With Jon Huntsman stepping down a couple weeks ago, there has resurfaced the debate of whether or not Mormons should be in the White House as president since it appears that both Huntsman and Romney could probably be U.S. Presidential candidates.
In this online discussion, one reader lays out the covenants Mormons make in their temple to give their time, talents, and lives to building up the church. He goes on to state that if an endowed LDS person is President of the U.S. they would be loyal to the church and not to the U.S. constitution and therefore a Mormon shouldn’t be in the white house.
Since I’m very familiar with the Mormon faith, it’s easy for me to say with confidence I do not believe there would be an issue if a Mormon became U.S. president. However, I can understand people who may be concerned who are not familiar with Mormons.
Do you think a Mormon could be a good U.S. President? Why or why not?
Grace for Grace 
16 comments
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February 16, 2011 at 9:25 pm
Doug
If a Mormon would reflect the moral values I cherish and hold to a platform I can support-I would vote for that person in a heartbeat! Harry Reid would not get my vote but Mitt probably would. I don’t get the concern some evangelical have towards this issue. Who is changing the minds of many evangelicals (and some of you may not care for him) is Glenn Beck-there’s a guy who takes Mormon and Evangelical and smacks them together! A segment of my church adores him and some even attended his event in Washington. I still can’t quite sort him out! I’ve heard people in my church say, “Mormons are okay, after all Glenn Beck is one.” Ama-what do you think of Mr. Beck? Do Mormons like the fact that America is identifying the church with him?
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February 16, 2011 at 10:46 pm
ama49
Hi Doug,
Thanks for the great response and your perspective from an evangelical point of view. I think you bring up a very valid point. My mother is an evangelical and she is a huge Beck fan as are many other evangelicals that I’ve seen.
It is interesting because you would assume most Mormons are conservative and fall in line with the evangelical crowd politically, but I don’t think that is necessarily the case. I don’t have any statistics (may be interesting for another post) on how many LDS are conservative vs. liberal in their political views, but there are quite a few LDS who do not like Beck’s antics.
I personally think Beck is passionate and don’t necessarily agree with a lot of what he says or how he expresses it, but hey, it’s a free country. I do agree with his underlying message though that we need to be accountable to God and if the country doesn’t do this we are in danger.
I think identifying all Mormons with one person is dangerous. It makes people assume all Mormons are the same and they’re not.
Do you think Glenn Beck has helped evangelicals loosen up to the idea of voting for a Mormon?
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February 17, 2011 at 4:15 am
Ezra
“Do you think Glenn Beck has helped evangelicals loosen up to the idea of voting for a Mormon?”
Definitely and positively.
And regarding the other candidates, I think it’s clear that many have stopped associating the faith of the candidate with his ability to govern. We’ve seen the passionate Xns who were lousy at governing and moderately religious who were great at governing. Martin Luther said he could abide a Turk (Muslim) governing if he displayed great love and care for the people versus a professed Xn who was a terrible ruler.
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February 17, 2011 at 4:40 am
ama49
Hey Ezra,
Nice hearing from you again. How have you been?
I like your quote by Luther. I feel the same way.
Regarding your comment, what if there was an evangelical and a Mormon. The Mormon shares political views closer to that of most evangelicals, but the evangelical at least on paper shares the same views. Do you think evangelicals would vote with the evangelicals over the Mormon?
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February 17, 2011 at 4:25 am
Doug
Hi Ama! I would have to say yes. I was at a prayer meeting this week and a very nice older lady sweetly told me that she loved Glenn Beck and that he was a “born again Christian.” I told her that he was Mormon and without blinking an eye she said, “Well then he must be a born again Christian who is a Mormon.” Classic Evangelicals really love him and think of him as one of them. I should add that I find younger evangelicals (under 30) are far less warm and fuzzy about Mr. Beck.
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February 17, 2011 at 4:41 pm
Ardis
I wonder if people who make this claim realize how silly they sound when the same argument is applied to them: “A [insert non-Mormon label here] cannot be president because he holds religious principles in opposition to current legal realities” or even “A [insert non-Mormon label here] president who has taken an oath of office cannot be a Christian because he will be loyal to the Constitution and not to God.”
How does a commitment to religious faith, whether made by a Mormon in a temple or by a born-again Christian at the moment he accepts Christ as personal Savior, mean that a person cannot also be loyal to his oath of office? The two loyalties are not mutually exclusive, except in the warped fantasies of people who are insane convinced that Mormonism or other religious faith is all-evil all-the-time.
To whatever extent there may be any conflict in particular cases, Mormons are no more subject to that conflict than any other religion — our faith does not make us bad citizens or bad governors.
Say, for example, a citizen seeks to exercise a right to an abortion, or to conduct research with fetal stem cells, or to marry a same sex partner, in a place and time when such action is clearly legal, however much anybody might wish otherwise. The citizen is denied that right and appeals to a judge or other government official who has the power to enforce the right. Does being an evangelical Christian whose loyalty to conservative social philosophy and certain religious principles automatically mean that the official cannot or will not adhere to the law and be faithful to his oath of office? If so, he’d better be barred from office in the first place.
But we don’t have religious — or anti-religious — tests in the United States … except when ignorant people make obnoxious claims in (typically) online forums.
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February 18, 2011 at 4:09 am
ama49
Hi Ardis,
I agree with your comments and I would venture to say that a anyone with a strong religious faith and commitment to God would be the best president. Regardless of their faith, if they are active in it and it is a faith that brings forth good fruit, at least they have taken a much higher oath than that of the president and professed to follow God.
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February 18, 2011 at 4:58 am
MH
Ardis hit the nail on the head!
As for Glenn Beck, I think that Mormons who blog are more liberal and don’t trust Glenn Beck. Your rank-and-file Mormons like Beck.
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February 19, 2011 at 3:41 am
Cal
ama said (under the previous post), “I personally feel the [LDS] church does a pretty good job of being politically neutral (with the exception of prop 8).”
Is that because they want contributions to the church to be tax deductible? I personally feel the church should speak out on the issues of the day even if their parishioners lose their tax exemption—God is able to bless them for giving nonetheless. The church spoke out against the cruelty with which the slaves of the south were treated, and the Civil War came about.
John the Baptist spoke out against Herod’s evils (Luke 3:19-20) even though he paid dearly for it.
What do you think, Doug? You’re a pastor—maybe you know something I don’t.
——–
To answer Doug’s question about the “Mormon moment,” if Glenn Beck is helping to dispel myths about the LDS, I’m happy.
——–
To respond to ama’s post, I think a Mormon could be an excellent president. I might be a little concerned that a Mormon might make less than wise foreign policy decisions because of the LDS’s lack of revelation of the evil of Islam.
I also wonder if fiction could develop in the president’s cabinet if, say, Mitt Romney, had both non-Mormon Christians & Mormons working with him. (oops, I meant friction, not fiction {that fiction will develop is a given!})
——–
MH, I’m glad to see the Harry Truman of the Mormon world back at GraceforGrace! . . . & the other guys, too.
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February 21, 2011 at 5:33 am
Mormon Heretic
“Harry Truman of the Mormon world”.
First time I’ve been called that, and I’m not sure what that means…. Harry was well before my time.
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February 23, 2011 at 12:59 am
Cal
Truman popularized such phrases as “The buck stops here” and “If you can’t stand the heat, you better get out of the kitchen.”
It was a compliment.
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February 23, 2011 at 4:58 am
Doug
As a pastor I draw a line between political issues and moral issues that have, over time, become politicized.
What bugs me is how the government is quick to remind us that there is a wall of separation between church and state-and yet appears to have much to say regarding what we talk about in our churches!
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October 10, 2011 at 4:50 pm
J
I was raised Mormon, I spent the first 14 years of my life dedicated to the church and I’ve even been inside the temple. Now with that said, I’m still strictly and vehemently against a Mormon president. I’ve come to personally believe that the Mormon church truly is a cult. Mitt Romney WILL push his own personal Mormon agenda and will not think about what is best for this country, but what is best for furthering the Mormon religion [cult]. And do I even need to mention that the Mormon church is one of the most racist, bigoted religions to come along since the southern Baptists? Does no one remember when the federal government had to FORCE Mormons to let blacks in their church? This country is slowly progressing towards complete equality amongst all races, cultures, religions and sexual orientation. Putting a Mormon in the White House will set us back decades. Gays will never be able to marry, suddenly blacks and hispanics will be ousted from the senate, and who knows what. If you care about the equality of this country, and if you like to go shopping, or go to a bar or even pick up a 6-pack on a Sunday, SAY NO TO A MORMON PRESIDENT!!!
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October 11, 2011 at 7:52 am
graceforgrace
J.
To quote the running back from the Seattle Seahawks, Marshawn Lynch, when asked about some of his statistics: “that is false”. Short and simple. I believe what you say is false.
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October 13, 2011 at 1:23 pm
Doug Dwyer
I’m an Evangelical and I’ll take Mitt over the current occupant of the White House in a heart beat-I agree with graceforgrace. Our country is going the wrong way and I just hope it isn’t too late.
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October 15, 2011 at 6:02 am
Doug
For those LDS people offended by the comments of a Southern Baptist minister-my son, who attends Philadelphia BIblical University is spending his Saturday mornings working to get Mitt elected. Many Evangelicals support him.
You can disagree with his theology and still respect his moral convictions-only a small minded person would see it any other way.
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