Nuke's

Sen. Fred Thompson’s campaign chair in South Carolina says, “NO!”

THE PALMETTO SCOOP: Gov. Romney is giving a very significant speech Thursday to try to reassure Republicans that his Mormon faith shouldn’t be a factor in his presidential bid. Do you think that a speech like this will help him or hurt him in South Carolina?

CYNDI MOSTELLER: As a person who’s been to seminary and studied somewhat the Mormon doctrine, I think that the more people scrutinize, look at and become aware of that doctrine, they will have more questions rather than less. I think particularly the Church’s history, and almost theology, on the issue of race – particularly the black race – will be a very difficult issue to defend and to move forward with; especially when we look at the theology of the Church and what the Church founders and prophets and presidents have said throughout the history of the Church until 1978 when they first allowed membership to anyone in the black race. […] There are some issues there and I don’t quite see how you resolve them and seek out and obtain anywhere near the same level of African American support that President Bush obtained both in 2000 and 2004.

TPS: Why do you think it is that Republicans, the previous issue aside, might be reluctant to support a Mormon president, such that Romney feels he needs to give a speech addressing just this issue?

MOSTELLER: I think the doctrines of Protestantism, Catholicism and Judaism are so vastly different from the Mormon doctrine; from the concept of polygamy being the order of Heaven, to human man’s progression to godhead of other worlds, to the idea that Jesus had multiple wives, to the idea that, after the death of the last apostle, all of Christendom was in apostasy – with a capital “A” as the Church refers to it – until Joseph Smith discovered the golden plates in the 1830s. So I think it’s inconsistent with so many basic Christian doctrines and it’s very unusual to the point that it’s almost unbelievable. These concepts are things that are theologically beyond our orthodox imagination.

TPS: But to many people, it seems that Mormonism is a part of the Christian faith. You’re arguing that assertion is incorrect?

MOSTELLER: Yes. I would say that the Southern Baptist Convention considers Mormonism not a part of the Christian faith – they’ve stated that on their Website – and most Evangelicals would not consider it part of the Christian faith. And the Mormon Church would consider us an apostasy, in all of Christian history, since the death of the last apostle. From their perspective, the Gospel that we preach on Sunday would be considered an apostasy to them. source

Ouch. That’s going to leave a mark.

The Fred Thompson campaign is already sensitive to charges of racism and bigotry on immigration. Now, Mosteller opens the door for anti-Mormon bigotry charges.

I wonder if how fast Fred Thompson will back away from Ms. Mosteller’s comments.

Filed under: Election 2008 Tagged: | bigotry, fred thompson, intolerance, mormons, romney