In a Los Angeles Times op-ed column entitled “A Religious ‘Test’ for Mitt Romney,” Tim Rutten ranted against objections raised against support for the former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney run for the presidency on the basis of Mormon beliefs as a “dangerous turn in American politics.” Whether it be Warren Cole Smith’s warnings about how a person’s worldview beliefs would influence one’s values and behavior, or Sarah Palin and Catholic archbishop of Denver Charles Chaput’s criticisms against John F. Kennedy’s paradigm for looking at candidates and their religions, Rutten finds that such analysis threatens “the Constitution’s ban on religious test for office.”

Christians are to understand that there is a great divide between Christianity and the Mormonism of Mitt Romney. Mormon beliefs are clearly antithetical to a biblical worldview. Hank Hanegraaff, in the Complete Bible Answer Book, offers a helpful synopsis under the section entitled “Is Mormonism Christian?” Also recommended is Hank’s resource The Mormon Mirage: Seeing Through the Illusion of Mainstream Mormonism.

It is true that beliefs determine values and behavior (please see “What We Think, What We Believe, How We Act” by Gretchen Passantino), so the political candidate’s faith (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Mormonism, atheism, etc.) does indeed contribute to his or her polices; however, a political candidate’s religious belief is not necessarily the game changer at the ballot box, and there are many other factors to take into consideration in a biblically sound and robust voting strategy (please see “Wise as Serpents: Christians, Politics, and Strategic Voting” and “Is it Permissible for a Christian to Vote for a Mormon?” by Francis J. Beckwith). Ultimately, the Christian must consider whether or not it is possible for churches to support non-Christian political candidates to bring about positive changes in legislation for the common good.

—Warren Nozaki, Research