Romney's non-Mormon speech
Here, in case you haven't read or heard it, is Mitt Romney's speech on religion last night.
It's a good one. It doesn't just speak for Mormons, but for thoughtful people of all faiths- including this Lutheran. While I differ on a few points- like Romney's explanation of just who are the "children of God" Christ talks about- this was a refreshing and much-needed speech that even Eleanor Clift liked.
HT: Real Clear Politics
It's a good one. It doesn't just speak for Mormons, but for thoughtful people of all faiths- including this Lutheran. While I differ on a few points- like Romney's explanation of just who are the "children of God" Christ talks about- this was a refreshing and much-needed speech that even Eleanor Clift liked.
HT: Real Clear Politics
Comments
Pearl Harbor: December 7, 1941. It was a few minutes before 8 a.m. and Captain Mervyn S. Bennion, a quietly devout man, was preparing to leave to attend Sunday school at his church in Honolulu. The previous evening he had visited his wife's relatives in town and had been urged to stay there overnight rather than return to his ship. However, his deep sense of duty took him back to his ship to do the job that only he could do.
Captain Bennion commanded the battleship USS West Virginia, resting at anchor just ahead of the Oklahoma. When a sailor on watch from the bridge frantically reported a Japanese air attack coming, Captain Bennion moved to immediate action and called his men to their battle stations. When the first torpedoes struck the Oklahoma, three more reached out for the West Virginia and opened massive holes in her side. Water poured into the battleship with the force of a flash flood, causing it to list dangerously to one side. (With similar damage, the Oklahoma did capsize, trapping and drowning hundreds of sailors.) From the bridge Captain Bennion quickly took control, ignoring the crash of bombs around him and the hail of bullets spewed by the strafing zeroes. He ordered flooding on the side of the West Virginia opposite the torpedo strikes to balance the weight caused by flooding from the gaping wounds and to turn his ship upright.
The counter measures worked, the West Virginia sinking lower in the water but leveling out. Then more torpedoes were unleashed, followed by bombs dropped from high above. Captain Bennion moved to the starboard side of the bridge, barking out orders and doing everything in his power to save his ship.
As intent as the intrepid naval officer was in keeping his battleship afloat, the Japanese pilots were equally determined to send the West Virginia to the bottom of the harbor. A bomb falling from 20,000 feet above made a direct hit on the West Virginia, while a simultaneous strike was made on the neighboring USS Tennessee. Fiery eruptions filled the air with flying shrapnel. On the bridge, ragged pieces of hot metal ripped into Captain Bennion's abdomen, disemboweling him. He fell, rolled over on his back, and put back the organs which had spilled out. A pharmacist's mate put a simple bandage over the wounded abdomen. He would have done more but was ordered below by Captain Bennion to care for the wounded there. Struggling against unbearable pain and holding his gaping wound closed with one arm, the ship's Captain refused to be evacuated. Courage is contagious, and his men responded with vigor and dedication as Captain Bennion kept control and direction of his ship for almost two hours, even while his life was ebbing away. Fire broke out all over the West Virginia and secondary explosions shook the bridge. Little more could be done to save her. Captain Bennion ordered others on the bridge to get out before it was too late. As they departed to find shelter away from the rapidly sinking battleship, Captain Bennion fought off his pain to receive reports and issue orders as long as he could think clearly. At last his horrible wounds became too much for human endurance and he collapsed...unconscious.
Then he died.
The smoke of battle filled the heavens as the USS West Virginia slipped beneath the surface of the water. In all, 106 of her crew were killed, including the captain who refused to give up trying to save his ship...or spare his men...until he went down with his ship. Through the smoke little could be seen above the surface of the water to indicate that a once proud naval vessel had floated peacefully in that location on Battle Ship Row. In its own stirring way, however, when the West Virginia settled into the mud at the bottom of the harbor, the United States Flag, an enduring symbol of freedom, could be seen through the smoke, still waving defiantly from the warship’s fantail.
The three Medals of Honor awarded for actions on the USS Oklahoma and USS West Virginia fittingly illustrated the levels of heroism and sacrifice that day. From the youthful Seaman James Ward, to the young Naval officer Francis Flaherty, to experienced career officer and captain of his ship, Mervyn Bennion...there was no distinction in rank, religion or political affiliation...only dedication, courage, and sacrifice.
What should we learn from this man and his sacrifice? Captain Bennion was a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or to use the common nick-name, a Mormon. He was born on May 5, 1887, and reared in the small farming town of Vernon, Utah. In those last moments of his life he might have thought of his childhood there, exploring the wonders of the farm. He may have thought fondly of his parents and family, and of the little church which provided him with the spiritual undershoring that had conditioned his whole life. His love of country had developed in the warmth of that home and community on the edge of the desert, and flourished as he learned of pioneer grandparents--Scotch and Welsh--who came to America in search of religious freedom.
Mervyn's younger brother, Howard, observed that in spite of the humble--if not primitive--conditions of their environment, Mervyn learned "faith, reverence, respect for others, confidence in himself, and strong sense of right and wrong. He had a fear of wrongdoing and of giving unnecessary offense; a desire to do his full share of the work, to be helpful and willing. He had a healthy ambition to reach the full stature of his capabilities and to discharge the full measure of his purpose in life."
It was in Vernon that Mervyn made his decision to devote his life to the service of his country. Although he had been educated in a one room log school house, the opportunity came to attend the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. He graduated with honor near the top of his class.
His physical stamina, a vital ingredient in his final display of courage, was developed many years earlier as Mervyn plowed, grubbed and burned sagebrush, fenced, handled horses and cattle, dug ditches and cleared the land at the foot of the West Tintic Mountains. The firmness and vigor that were deep in his soul from those beginnings came to the fore when he resisted all efforts by his fellow officers and crew to remove him to safety. The final two hours of his life were typical of his disciplined, trained, and dependable nature.
His was very much an intelligent kind of courage. His life of faithfulness and spirituality had equipped him to finish his job on earth--and to meet his Maker. The philosophy of life which he learned in the Bennion home in Vernon and through his devoted service to his Church--in spite of constant moves as a naval officer--gave Captain Mervyn S. Bennion courage to endure a painful death.
Captain Bennion’s heroic sacrifice for his crewmen and for all Americans illustrates the truth of Jesus’ statement, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Captain Bennion’s entire life and heroic death demonstrate that he was a patriot and a true Christian in word and deed. Yet sadly, there are those among us today who would say of Captain Bennion, “He was not my variety of Christian. He did not attend my particular denomination or believe exactly my brand of theology. Therefore, he wasn’t a Christian at all! He belonged to a cult! He should not have been allowed to serve his country in a position of such prominence because that might somehow give legitimacy to his beliefs. ”
Such hateful and divisive comments are increasingly common. They poison not only private discourse, but are also interjected into the current presidential race. Even those who would be reluctant to openly avow such positions often demonstrate a form of lazy bigotry themselves by either providing a sympathetic forum for intolerance to be spread, or by merely remaining silent in the face of obvious bigotry. By so doing they demonstrate that they put political expediency ahead of any loyalty to the Constitution, and that they lack the character and courage that men like Captain Bennion have demonstrated.
When Captain Bennion took his oath of office as a naval officer, he vowed to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic”, and “to bear true faith and allegiance to the same.” Unlike the oath taken by the Roman centurion who swore allegiance to a Roman emperor, our oath is not to a specific person, but to the Constitution, the document that symbolizes our government and way of life. Millions of men and women, before and since, of all religious faiths, have taken this oath. Many have offered their very lives, as Lincoln said, as their “last full measure of devotion” to that Constitution and to the freedoms it guarantees.
The Constitution not only protects the free exercise of religion, but also prohibits the imposition of any religious test for public office. Yet today, we have a candidate for the presidency openly touting himself as the “Christian” candidate, thus implying that his opponents are either not “Christian” or are somehow less qualified for public office because of their different religious beliefs. Some ardent preachers of intolerance distort the sincere beliefs of others and claim that because those beliefs are not in their opinion “orthodox”, they are somehow a threat to our country.
No personal religious faith that does not attempt to subvert the Constitution, preach hate or promote criminal behavior should disqualify an otherwise qualified candidate of good moral character from seeking any position of authority in government. To the contrary, a serious threat to the Constitutional rights of all Americans comes when religious bigotry and discrimination begin to infect the democratic process.
May we honor the memory of Captain Mervyn S. Bennion, and of so many others, by supporting and defending the Constitution of the United States against any attempt to subvert its inspired principles.
God bless America.
My counsel to those who support Gov. Romney- a man I admire and would gladly vote for, should he be the nominee-has therefore always been precisely to avoid discussing them. They have no relevance to the question of whether he ought to be president. His speech did a fine job of laying out exactly why.
It is a shame that you have chosen to make them an issue where they should not be. It is a shame that you have created just such a religious test for Gov. Huckabee as you rightly say should not be raised for Gov. Romney.
It is an even greater shame that you choose to bear false witness against Gov. Huckabee by suggesting that he has ever touted himself as the Christian candidate (as opposed to a Christian candidate. He has, in fact, never done any such thing.
You have violated your own principles by falsely accusing Gov. Huckbee of suggesting or implying that Gov. Romney is not a Christian. In fact, fault has been found with Gov.Huckabee exactly for charitably refusing to answer that question, since his own religious beliefs would compel a negative answer.
The fact is that Mormonism's denial of the Trinity, its secretive approach to discussing its own teachings, its questionable monotheism, and many other aspects of its teachings place it wholly outside the boundaries the majority of Christians have always accepted for defining what is and what is not Christian. The religious beliefs of that majority concerning what constitutes the irreducable essentials of the Christian faith ought no more to be an issue in this campaign than the fact that Gov. Romney's beliefs, and that of the LDS, lay in many respects outside of them. You simply can't have it both ways. If Gov. Romney's religious beliefs ought not to be an issue, than neither should the religious beliefs of other candidates in opposition to Gov. Romney's beliefs- emphatically including their beliefs as to what constitutes the irreducable minimum content of the Christian faith, and even what is required for salvation.
I full honor Captain Bennion's memory and that of the other members of the LDS who have given their lives for their country, as well as the fine moral examples of many LDS members, past and present, even though I cannot agree that they are my fellow Christians, or even that we worship the same deity (again, the historic definitions of the Ecumencal Counsels and the overwhelming consensus of the Christian Church of the ages, and neither Gov. Huckabee nor myself, are the origin of that conviction). My own religious beliefs even lead me to different conclusions than those you imply as to the basis for salvation, and whether the beliefs of Mormonism are compatible with it. Pluralism requires that you respect those beliefs, even while disagreeing with them, just as I respect yours.
Our disagreement is utterly irrelevant to Gov. Romney's fitness to be president, as is Gov. Huckabee's presumptive agreement with the historic consensus of the Christian Church ought to be. I am disturbed, therefore, that you have created a religious test for Gov. Huckabee. I am even more disturbed that certain supporters of Gov. Romney are insisting precisely on Gov. Huckabee's principled and charitable refusal to answer a question which he could honestly answer only in the negative
Moreover, as I've stated many times, I absolutely agree that no religious test ought to be imposed on candidates for public office in this country, and that emphatically includes Mitt Romney.
I am sorry, however, that you see fit to impose such a test yourself.
Captain Bennion, Mitt Romney, and the other members of the LDS are fine and admirable people. Their religious beliefs ought not to be any obstacle to their holding public office, nor do they render them less than worthy of all civil honor. But the fact of the matter is that their religious beliefs (including, by the way, the belief that the United States Constitution is divinely inspired)conflict with the constitutive beliefs of the Christian faith as understood by the overwhelming majority of those who have held it.
That does not speak to who is right and who is wrong. Nor does it speak to any religious test for public office. But it does mean that one cannot embrace the principles of Gov. Romney's speech as it applies to him, while rejecting them as they apply to Gov. Huckabee and those of the rest of us who cannot in conscience acknowledge the LDS as a Christian denomination for reasons deeply rooted in Scripture and the substance of the historic understanding of the boundaries of Christianity.