COMMENTARY | Let's face it, America. Most of us are only concerned with GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's religion because our preachers told us he's not Christian. Despite belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Romney supposedly doesn't worship the "right" Jesus, sort of like John F. Kennedy -- America's first Catholic president.
But when your church has you sing hymns like "We Thank Thee, O God, For A Prophet" -- with choice lyrics like "We feel it a pleasure to serve thee, and love to obey thy command" -- it behooves one to ask: If the Mormon prophet, Thomas Monson, says "Jump," will President Romney answer "How high?"
Follow the prophet
In the songwriter's defense, that particular line is sung not to the prophet but to the God who gave Mormons a prophet, "to guide us in these latter days." Slightly less subtle is the song Mormon kids sing in Sunday School, called "Follow the Prophet":
"Follow the prophet,
Follow the prophet,
Follow the prophet,
Don't go astray
Follow the prophet,
Follow the prophet,
Follow the prophet,
He knows the way!"
According to lds.org, the church's official website, its prophets are "inspired men called to speak for the Lord, as did Moses". "We can always trust the living prophets," it goes on to say, because "Their teachings reflect the will of the Lord". And in the Doctrine and Covenants, one of the sacred LDS books of scripture, God says that "his [the prophet's] word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth."
That's the theory, anyway
So how about in practice? Do Mormons live up to what their church continues to teach today?
Indeed, they do. The Fourteen Fundamentals of Following the Prophet -- given by the late Mormon prophet Ezra Benson and reiterated in a churchwide talk in 2010 -- include No. 5, "The prophet is not required to have any particular earthly training or credentials," and No. 10, "The prophet may be involved in civic matters." And that's exactly what the Mormon church did in California in 2008, when it became illegally involved in the Proposition 8 battle against marriage equality.
Not only did the church donate money illegally, it gave extensive material support to campaigners. It also coerced its members spiritually by making support of the initiative -- both donations and on-the-ground campaigning -- a test of their obedience to church leaders. The Mormon church members responded, contributing more than half of the Yes on 8 campaign's reported $45 million war chest.
What about political leaders?
Mitt's father, George Romney, received this letter from Mormon apostle Delbert Stapley in 1954, condemning him for supporting the civil rights movement and citing the need for obedience to Mormon church leaders. Leaders who, at the time, preached strongly against racial integration. George Romney was governor of Michigan when he received that letter.
George Romney continued to support civil rights, even after being warned of the "very tragic end by drowning" met by another man who went against the Lord's prophets. Whether or not today's Romney has such integrity seems doubtful, given his shameless flip-flopping and posturing.
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