As he seeks to become the first Mormon U.S. president, Republican Mitt Romney faces a dilemma in courting conservative Christians who often dismiss his religion as a cult but now could decide his political fate.
Should he address his religion head-on in a speech, as John F. Kennedy did in 1960 to Texas Baptists while campaigning to become the first Roman Catholic U.S. president?
Or should he resist debate over a religion that evangelicals, who are key to winning the Republican primaries, often view with suspicion?
“It’s a delicate balance, but I don’t think the strategy of ignoring this is going to work,” said Boston University professor Julian Zelizer. “At the moment he seems not to accept it as a legitimate issue and hopes that it goes away.”
The Harvard-educated former Massachusetts governor has cast himself as a more conservative alternative to favorites John McCain, an Arizona senator, and Rudolph Giuliani, the former New York mayor.
That pitch is complicated by his inconsistency on social issues such as gay rights and abortion rights, which he once supported but now opposes, and misconceptions about Mormonism and its history of racism and polygamy.
A heckler attacked Romney’s faith recently in Florida, a powerful state in the nominating process. “Sir, you are a pretender. You do not know the Lord,” the man said.
Romney, a former bishop in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, replied: “One of the great things about this great land is that we have people of different faiths and different persuasions.
“And I’m convinced that the nation does need ... to have people of different faiths but we need to have a person of faith lead the country.”
‘Open for scrutiny’
Damon Linker, a former professor at the Mormon-sponsored Brigham Young University in Utah and author of “Theocons: Secular America Under Siege,” said Romney’s response in Florida is exactly why he needs to address the issue.
“The religious right wants a candidate’s religious views to be at the center of their identity and political agenda. If you are going to do that, then the candidate’s religious views have to be open for scrutiny,” he said.
The Salt Lake City, Utah-based church is one of the world’s fastest-growing and affluent religions.
It bans alcohol, caffeine and tobacco, maintains that no one goes to hell, the dead can be baptized and God speaks through living apostles and prophets such as the church’s current president, Gordon Hinckley.
“What would it mean to have a Mormon as president who would believe that in an office building in downtown Salt Lake City there is a man who is the living mouthpiece of God on earth who speaks with the authority of God?” Linker asked.
Romney, 59, has called polygamy “bizarre” and does not drink, smoke or swear. He is married to his high-school sweetheart, Ann — which sits better with conservative Christians than Giuliani’s two failed marriages and McCain’s divorce.
Not ‘a deal-breaker’
Romney is the fifth Mormon to seek the White House. His father, former Michigan governor George Romney, ran in 1968 and the church’s founder, Joseph Smith, was shot to death by a mob during his 1844 presidential campaign.
But not since Kennedy has a candidate’s religion been such an issue. In a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, 35 percent of respondents said they would be “less likely” to vote for a candidate who is Mormon.
Kennedy made a point of easing concerns about his deference to a foreign Catholic prelate, and offered to resign if he was ever forced “to either violate my conscience or violate the national interest.”
Richard Land, a top official in Southern Baptist Convention in Tennessee, said Romney would be wise to follow suit.
“I don’t think the Mormonism issue is a deal-breaker, certainly not for most evangelicals,” he said. “But I do think he needs to address the issue.” Romney’s wife, too, has urged a Kennedy-esque speech. “I’m actually anxious for that to happen,” she told ABC News.
A Romney spokesman said no such speech was scheduled.