Dallas minister: Vote for a Christian, not Mitt Romney
(See my blog about why Evangelicals and Mormons need to work together.)
Mormon candidate is winning over many religious conservatives
02:45 PM CDT on Thursday, October 18, 2007
By GROMER JEFFERS Jr. / The Dallas Morning News gjeffers@dallasnews.com
A prominent Dallas minister told his congregation that if they wanted to elect a Christian to the White House, Republican Mitt Romney wasn't qualified.
Dr. Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, said Mormonism is a false religion and that Mr. Romney was not a Christian.
"Mitt Romney is a Mormon, and don't let anybody tell you otherwise," Dr. Jeffress said in a sermon on Sept. 30. "Even though he talks about Jesus as his Lord and savior, he is not a Christian. Mormonism is not Christianity. Mormonism is a cult."
Some in the large crowd began to applaud as Dr. Jeffress continued with his remarks.
"What really distresses me is some of my ministerial friends and even leaders in our convention are saying, 'Oh, well, he talks about Jesus, we talk about Jesus. What's the big deal,' " he said. "It is a big deal if anybody names another way to be saved except through Jesus Christ."
Mr. Romney's campaign said Wednesday that despite such attitudes by Christian conservatives, the former Massachusetts governor has won the support of many conservatives and that his religion is not a political liability.
"Despite the differences in theology, voters across the country are more concerned with whether or not Governor Romney has the same values that they do," said Romney campaign spokeswoman Gail Gitcho. "We've found as we campaign throughout the country, voters don't care what kind of church Governor Romney goes to, but they care that he has faith and that his values are as American as anybody's."
Christian conservatives across the country are grappling over how they feel about Mr. Romney and his religion. He would be the first Mormon elected president.
Mr. Romney won over some conservatives by taking a stand against abortion and has been endorsed by conservative leader Bob Jones III.
Tuesday night on CNN's Larry King Live, popular Houston minister Joel Osteen said Mr. Romney's Mormon faith wouldn't affect whether he supported him or not.
"I don't think that that would affect me," Mr. Osteen said. "I've heard him say that he believes Jesus is his savior, just like I do. I've studied it deeply, and maybe people don't agree with me, but I like to look at a person's value and what they stand for.
But Dr. Jeffress said colleagues who support Mr. Romney should not confuse morality with Christianity.
"I have conservative friends who are saying, well, he believes in Jesus, we believe in Jesus, let's just hold hands and sing kumbaya," he said. "It doesn't work that way. If a person is supporting Romney, that's fine. But don't confuse him with being a Christian."
Dr. Jeffress also said Christian conservatives were compromising the values used to back presidential candidates over the past decade.
"It's a little hypocritical for the last eight years to be talking about how important it is for us to elect a Christian president and then turn around and endorse a non-Christian," he said. "Christian conservatives are going to have to decide whether having a Christian president is really important or not."
Mr. Romney and other Republican presidential contenders will make their pitches to
Christian conservatives this weekend at the Values Voter Summit in Washington.
Tony Perkins, head of the conservative Family Research Council, acknowledged recently that Mr. Romney was making inroads with evangelicals.
"He stresses his policy positions which, in my opinion, have been the strongest on the core social issues," he said.
Mr. Perkins said all the GOP candidates had positives.
"If you look across the field of candidates, there's a lot to like, a little bit with each one of them," he said. "If we could do a mix and match, it would be great."
Also Online
Audio: Listen to Dr. Jeffress' Sept. 30 sermon, 'The Power of a Positive Purpose' (Requires realPlayer) Begins at 20 minutes 10 seconds.
