Richard Lyman Bushman : Mormon President? No Problem.
[Richard Lyman Bushman is Gouverneur Morris Professor of History Emeritus at Columbia University.]
itt Romney's candidacy for president has occasioned reams of speculation on how his Mormon faith would influence his conduct in the White House--some of it reminiscent of anxieties about John F. Kennedy's Catholicism that were prevalent in 1960. In a recent cover story for The New Republic, Damon Linker, who once taught at Brigham Young University and presumably knows Mormonism well, argued that these fears are well-founded ("The Big Test," January 15). "[W]ould it not be accurate," Linker asked, "to say that, under a President Romney, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints would truly be in charge of the country--with its leadership having final say on matters of right and wrong?" According to Linker, Mormons believe their church presidents receive revelation from God; faithful Mormons have to comply with every directive from their prophet's mouth; and, therefore, to remain true to his religious beliefs, a President Romney would have to knuckle under to church leaders.
Linker's logic may sound straightforward, but, in fact, it has no grounding in reality. His concerns echo the controversy that greeted Mormon Church apostle Reed Smoot (he of the notorious Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act) when he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1903. Before eventually seating Smoot, a Senate committee debated his qualifications for nearly four years. To allay their fears, the senators repeatedly questioned church President Joseph F. Smith (nephew of the church's founder) about his control of Mormon politics. Over and over, he assured the committee that he had no intention of dictating Smoot's votes in the Senate--until, eventually, Theodore Roosevelt stepped in and swung the balance in Smoot's favor.
A century later, we can judge the actual dangers of the Mormon Church to national politics from the historical record. Have any of the church presidents tried to manage Smoot or other Mormon politicians like Harry Reid and Gordon Smith? The record is innocuous. Like other denominations, the church has taken stands on political issues it considers to be moral concerns, but it does not pressure politicians to close ranks as Mormons. In fact, it explicitly releases Mormon politicians from compliance with the church's political positions. According to the church's website, "Elected officials who are Latter-day Saints make their own decisions and may not necessarily be in agreement with one another or even with a publicly stated Church position. While the Church may communicate its views to them, as it may to any other elected official, it recognizes that these officials still must make their own choices based on their best judgment and with consideration of the constituencies whom they were elected to represent." ...
Read entire article at New Republic
itt Romney's candidacy for president has occasioned reams of speculation on how his Mormon faith would influence his conduct in the White House--some of it reminiscent of anxieties about John F. Kennedy's Catholicism that were prevalent in 1960. In a recent cover story for The New Republic, Damon Linker, who once taught at Brigham Young University and presumably knows Mormonism well, argued that these fears are well-founded ("The Big Test," January 15). "[W]ould it not be accurate," Linker asked, "to say that, under a President Romney, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints would truly be in charge of the country--with its leadership having final say on matters of right and wrong?" According to Linker, Mormons believe their church presidents receive revelation from God; faithful Mormons have to comply with every directive from their prophet's mouth; and, therefore, to remain true to his religious beliefs, a President Romney would have to knuckle under to church leaders.
Linker's logic may sound straightforward, but, in fact, it has no grounding in reality. His concerns echo the controversy that greeted Mormon Church apostle Reed Smoot (he of the notorious Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act) when he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1903. Before eventually seating Smoot, a Senate committee debated his qualifications for nearly four years. To allay their fears, the senators repeatedly questioned church President Joseph F. Smith (nephew of the church's founder) about his control of Mormon politics. Over and over, he assured the committee that he had no intention of dictating Smoot's votes in the Senate--until, eventually, Theodore Roosevelt stepped in and swung the balance in Smoot's favor.
A century later, we can judge the actual dangers of the Mormon Church to national politics from the historical record. Have any of the church presidents tried to manage Smoot or other Mormon politicians like Harry Reid and Gordon Smith? The record is innocuous. Like other denominations, the church has taken stands on political issues it considers to be moral concerns, but it does not pressure politicians to close ranks as Mormons. In fact, it explicitly releases Mormon politicians from compliance with the church's political positions. According to the church's website, "Elected officials who are Latter-day Saints make their own decisions and may not necessarily be in agreement with one another or even with a publicly stated Church position. While the Church may communicate its views to them, as it may to any other elected official, it recognizes that these officials still must make their own choices based on their best judgment and with consideration of the constituencies whom they were elected to represent." ...