general conference

It’s been interesting this year to watch the Church and Mitt Romney reach out to Christians for their own reasons and in their own ways.

Gov. Romney has been actively courting GOP-influential evangelicals as a key to his nomination.  Rather than directly speaking on his religion (as so many pundits are demanding he do), he has continuously emphasized that it has informed his “values” which are similar to the rest of religious conservatives.

“The values of my faith are much like, or are identical to, the values of other faiths that have a Judeo-Christian philosophical background,” he said at a campaign event in New Hampshire this month. “They’re American values, if you will.”

In contrast, the Church has renewed its efforts to define itself as a Christian church while emphasizing its peculiar differences.  President Hinckley and Elder Holland’s General Conference talks rejected the creedal beliefs of mainstream Christianity based on what Holland called “post–New Testament Christian history”:

So any criticism that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not hold the contemporary Christian view of God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost is not a comment about our commitment to Christ but rather a recognition (accurate, I might add) that our view of the Godhead breaks with post–New Testament Christian history and returns to the doctrine taught by Jesus Himself.

Last week the Church followed up these talks with a press release emphasizing that “As people learn more about Latter-day Saint beliefs, they may see some distinct differences and yet find some unexpected common ground.”

Governor Romney glosses over his religious differences (smartly I think) while the Church unapologetically emphasizes its differences, and yet they are both seeking to establish that Mormonism (or at least a Mormon) has a place in the public square.  (Just to keep piling on, Harry Reid’s comments last week were not helpful in this effort)

There will always be evangelical clods who will feel they have a divine mandate to harass the Church and protest General Conference, but politically, I think there has been evidence that progress has been made.

• President Hinckley met with the late Jerry Falwell earlier this year where they discussed opposing against same-sex marriage efforts in California.
• Evangelical leaders seem to be reluctantly realizing that Romney is their best hope for representing their values and some have started to endorse him (whether he should accept some of them is another matter).

The Church has made it clear we don’t want to agree on everything theologically.  Or politically.  Just some respect and an acknowledgement that Mormons don’t have horns would be nice.  When Bob Jones University can join the 21st century and endorse a Mormon for president, I think there’s reason for hope.