Romney gets some help from Bob Jones University

October 16, 2007

As recently as 2000, Bob Jones III wrote an open letter that referred to both Catholicism and Mormonism as “cults which call themselves Christian.” And yet, seven years later, a top official at the conservative, fundamentalist Bob Jones University is throwing his political support to Mormon presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.

Robert R. Taylor, dean of the university’s college of arts and sciences, said he believes the former Massachusetts governor is the only Republican candidate who both stands a chance of winning the White House and will reliably implement the anti-abortion, antigay marriage, pro-gun agenda of Christian conservatives.

“The fact that I’m seen as a Religious Right person would hopefully get others to step out for him,” Taylor said in an interview in Greenville, S.C., the university’s hometown.

Taylor’s endorsement, which he said he plans to announce in the near future, marks a stunning move for such a high-placed academic at Bob Jones University…. Taylor acknowledged that endorsing a Mormon for president risked alienating the university’s conservative donors and alumni. But, he said, “we’re not electing a pastor — we’re electing a president.”

It gets back to a point I argued last week: slowly but surely, the religious right is coalescing around Romney. At the start of the year, this seemed highly unlikely — Christian conservatives simply wouldn’t be able to get over their theological differences with the former Massachusetts governor.

But the circumstances have changed. Rudy Giuliani is a threat the religious right movement, Fred Thompson is too weak, John McCain is too untrustworthy, and Mike Huckabee and Sam Brownback aren’t competitive enough. Romney offers evangelicals a competitive candidate who, at least now, says everything they want to hear about abortion and gays.

And in case there was any doubt, Romney is pulling out all the stops to seal the deal.

He has invoked the Rev. Rick Warren, a popular evangelical author and megachurch pastor. He has quoted Scripture and alluded to the Gideon Bible as favorite late-night reading. And he has cited his belief in Jesus Christ as his personal “savior.”

As Mitt Romney has had to grapple with suspicions about his Mormon religion during his presidential run, he has tried in various ways to signal his kinship with evangelical Christians, who represent a crucial constituency of the Republican base but consider his religious beliefs to be heretical.

He faces a delicate task in trying to stake out common ground with conservative Christians, while not running afoul of deeply rooted evangelical sensitivities about any blurring of distinctions between Mormonism and conventional Protestantism.

This will be particularly interesting later this week, when Romney and the rest of the GOP presidential field appear in DC at the “Values Voter Summit,” co-sponsored by Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council. If Romney impresses the faithful, look for the rest of the movement to fall in line behind BJU’s Taylor.

Sorry everyone but I cannot get past the first part of this topic. Bob Jones University – should read Bob Jones University? or since they are Rethugs BJU, because that indoctrination center is not and never will be a University. Second thing is WTF is BJU’s ‘college of arts and sciences’? Science does not exist to these brain dead morons so what do they teach? Are these classes offered? Earth Science 101 – 4000 years old and not a day older. Structural engineering 203 – How to add more blocks under the double-wide without spilling the grits on the stove. Human Biology 221 – Every zygote is blessed by Jeebus. Zoology 183 – Snake handling – (The pit vipers). The Arts must be equally fun — Speech 245 – Speaking in tongues (advanced). And all lit classes have only one book of course.

CB please never again refer to that cult training center in any way that shows any respect.

  • Um…Horseguy——————-

    Consider what CB had provided in the article. It works like a perfect mathematical calculation:

    1.) Bob Jones identifies Mormonism as “a cult which calls itself Christian.

    2.) BJU annoints Mittens—a “cultist”—as one of their own.

    3.) BJU now identifies itself—according to the defining terminology of Bob Jones himself, no less—as “a cult which calls itself Christian.”

    now that’s a pure masterstroke of ironic beauty, if you ask me….

  • At the start of the year, this seemed highly unlikely — Christian conservatives simply wouldn’t be able to get over their theological differences with the former Massachusetts governor.

    I thought so to, but what I forget is how readily people who proudly claim moral certitude can rationalize that away when it’s expedient.(The Bible itself being full of direct contradictions.)

    What reminds me is this statement: “the former Massachusetts governor is the only Republican candidate who both stands a chance of winning the White House and will reliably implement the anti-abortion, antigay marriage, pro-gun agenda of Christian conservatives.”

    Set aside for the moment whether Romney will actually implement the agenda Taylor thinks he will — Taylor is willing to set aside (ignore, deny?) significant theological differences to achieve an end. In itself, that isn’t particularly a bad thing, but it does demonstrate how difficult it is to predict how evangelicals will act in a given situation.

    On the other hand, Taylor could be fired later today.

  • #2 Steve: perfectly logical line of thought to me.

    I know some people who sent their daughter to BJU. ::shudder:: They *seem* like intelligent folks.

  • Tim, first and foremost they want someone with more than a snowball’s chance in hell. Huckabee would also fit, except he’s also got no chance of winning.

    ———————

    I hope someone asks all these Romney-backing fundie preachers whether Mormonism is a cult or not. Yes or no.

    I really don’t see the wingnuts getting all fired up to vote for a Mormon. Having been raised in one of those houses of abject ignorance, I really don’t see it. Their leaders might do a little dance for Romney, because they fear a Democratic administration and the resulting cuts to the porkpies that Bush has passed out. Look for them to utterly demonize the Democratic nominee. But a lot of the flock is sick of the Iraq war, sick of Bush, sick of the “healthcare” system, and sick of corrupt Republicans who seem to make the news every other day.

    They’re not going to go out in the rain to campaign for a Republican who not only backs Bush, but (according to all their theological programming) belongs to a cult.

    I just don’t see it.

  • “Cult” is a term used by the unintelligent to describe something they do not know.

    Just because you go to church does not mean YOU get to decide if another person is worshiping Christ “correctly.”

    Jesus Christ gets to do that, not you. Not your preacher and not your mama.

    There is exactly one soul on this planet you get control over and that is your own.

    In this earthly realm we know men by their deeds, not by how the go about worshiping.

    If you do not understand that you neither have a Christian heart nor are you deserving of your citizenship in this country.

    Calling people different from you “cultists” is immature, ignorant and most assuredly not Christian.

    Perhaps you should get off the computer and read the Bible or spend some time in prayer because you are not being very good Christians taking it upon yourself to speak as if you are Jesus Christ.

  • Ron Paul is opposed to the Iraq war. That suffices to make him a total non-starter to the right-wing Christians, regardless how he stands on abortion or gay marriage or any of the other secondary issues.

  • So, Mom, what do you recommend we do with all those pesky “New York Liberals,” “Islamofascists,” “Secular Humanists,” etc? Deport them?

  • I guess I haven’t figured out how blockquote works, preceding was in response to this (from “Mother”):

    If you do not understand that you neither have a Christian heart nor are you deserving of your citizenship in this country.

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  • Perhaps “mommie dearest” should go take care of her own offspring, and those who are willing to buy into her drivel. To say that an individual only possesses control of “their own” soul—and then to chastise people towards reading a fictional tome worthy of the nearest trash basket—or maybe the “porcelain receptacle”—is nothing less than sheer hypocrisy.

    Typical Pharisee thinking, “mommie.” Give me the 10 Commandments and the teachings of the Nazarene Carpenter; all the rest of it was created by a bunch of incense-sniffing power-whores who hid in the back room of a smike-filled tent—the “original Tammany Hall.” The “original Cult.”

    God gave me the gift of free will. God did not give you control of my gift; he gave the power to me—and I will use that free will to its full potential—to keep ‘Vangees like you from telling me how to live, and how to think, and what I can or cannot say. You want to steal that which God gave me of His own free will?

    Fine—but you better bring a really big army with you—because you can have my gift of free will when you pry it from my cold, dead hand.

    Deal with that one, you fundie troll….


  • Mother: “Cult” is a term used by the unintelligent to describe something they do not know.

    “Cult” is a word used over and over again for years by my Christian Fundamentalist father to describe any religion contrary to his own (from “Morman” to Catholicism).


    Mother: Just because you go to church does not mean YOU get to decide if another person is worshiping Christ “correctly.”

    I couldn’t agree more with that. However, I get the sense that you may have missed the point of the article which is that religion, all along, has been used as a divisive tool to rally support for a political ideology. And that we seem to have “come full circle” in that what was once the most important tenet of religion (fidelity in that religion), has been set aside to allow the political ideology (which was never a part of the faith to begin with) to come to fruition.


    Mother: There is exactly one soul on this planet you get control over and that is your own.

    Agreed. You’d make a fine liberal.


    Mother: In this earthly realm we know men by their deeds, not by how the go about worshiping.

    I thought this was the most important “deed” to most religions (not that I agree with it). Would you mind listing some of these “deeds” you consider worthy of God’s providence?


    Mother: If you do not understand that you neither have a Christian heart nor are you deserving of your citizenship in this country.

    Setting aside the childishness and hatefulness of that statement, do you now believe that “America” is a manifestation of heaven? Or do you simply think of it as some continental mega-church from which non-believers (in whatever insanity you espouse) should be banished?


    Mother: Calling people different from you “cultists” is immature, ignorant and most assuredly not Christian.

    Amen… and I haven’t met a Bible-toting Fundamentalist “Christian” yet who didn’t do just this. I guess you’re the first, eh Mother?


    Mother: Perhaps you should get off the computer and read the Bible or spend some time in prayer because you are not being very good Christians taking it upon yourself to speak as if you are Jesus Christ.

    There’s only one comment here wherein the author appears to speak as though they believe themselves to be God. I won’t bother to give you a hint.

    Pardon me if I’m wasting your time (and everyone else’s) responding to something that’s clearly a parody… and bravo for capturing the essence of the confused, angry, judgmental and ignorant religious fanatic.

  • I should also probably have mentioned the fact that “cult” is a term that I myself used for the better part of 2 decades before I realized (in my late teens) that the Fundamentalist Christianity of my father was more about the selfish desire of man to identify with and seek the approval of like-minded people for illusory feelings of safety and exclusivity.

  • Log into the official Bob Jones University Website (www.bju.edu) and read the following:

    BJU Statement on Political Endorsements
    Bob Jones University has never officially endorsed political candidates and that policy has not changed. In endorsing Gov. Mitt Romney for president, Dr. Bob Jones III and Bob Taylor are speaking personally. As private citizens, we all have the privilege and responsibility to examine the options and come to a choice of conscience. It is in this role that these administrators have chosen to endorse Gov. Romney. Dr. Jones III’s and Dr. Taylor’s statements reflect their views as private citizens and not the view of Bob Jones University as an organization.

    Where does this leave the president of the school Stephen Jones?

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