence, people scrutinize Mormonism -- or any other
religion -- more closely than back then.''
He cites the growing influence of the Christian right, the political activism of
tele-evangelists and a trend that has seen a steady migration of Christian
conservatives into the GOP fold, particularly in the South.
''When the South changed, it brought the evangelicals with it,'' Kohut said.
The links between religion and governance intensified with the presidency of
George W. Bush, said Joan Konner, former dean of the Columbia Journalism School.
''He brought it up when he ran for office and he said his favorite philosopher,
in answer to a question in a debate, was Jesus.
''And then he followed up on that by faith-based public funding and various
other actions that started to erode what Americans took for granted as the
separation between church and state,'' said Konner, who has studied the
interaction between religion and politics and is the author of ''The Atheist's
Bible.''
George W. Romney was a politically moderate former governor of Michigan and
auto-industry executive when he sought the 1968 GOP presidential nomination.
Scant mention was made of his Mormonism in news accounts at the time and it
appeared to be a non-issue in the race.
Polls showed him as the front-runner until he stumbled by complaining to an
interviewer that when he had visited Vietnam, he had been ''brainwashed'' by
military briefers there into supporting the war. That remark generated
enough controversy to cost him the nomination.
Some historians suggest more attention might have been paid to Romney's
Mormonism if he hadn't torpedoed his own candidacy so early. And in those
days, many Christian conservatives were southern Democrats and less interested
in GOP primary contests.
Mitt Romney supporters point to Kennedy, who overcame questions about his
religion to become the first Catholic elected president. He did that, in
part, by speaking before Protestant clergymen in Houston in 1960 to dispel fears
that, as a Catholic president, he would be subject to direction from the pope.
Can Romney neutralize the religion issue the same way Kennedy did -- by giving a
major speech explaining the role his Mormon faith plays in his political life?
In an interview in Iowa with The Associated Press, Romney said he's considering
dealing with the issue in a comprehensive manner, although ''it's probably too
early for something like that.''
''At some point it's more likely than not, but we'll see how things develop,''
Romney said.
Kennedy had one advantage that Romney doesn't. When he ran, Catholics made
up roughly 28 percent of the U.S. population. Although one of the fastest
growing faiths in the world, Mormons represent less than 2 percent of the U.S.
population with 5.5 million members across the country.
''The differences between Kennedy and Romney are in the nose count,'' said
political historian Stephen Hess. ''The religion issue may have hurt
Kennedy, but it sure helped him at the same time'' as Catholics threw their
support behind him.
''There is no way that capturing the Mormon vote is going to win Romney
anything,'' Hess said.
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