O'Reilly asserted secular progressives think "Mitt Romney is a dangerous Mormon," but polls show conservatives more reluctant to vote for a Mormon
SUMMARY: Discussing Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson's 2008 predictions, Bill O'Reilly stated on his Fox News show that the "secular-progressive far left says, look, all these people are crazy; all believers are nuts. They're dangerous people. ... Mitt Romney is a dangerous Mormon." However, polling data indicate that white evangelical Protestants are the most likely to be bothered by Romney's religion, and that conservatives are less willing than liberals to vote for a Mormon.
On the January 4 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, in a discussion with nationally syndicated radio talk-show host Laura Ingraham about Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson's 2008 predictions, host Bill O'Reilly stated: "[T]he secular-progressive far left says, look, all these people are crazy; all believers are nuts. They're dangerous people. ... Mitt Romney is a dangerous Mormon." However, polling data indicate that white evangelical Protestants are the most likely to be bothered by Romney's religion and that a lower percentage of conservatives than liberals would be willing to vote for a Mormon. Further, Media Matters for America has noted (here, here, and here) several instances of conservative and evangelical leaders' demonstrated hostility toward Mormonism.
A Pew Research Center summary of its August 1-18 survey reported that "GOP Evangelicals [are] reluctant to vote for a Mormon." The Pew survey found: "A quarter of Republican and Republican-leaning voters say they would be less likely to vote for a Mormon. But among white Republican evangelical Protestants, 36% express reservations about voting for a Mormon," compared with 21 percent of "white Catholic Republican voters" and 16 percent of "white non-evangelical Protestant Republicans." Pew's analysis of the poll stated: "[T]he group of Americans most likely to say they value religiosity in a president -- white evangelical Protestants -- is also the group most apt to be bothered by [Romney's] religion. More than one-in-three evangelical Republicans (36%) expressed reservations about voting for a Mormon, a level of opposition much higher than that seen among the electorate overall."
According to a February 9-11, 2007, USA Today/Gallup poll, 75 percent of "liberals" would be willing to vote for a Mormon for president, compared with 66 percent of "conservatives." Gallup's analysis of the poll stated: "Conservatives are less willing than moderates or liberals to vote for candidates with several of the characteristics [of a 'non-traditional candidate'], including being of Mormon faith or married three times. This could make things somewhat more difficult for Romney or [former New York City Mayor Rudy] Giuliani to prevail in the Republican primaries, since conservatives make up the base of the Republican Party."
In addition to polling data, Media Matters has documented other evidence of conservative and evangelical hostility toward Mormonism:
- In 2004, Mormons were barred from conducting services during National Day of Prayer ceremonies by the group's task force chairwoman, Shirley Dobson, the wife of Focus on the Family founder and chairman James C. Dobson.
- The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), America's second-largest religious community after Catholicism, has declared Mormonism to be a cult. The SBC's official news service, BP News, highlighted the denomination's rejection of Mormonism in a September 23, 2005, article that began:
For the past 150 years Mormonism has been in conflict with biblical, historic Christianity.
But leaders of Mormonism -- officially known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [LDS] -- have in recent years downplayed the cult's divergence from traditional Christianity and now portray it as merely another form of the biblical faith.
The SBC's North American Mission Board -- the SBC's domestic missions agency -- includes the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons)" on its list of "Major Cults and Sects in North America," and the Mission Board uses LDS as an example in highlighting four of the six characteristics it uses to answer the question, "What is a Cult or Sect?"
Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) has also identified Mormonism as a cult, listing the religion on a Web page titled "How Do I Recognize a Cult?" The CBN concludes: "[T]he Mormon church is a prosperous, growing organization that has produced many people of exemplary character. But when it comes to spiritual matters, the Mormons are far from the truth."
From the January 4 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:
INGRAHAM: He [Pat Robertson] said it was going to be something like nuclear. I don't know what that means. But it was going to be something like nuclear. That didn't happen.
And now he's having the bold prediction of there could be a recession in 2008. And I say that's not a prediction; that's what I read in The New York Times today, OK? If that's a prediction --
O'REILLY: That means it won't happen, though. If you read it in the Times, it won't happen. He also says there will be violence and chaos next year or this year.
INGRAHAM: That's just the Giuliani campaign, Bill. That's just the Giuliani campaign. At this point I think [former Arkansas Gov. Mike] Huckabee and Romney are thrilled that Pat Robertson did not predict that they would win and that he did not endorse them. Because, if I'm Giuliani, I'm thinking, is there any way we can somehow erase this endorsement?
O'REILLY: Now, there's a -- there's a serious undertone to this. Because when a Pat Robertson comes out and makes predictions and says angels are coming and miracles are coming, then the secular-progressive far left says, look, all these people are crazy; all believers are nuts. They're dangerous people. Huckabee's a fanatic, a theocrat; Mitt Romney is a dangerous Mormon. And so it almost feeds into the culture war we have between the believers and the nonbelievers, and that's the serious aspect of it.
You know we’re going to get the argument here that BillO did not lie. He just left out some relevant facts, as usual.
As opposed to Bill's continuous diatribe that the secular-progressive far left (whoever they are) are crazy, nuts, and dangerous.
I'm rubber you're glue, everything bounces off me and sticks to you.
p.s., All religions are cults :)
Romeny isn't dangerous because of he's a Mormon, he's dangerous because of his political views. And because he's trying to blur the line between church and state.
Point taken. I'm more likely to vote for Mitt than Huckabee is.
They sound semi sane. At least till the end. How many culture wars can we sustain simultaneously?
This is absolutely correct - it ain't the 'progressives' who have the real problem with Romney... it's the Conservatives. Romney isn't the right KIND of christian. Tough for Romney. But, them's the breaks.
By the way, so-called 'progressives' don't like Romney for a whole slew of different reasons (most based in reality). And, let's not forget that tough Romney ALSO cried on a few occasions, here and here. But, that's okay right? Talk about faking sympathy/empathy. My God.
Yes, because liberals lie to pollsters because they don't want to sound bigoted.
I don't recall one liberal that I know, or on here that have chastised Romney for being a Mormon. Your guys on the other hand... Well, that's a whole different ball o' wax. We don't like Romney because we don't agree with his policies. As far as Mormons go, I've only personally known a dozen of them or so, and as far as being good, kind, and generous people, every single one of them have been decent and humble human beings.
I cound not care less that Romney is a Morman. I don't even remember it unless people keep saying it. Even then I forget. But I notice every time someone says something not complimentary about him, some bozo seems to link it to the fact that he's a Morman. Who cares.
JJ, did you hear? Romney is a Mormon!!!
I had forgotten. Really ;-0) I'll probably not remember the next time I see him or hear about him though.
Billous, blowhard, blockhead Billy belabors, bluffs, blunders and bloviates blithely before burdening us with bizarre and brazen blarney. This bird brain binges on the boastful blashphemy of boundless bloodshed.
i defended romney on here after an attack by huckabee on the book of mormon. i said it's easy to point out nonsense in that book, but huckabee is a hypocrite because the bible contains contradictions also.
I think polls on intergroup attitudes if taken at face value are misleading in two respects. First, unless the political correctness factor of being against some group could be accounted for somehow, I think the findings on an absolute level are grossly inaccurate due to the reluctance of people to be seen as politically incorrect.
Second, even if conditions could be controlled for and/or accounted for as far as externalized political correctness---that is the desire to not be seen as biased against a group which society says it’s bad to be against, I still don’t think the numbers will be accurate. Some people internalize their political correctness and can thereby truthfully say that they are not biased against any given group even when they in fact are. They rationalize away their bias. They can truthfully say they would vote for an unspecified individual in that group, but when presented with a real person, they will subconsciously find a reason to vote against him/her because of their group affiliation. In other words, people can have conflicting beliefs, which prevents them from truly knowing their attitudes towards another group
Their best use is comparative, that is one group’s attitude as compared to another or over time, and then mainly as a measure of political correctness.
I am an active Latter-Day Saint ('Mormon') and a practicing physician with a biology degree from the University of California. I consider myself a critical thinker. I am also a student of the scriptures and history. What people outside the Church (and many inside it) don't understand is that Joseph Smith and subsequent prophets have taught that prophets are still human, and therefore subject to incorrect personal opinions and biases. Their words are prophetic when they are speaking by the power of God's spirit, but every word that comes out of their mouths is not inspired. Members of the Church are expected to ponder their words, compare them to canonized scripture, and pray to know whether their words are from God. The quote from Brigham Young that antagonists like to wave in front of everyone's faces, about a curse being upon blacks, is not canonized, and therefore not binding upon the Church. The living prophets have collectively stated that any statements from high profile church members of the past portraying blacks as cursed are in error. Most religious leaders of Brigham Young's day held similar views on race. Many of the founders of our nation held slaves, which was a gross error, but that does not mean they were evil men. Today you can go to any LDS congregation anywhere there are black members and see that there is no difference in how blacks are treated. Gladys Knight converted to the church and sings in the LDS Conference Center, for goodness’ sake! The LDS Church is not hostile to any racial or ethnic group, and I would hazard to say that the same goes for 99% or more of church members individually. There are some statements in the Book of Mormon, which when taken out of context, suggest that the book teaches racism , but if a person genuinely examines the book, he/she will discover this is absolutely not true. The book states, "the Lord...inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God" (2 Nephi 26:33). Just a few chapters later, Nephi's brother Jacob says this to his fair-skinned people that considered themselves superior to the darker Lamanites: "Behold, the Lamanites your brethren...are more righteous than you...the Lord God will not destroy them, but will be merciful unto them; and one day they shall become a blessed people...wherefore, how much better are you than they, in the sight of your great Creator? ...Wherefore, a commandment I give unto you, which is the word of God, that ye revile no more against them because of the darkness of their skins..." (Jacob 3:5-9). So why do some people conclude that the Book of Mormon preaches racism? Because they have an agenda, and use half-truths to make their point. They are like the small minority of racist Mormons that misinterpret the scriptures to support their bias against people of color, and like people from other faiths that misinterpret their scriptures in an effort to get God on their side, or secular people that take comments from politicians, etc out of context in attempt to prove their point. The reality is that the vast majority of Mormons are loving, generous people that harbor no animosity toward any race.