Anti-Mormonism Left and Right

In a piece that begins, “For God so loved Barack Obama, that he sent his servant, Rick Santorum, to ensure his re-election,” Noah Feldman at Bloomberg speculates about the Catholic nominee’s growing popularity with Evangelicals, claiming that it is perhaps an unexpected fruit of the unity forged during Roe v. Wade:

“It is, sadly, not surprising that there is still prejudice against members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The oppression of Mormons has a special place in U.S. political history. No other religion has ever found itself essentially outlawed, as Mormonism was in the 19th century when Congress made it a crime to belong to any organization that advocated plural marriage. And from a theological standpoint, many evangelical Christians refuse to recognize Mormonism even as a branch of Christianity. But what is remarkable — partly because almost no one has remarked upon it — is the evangelicals’ embrace of someone who isn’t himself a Protestant evangelical at all. Santorum, in case you hadn’t noticed, is Catholic.”

It’s worth pointing out, however, that while Evangelicals historically have opposed Mormonism, so have left-leaning Christians and, above all, secular Americans. While certain Evangelicals reject Mormonism on doctrinal grounds, some liberals abhor Mormonism because they finds its views on topics like sexual morality unwelcoming and repressive.