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Hugh Hewitt, conservative evangelical talk show host and author, has a new book on Mitt Romney. It’s called “A Mormon in the White House?, 10 Things Every American Should Know About Mitt Romney.”

One of the 10 things every American should know, Hewitt says is regarding Romney’s religion. He believes that Mitt Romney’s “Mormon problem” presented from the left and from the right, is a bit of an obstacle to his candidacy. But it is one that Romney will overcome.

Although we are all getting tired of the -Can a Mormon Become President- discussion, Hugh Hewitt details some interesting research on the subject. He says that he did exhaustive interviews with hundreds of objectors to a Mormon in the White House. And he narrowed all of their objections down to three.

First, some worry that an LDS president would be controlled by church leaders in Salt Lake City. “That is the easiest of the objections to dismiss,” Hewitt said.
Hewitt notes that Romney was not controlled by church leaders as governor of Massachusetts, nor have other presidents been controlled by their own churches.
In the book, Hewitt quotes Romney saying, “It would be inappropriate for church officials to contact me and it would be less than appropriate for me to take guidance from any institution other than caring first for the oath of office.”

The second objection may be the toughest for Romney, Hewitt said. It comes from some evangelical conservatives who worry that a Mormon president “would greater legitimize Mormon missionary work abroad and lead to more converts.”
Hewitt said in his book that many evangelical Christians believe that Mormons “are not ’saved,’ and thus bound for eternal damnation.” He said that leads to “a deeply sincere concern that the legitimization of Romney’s religion will in fact condemn hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions of souls to eternal torment.”
Hewitt’s book quotes Romney saying he doubts that an LDS president would affect missionary work. “My guess is, if you looked at the conversions in Massachusetts, you wouldn’t see any change between before and after I became governor, and I don’t think Democrats are flocking to the Mormon church because Harry Reid is the (U.S. Senate) majority leader,” Romney is quoted as saying.

The third objection is that Mormonism is “just too weird,” and anyone who believes in such “fantasy” should not be elected. Hewitt said he believes some on the left are willing to use that in attacks on Romney should he gain the Republican nomination.
Hewitt said he worries that could make any religious person a target in coming years, because most churches believe in angels, visions, miracles and things that may appear strange to outsiders. –Author says Romney can overcome, March 15, 2007

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