In 2008 Obama compared the vote between him and McCain as the vote between “the devil you know, and the devil you don’t know.”
Deja vu.
Although Evangelicals have formed a coalition to back Santorum, they are already, almost reluctantly, saying they will support Romney if he becomes the nominee. Their hatred for Pres. Obama is stronger than their religious beliefs. Because many Evangelicals believe Romney to be the devil, and a vote for him is a vote for ((((SSSAAAATTTAAANNN))).
Last time around, televangelist Bill Keller even declared that a “vote for Romney is a vote for the devil.” (This week, Keller is using the same logic to go after conservative media heavyweight Glenn Beck, who is also Mormon.) In the hard-fought Iowa caucuses, Romney lost the evangelical vote to Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee by almost thirty points. Sixty percent of Iowa Republican caucus-goers identify as evangelical Christians.
GREENVILLE, S.C. — Stan Craig, a Vietnam veteran and fundamentalist Baptist preacher here, winces at the idea of a female president.
Yet he hesitated when he was asked recently to make a hypothetical choice between Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
“I probably would cast my vote for Michele,” Craig said.
His thinking: Romney is Mormon. Mormons, in Craig’s view, are not Christian.
“The devil wrote only one Bible,” Craig said, “and Joseph Smith found it under a rock.”
http://www.standard.net/...
Republicans have lost all pretense of standing for anything. They just want to beat Obama, because they hate him. But not because he's black. Because he's a Kenyan, socialist, marxist, anti-capitalist, whitepeoplehater, or something like that. Evangelicals are even ready to ignore the fact that they believe The Mormon Church was created by the devil if that’s what it takes to beat Obama.
But there is no evidence that Romney’s Mormon faith would prevent rank-and-file Republicans, including white evangelicals, from coalescing around him if he wins the GOP nomination. Rather, the same Republicans who may have doubts about Romney’s faith are among the most vehement opponents of Barack Obama. Fully 91% of white evangelical Republican voters say they would back Romney over Obama in a general election matchup, and 79% would support Romney strongly. Overall, white evangelicals would be among the strongest Romney supporters if he is the GOP nominee challenging Obama next fall.
http://www.pewforum.org/...
COLUMBIA -- Four years ago, GOP activist Dee Benedict lobbied hard to persuade South Carolina evangelicals to embrace Mitt Romney as a Republican presidential candidate, even if they were skeptical of his Mormon faith.
Today, four years into a Democratic presidential administration that she considers a disaster, Benedict has resisted the inclination to say "I told you so."
But she takes some pleasure in hearing fellow conservative Christians say they have reversed themselves and are supporting Romney in 2012.
"To my pleasant surprise, a great deal of evangelicals like him," Benedict, of Greer, said this week. "They are putting that issue aside. They should have four years ago, but on the other hand, here they are."
http://www.islandpacket.com/...
If Romney wins South Carolina, it's hard to imagine him not winning the Republican nomination. But South Carolina is heavily evangelical, and Romney is, as we all know, a Mormon – a denomination not even considered Christian by 50% of Americans, let alone Evangelical Christians.
How will faith shape this all important primary contest? Are Evangelical Christians ready to support Mormon Mitt Romney? It seems that they are. This willingness to vote for the former Massachusetts governor speaks to an historic moment regarding faith in South Carolina, and by extension, in the nation.
http://www.foxnews.com/...
How Evangelicals will square voting for Romney with the long religious war waged on Mormonism as a cult by Evangelicals since the 80’s will be hard to gage. A Pew Poll in November estimated as many as 15% of them could stay home in the general election. Will they really be able to counter their mental pulpit poundings about Mormons and vote for Romney? Someone they consider to be a of a religion created by the devil?
A prominent Texas pastor (and Rick Perry supporter) has called Mormonism a non-Christian “cult.” A Florida pastor says a vote for Romney is “a vote for Satan.” The associate publisher of a leading evangelical magazine said a Romney presidency would “normalize the false teachings of Mormonism.” A former staffer for Newt Gingrich’s campaign said thousands of evangelical pastors stand ready to “expose the cult of Mormon.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Mainstream Christians have been at war with the LDS Church almost since Joseph Smith wrote the book of Mormon. The clash is one of theology.
In a sense, Mormons and mainstream Christians have been at odds for nearly 200 years, Mason said.
Mormonism’s founding prophet, Joseph Smith, said God told him that every existing church and creed was “corrupt” and “wrong.” Drawing on personal revelations — published in the Book of Mormon and other texts — Smith set out to restore the church.
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A sermon Smith preached three months before his death in 1844 planted the seeds for Mormonism’s biggest break with traditional Christianity, according to scholars. In it, Smith preached that God was once a flesh-and-blood man who had attained godhood. Likewise, Smith taught, humans could advance to God-like status in heaven.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/...
Mormons believe that they are the fully realized strain of Christianity--hence the "latter-day saints." They acknowledge extra-biblical works of scripture (such as the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants), follow a series of prophets who claim to have received divine revelations, and teach that God inhabits an actual physical body. This is all blasphemy to evangelicals; they argue that "the Bible explicitly warns against adding to or detracting from its teaching" and refer to the revelations as "realistic deception[s] by the Devil himself."
But it’s not only core religious beliefs that are causing mental gymnastics for evangelicals, it is also deep skepticism about his sincerity on core social issues.
Still, Romney’s relatively recent conversion to social conservatism - he now opposes abortion rights and is no longer a defender of gay rights - tamps down his appeal to the religious right much more than his Mormon faith.
“Of all the negatives against him, his religion is the least salient,’’ said Oran Smith, head of the Palmetto Family Council, an organization focused on faith and family values. “People discredit him as a Massachusetts moderate. Just using Massachusetts as a dirty word in South Carolina can have some oomph to it.’’
“The economy has moved front and center in the minds of so many, and he’s already said he’s prolife and pro-sanctity of marriage even though there are all kinds of questions about his authenticity,’’ said the Rev. Paul Jimenez, pastor at Taylors First Baptist Church in Taylors. “But unemployment in South Carolina is a bigger issue than in Iowa and New Hampshire. So I’m not hearing the Mormon debate as a burning issue this time.’’
http://www.boston.com/...
Danny Driscoll, a 63-year-old retired maintenance mechanic who recently returned to his Christian roots, said yesterday at a candidates forum organized by former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee for undecided voters that he’s crossed Romney off his list.
“I don’t have a problem with his Mormonism,’’ Driscoll said. “It’s more that I don’t really know what his core beliefs are. He could change by next week. If you’ve got principles and values, you’ve got to stand firm.’’
Romney's religious faith will still remain an obstacle for some, as it did in
the 2008 primary, when he came in fourth place. It’s hard to let go
of all that brainwashing.
"He's Mormon. That's hard for me as a Baptist," said Jane Morgan, a stay-at-home mom in Greenville who attended a Rick Santorum event Sunday. "I grew up being taught, you know, it's a cult ... I don't want a president that supports that mystical, cult-like thing."
Religious differences and flip flops on social issues will probably not deter evangelicals for voting for Romney, though. I guess hatred is enough to make them ignore their own religious teachings and core values.
Romney can probably thank his growing aura of inevitability for attracting religious voters. Officials involved in the poll were quick to point out that for whatever struggles he might face with evangelicals in a GOP primary, the same subgroup is so fervently opposed to President Obama that Romney can count on their support in the fall.
http://decoded.nationaljournal.com/...
Many Evangelicals believe the Mormon Church to be the work of the devil, but, they hate and want to beat Pres. Obama at any cost. So in this case, they figure the devil you know is the better than the devil from Kenya. And they know Romney is a good capitalist who made his money the American way by inheriting it, going into politics and slashing jobs. Being a capitalist and making money seems to be a value they hold very near and dear to them. More so than any of their religious beliefs apparently. It trumps being in league with the devil.