Romney's "Faith in America": The Hangover

I mentioned in my post last night (includes complete video of his address) that I thought Romney's speech needed to cover his Mormon religion moreso than contemplating "Faith in America," as he did.

Well, Christianity Today checks in on that very tip, explaining "What Evangelicals Heard in Romney's Speech."


Echoing my speculation, David Neff, the author, explains, "According to a Pew poll, 36 percent of evangelicals say that they are less likely to vote for a candidate who is a Mormon (compared to 25 percent of all Americans). Republicans know that this kind of evangelical resistance must be overcome in order to win a presidential election."

Of course, polls are always sketchy footholds, but it demonstrates that a much larger percentage of Evangelicals, to whom Romney was speaking directly in his address, are skeptical of his religious affiliation.

Neff outlines several places where Evangelicals can jive with Romney, based on the overarching, non-committal comments he made about "religion," which, by itself, was never actually defined. Granted, he was speaking to a group of people that already has pretty firmly in its place a definition of religion, but as someone with a non-traditional definition of the term, and a swing vote, I'd like to hear at least one candidate come out for some type of religious pluralism in America — isn't that kind of what freedom of religion is all about? To live justly and "freely" together is not only about "tolerating" all religions — "tolerance," to me, implies reluctance and still suggests that the "tolerator" is superior to the "tolerated — but also, I think, involves actually engaging with others of these faiths and trying to understand them as well.

But I digress. Neff explains, despite Romney's slick speechwork:

"Because of the iconic quality of the presidency, many Americans will feel discomfort with the mainstreaming of a marginal faith that a Romney presidency would represent. It's one thing to listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir or to elect Harry Reid or Orrin Hatch. It is quite something else to elect a Mormon President. Americans accept partisanship and diversity in our legislators. But the presidency is supposed to unite the nation, and for many, Romney's reassurances can't address the apprehension they feel in their guts."

Yes, this is only one viewpoint, but a strong influence in the Christian media at that. If my suspicions here are confirmed, we probably won't see Romney on the ballot next November.