Romney’s LDS faith makes him a ‘cult’ member, Texas pastor says
WASHINGTON – Evangelicals who believe the country needs a Christian in the White House but promoted Mitt Romney’s candidacy during the Republican primaries were hypocrites, according to a Texas pastor.
Romney, a Mormon, is not a Christian, the Rev. Robert Jeffress said, but a member of a “cult.”
“I believe we should always support a Christian over a non-Christian,” Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, told a packed audience of journalists at last weekend’s Religion Newswriters Association (RNA) annual meeting. “The value of electing a Christian goes beyond public policies. . . . Christians are uniquely favored by God, [while] Mormons, Hindus and Muslims worship a false god. The eternal consequences outweigh political ones. It is worse to legitimize a faith that would lead people to a separation from God.”
Jeffress made his remarks during a luncheon debate with Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a law firm and educational organization that focuses on religious-liberty issues. The DeMoss Group, a Christian public-relations firm in Duluth, Ga., sponsored the event.
Sekulow, who also disagrees with Mormon theology but supported Romney’s candidacy, argued he would rather have a president who promoted a conservative political agenda than one who shared his doctrinal positions.
“Jimmy Carter ran as a born-again Christian,” Sekulow reasoned, “but his presidency did nothing for the issues I care about.”
Mark DeMoss, the company’s president, opened the session by describing his decision to lead Romney’s outreach to conservative Christians. DeMoss said he had come to admire Romney, despite their theological differences, but was amazed at the vehement opposition to the Mormon’s candidacy among Evangelicals.
[…]“It was one of the more spirited lunch discussions we’ve ever had at RNA,” said RNA president Kevin Eckstrom, who noted that the journalist organization did not organize the event. “A lot of people were uncomfortable with what Dr. Jeffress said about Mormons, but what we were hoping for was something provocative that would get people talking, and certainly this did it.”
Many reporters said they had never heard the word “cult,” which Jeffress repeatedly called the LDS Church, used so “freely and recklessly,” said Eckstrom, editor of Religion News Service in Washington, D.C. But Jeffress used the same word to describe “Catholics, Hindus, Buddhists and virtually everyone else.”
It was useful for reporters to be aware of such strident views, Eckstrom said, because they are “completely mainstream in a lot of evangelical quarters.”
[…]The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints insists that it is a Christian faith, though not a traditional brand of Christianity. LDS officials today declined to comment on Jeffress’ statements until they see a transcript of the remarks, spokeswoman Kim Farah said.
a) does not represent historical, Biblical Christianity,
b) is not a Christian denomination, and
c) is not in any way part of the Christian church.