Most of this year's GOP presidential primary campaign has thankfully managed to avoid controversy about front-runner Mitt Romney's Mormon faith. Four years ago, the concerns were so pronounced Romney felt compelled to make a speech specifically addressing the issue.
That tentative peace came to a crashing halt over the weekend, though, as Dallas Pastor Richard Jeffress – citing the Southern Baptist Convention's declaration that Mormonism a cult – endorsed texas Governor Rick Perry and encouraged attendees of the "Values Voter Summit" to vote only for an evangelical Christian (provided it's not President Obama). It's hard to decide which is more troubling about Pastor Jeffress' crusade: the religious bigotry, or the constitutional affront?
Pastor Jeffress may be a Baptist minister, but his views offend the tradition of soul freedom that is central to the Baptist heritage, as they violate the spirit of the Constitution, which assures there is no religious test for public office.
In one breath, Jeffress praises Romney for being a moral, family man while in the next declaring that he should not be supported for the presidency solely for his particular religious views – a most un-Baptist, un-American position.
