Will the GOP and McCain Endorse Religious Bigotry?

So there’s talk about Mike Huckabee being appointed either Chairman of the Republican Party or McCain’s VP – both bad ideas. 

Huckabee’s Religion Problem

First, Mr. Huckabee has drawn the lines around those he would include in his party, and I’m not one of them. 

You see, I’m a Mormon Christian, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You know, that “cult” that believes Jesus and Satan are brothers.   How weird is that, you say?   Exactly what Huckabee wanted you to think. 

But because Huckabee says, so, then it must be true. After all, he’s the self-anointed leader of the Evangelical Christian wing of the party. (Some claim that's about 30%.) 

Well, you were deceived. Intentionally. If you want to know the truth about what we believe, go to www.FAIRLDS.org. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Yet Mormon Christians (LDS) often vote with, work beside and unite with these Evangelical Christians on moral issues. On more than one occasion, without the Mormon Christian vote, some moral/social initiatives (especially in California) would have failed.   

(Please accept my apologies for a few Mormon embarrassments, the most celebrated of them all, Harry Reid. He’s been going through a long-term identity crisis.  In a Church of over 13 million, there are bound to be a few of these confused souls.) 

But when it comes time for Evangelical Christians to show a hand of support in the other direction – toward Mitt Romney, for example – watch out. That’s a hot potato.

Unfortunately, Huckabee showed himself to be more of a religious bigot* (see definition below) than a leader of anything but his own election. He was willing to lie and defame my Mormon Christian religion for political gain. He even sputtered and stammered  in one debate that he could not vote for a Mormon. He knowingly appealed to that ignorant segment of Evangelicals easily deceived by juicy, vicious and ugly defamatory DVDs and books on cults their pastors show them.   I don’t doubt that Huckabee was one of those pastors.   I hold out hope that he knew not what he did.

To a Mormon Christian, appointing Huckabee to a position of power in the GOP is tantamount to appointing a member of the KKK. What happened in this election was déjà vu for us -  a throw-back to Mormon Christian history where these same types of bigots raped our women and pillaged our Mormon Christian settlements and actually got extermination orders to drive us out.  My great-grandfather died from the elements crossing the plains to get to the Salt Lake Valley so his family could have religious liberty. This is a very sensitive issue. Just as the Jews have not forgotten their Holocaust, neither have we forgotten our own, albeit on a much smaller scale. It happened once. It could happen again.

So you can see why we Mormons might be just a bit concerned – no, frightened -  by what Huckabee did to enflame Mormon bigotry. In fact, my nephew in Atlanta told of a recent lunch meeting where one man expressed his outright hatred toward Mormons as a result of Huckabee’s anti-Mormon evangelism. 

What Must Happen to Regain LDS Confidence

Will the RNC or McCain campaign endorse this kind of bigotry by appointing Huckabee? And if they do, how will the RNC prove to the LDS wing of the party that we will be included going forward?  Will Mormons continue to be marginalized U.S. citizens, uninvited to the Evangelical clique that apparently controls the GOP?

We didn’t start this religious war. Mr. Huckabee did.  Now we want it ended. Before I or any other Mormon Christian can comfortably support Mr. Huckabee in any position of leadership, including VP or RNC Chairman, he would need to do the following:

1. 1.      Personally meet with the leadership of the LDS church to get his facts straight and learn first-hand what we really believe;

    
2. 2.      Make a public apology to Mormon Christians, asking for forgiveness for what he did;

    
3. 3.      Urge his Southern Baptist Convention and other Evangelical voting bodies to do likewise. Ask them to stop their lies, defamation and distortions that routinely get airtime on their radio and TV shows, as well as in their local church meetings;

    
4. 4.      Show good faith by including Mormon Christians in his circle of advisors;

    
5. 5.      Be a coalition-builder by inviting all conservative religious views to the GOP party;

    
6. 6.      Stop identifying himself as “Christian” and “values” political leader that includes all Christians except those that fall outside his definition of “Christian.”    

Huckabee’s Political Problem

Aside from the religion problem, Huckabee’s not a Reagan conservative. Neither’s McCain.  Huckabee needs to come clean with the GOP on his political stands.  Huckabee must honestly admit that he is a liberal Evangelical Christian who has little affinity with conservative Christians and non-Christians, except for his pro-life and marriage stands. He must also acknowledge that he really has little affinity with the Reagan wing of the party. 

Speaking of Reagan, even Reagan appointed a Mormon Christian Lieutenant Governor - John Harmer -a valiant veteran of fighting pornography as no one else in this country has! (Which leads us back to Huckabee’s religion problem.) 

Even the Heritage Foundation (the mother organization of this Town Hall blog) uses a significant number of Mormon Christians as interns.  I sat in a Heritage board room of about a dozen of them a couple of years ago and conversed with them. I was impressed. Thank you, Heritage!

The GOP: United or Divided?

In 1996, the GOP set up a Big Tent.  However, some of us learned that this big tent excluded the pro-lifers, the family values folks, and the Buchananites. Now it also appears to be excluding the Mormonites. What kind of a “big tent” is this party becoming, anyway?

Our presidential and vice-presidential nominees and party leaders must be leaders for ALL citizens of the United States, not just for those who believe in their particular brand of Christianity. If you go to www.Adherents.com , you will see the wide span of religious beliefs our former US presidents have held. To divide our country along religious lines at a time when we all need each other more than ever is a dangerous precedent. 

United we stand.  Divided we fall. It’s in Huckabee’s corner.

*BIGOT. One who holds a bias against an individual or group and who perpetuates false information or propaganda with intent to do harm and to deceive.