Romney appeals to evangelicals through ‘Judeo-Christian’ values

Mitt Romney angered evangelicals during his first White House run in 2008 by blurring the theological lines between their faith and his Mormonism. Lurching in the other direction, he irked them again by scarcely mentioning religion at all during this year’s GOP primaries.

But Romney has finally found some middle ground, evangelical leaders say, by sidelining theology and stressing the “Judeo-Christian values” that he shares with social conservatives.

“He’s made it very clear not to gloss over the theological differences that his faith has with evangelicals,” said Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council in Washington. “As long as he talks about the shared values of our religious traditions, I think he’s good.”

Romney did exactly that during a Sept. 9 “Meet the Press” interview, saying that religion inspired him to run for president — without mentioning the word “Mormon.”

“The Judeo-Christian ethics that I was brought up with — the sense of obligation to one’s fellow man, an absolute conviction that we are all sons and daughters of the same God and therefore in a human family — is one of the reasons I am doing what I’m doing,” he said.

Conservative Christian leaders are taking the same approach, urging evangelicals to focus on Romney’s policies and principles, not the particulars of his faith.

The GOP platform, including opposition to abortion and gay marriage, fits “squarely within the Judeo-Christian tradition,” more than two dozen Christian notables wrote in a Sept. 7 public letter congratulating Romney on the document. The signers included activist Ralph Reed, evangelist Franklin Graham and Focus on the Family President Jim Daly.

Romney’s standing among evangelicals has risen since the summer, according to a recent Pew Research Center poll, with 74 percent now saying they support him. Trailing in national polls, the GOP nominee is counting on a huge turnout from social conservatives, especially in swing states like Colorado, North Carolina and Virginia.

Mark DeMoss, a public relations executive who advises Romney’s campaign on outreach to evangelicals, said the “Judeo-Christian” rhetoric sends the right signal to social conservatives.

“It captures a common core set of values without getting tangled up in religious doctrine or theology,” DeMoss said.

The “Judeo-Christian” phrase first gained currency in the United States during the 1920s, when American Christians sought to distinguish themselves from the fascist and frequently anti-Semitic Christian groups emerging across Europe.

With the modern rise of the religious right in the United States, honoring the country’s “Judeo-Christian” heritage became a battle cry for culture warriors who fought to keep 10 Commandments in courthouses and sectarian prayers in public schools.

Just as the phrase allowed Catholics, Protestants and Jews to soft-pedal theological differences in favor of shared political causes, Romney and evangelical leaders are hoping to expand the big tent again, this time to embrace Mormons.