For Romney, It's Not His Father's Campaign

So far, however, the opposition to Romney seems inspired not by fear about how his faith would influence his actions -- unlike the Roman Catholic Church and most evangelical denominations, the Mormon church doesn't expect Mormon elected officials to do its bidding -- but by the mere fact that he's a Mormon. A Gallup poll last winter showed that 46 percent of Americans have a generally unfavorable view of Mormonism.

Much of that sentiment undoubtedly springs from a "kookiness factor" based on misperception, such as the idea that mainstream Mormons still practice polygamy. (The HBO series "Big Love" notwithstanding, the church outlawed the practice more than 110 years ago.) Americans may also look doubtfully on the belief that Joseph Smith Jr. translated the Book of Mormon from golden plates he uncovered in New York state in 1827. But that's hardly enough to justify not voting for Romney. "The fact is that it's no more difficult to believe that Joseph Smith found those golden plates than to believe that Jesus was resurrected," says Jan Shipps, a non-Mormon scholar of Mormonism. "It's just that Jesus was resurrected 2,000 years ago and Smith found those golden plates 200 years ago."

Like his father, Mitt Romney may never make it to the White House. But if his faith is what holds him back, then a nation founded on religious tolerance will have proved itself less accepting than it was four decades ago -- when a Mormon lost for reasons relating entirely to this world, not the next.

dgilgoff@beliefnetstaff.com

Dan Gilgoff is political editor at Beliefnet.com

and the author of "The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War."