A Look at Dedication to Faith
I was listening to a radio talk show on WSB out of Atlanta while driving from Point A to Point B the other evening. The show was hosted by a fellow named Allen Hunt. Allen and I attended seminary together at Emory University in the late eighties and early nineties. Allen, like I, became a Methodist minister but eventually Allen left the United Methodist Church to pursue his career in talk radio. He also converted to Catholicism.
Allen says that his show does not deal with “left or right” but “right and wrong.” I enjoy listening to Allen and his show always involves a spiritual look at current events. On this particular evening Allen was discussing Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
As most of us are aware Mitt Romney is a practitioner of the Mormon faith. Allen’s discussion was an attempt to discern whether or not Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith would matter when persons entered the voting both. On this particular evening the split seemed to be about 50-50. Of course the opinions of those calling a radio talk show could hardly be called a scientific sample.
I suspect that many who said Romney’s faith would negatively impact the possibility of their voting for him were people who wouldn’t have voted for him in the first place. Perhaps they are Democrats and support the incumbent President or perhaps they were supporters of another Republican candidate. Romney’s Mormonism probably has little to do with their choice.
By the same token I suspect that many who said Romney’s Mormon faith made no difference to them were Romney supporters. They simply like his ideas, his views and qualifications. For most of these folks it would not matter if Mitt Romney prayed to an oak tree as long as he promised to lower their taxes.
I realize there are those who distrust those of the Mormon faith. When I was a young boy in Macon a family of Mormon’s moved next door to us. This was highly unusual in a neighborhood where most folks were either Baptist or Methodists. The Mormons were fairly nice folks and good neighbors.
The family had a son my age and we played ball together, shot air rifles together and rode our bikes together. He never drank Coca-Cola or iced tea and I thought that was bit weird but basically he wasn’t much different from the rest of us.
He invited me to go to church with him once. My parents said I could if he would come to our church with me in return. I never visited his church nor did he ever visit my Methodist church. They gave us a copy of their supplemental Bible which they called The Book of Mormon. I don’t believe anyone at our house ever read it but we would show it to the Mormon’s who sometimes knocked on our door spreading their faith.
I say that to say other than that experience 40 years ago, I really am not familiar with the Mormon faith or its doctrines. I did sit in the rain during my senior year at the University of Georgia and watch Georgia defeat Brigham Young in a football game and I do know a few things about their history and but that’s about the extent of my Mormon expertise.
Some say Mormons aren’t Christians and are a cult. What I know is that Mormons claim they are Christians and God didn’t put me in charge of deciding who is a Christian and who isn’t. That’s God’s job not mine.
I know there are some splinter groups of Mormons that practice polygamy but that is no longer a teaching of mainline Mormonism and hasn’t been for over 100 years.
I also know that Mormons have strict codes of moral and ethical conduct and that their young people often go on a three year mission as a part of their spiritual growth. I know that Mormons often visit from house to house to promote their faith.
When it comes to casting a vote, (and do not construe this as an endorsement of Mitt Romney) I personally hope to find a candidate that is sincere about the faith they purport to practice and will adhere to the principles in which they believe. I hope to find a candidate that seeks to do God’s will for our nation. That is true regardless of the religious group to which a candidate belongs.
For a couple of years some Mormon young people doing their missionary activity in our community lived in some apartments located adjacent to our church property. We never discussed theology or religious dogma and I am sure had we done so there would have been some major disagreements.
That said, I found them to be very likeable and well mannered young people. On a couple of occasions they even came and worshiped with us.
What I admired in them was the dedication in which they practiced their faith. Which leads me to wonder, what if those of us who are a part of the traditional religious community practiced our faith with the zeal of the Mormons?
What good could Methodists do if Methodist young people would devote three years of their life to missionary activity? What good could Baptists do if they visited house to house in a community? What good could Presbyterians do if they distributed Bibles as Mormons distribute the Book of Mormon?
As I have said I will let God decide if Mormons are Christians but I think God might well be pleased if all Christians were as dedicated to the faith as the Mormons.