Stoking the fires of sectarianism.

Catholic apologist Jimmy Akin weighs in and argues that Catholics should not vote for a polytheist who claims to be a Christian.

In various races, we might be asked to vote for candidates who are Mormon.


While they may be very nice people and may even share many values with Christians, Mormons are not Christians. They do not have valid baptism because they are polytheists. That is, they believe in multiple gods. This so affects their understanding of the baptismal formula that it renders their administration of baptism invalid and prevents them from becoming Christians when they attempt to administer the sacrament.

Unlike other polytheists (e.g., Hindus, Shintoists), Mormons claim to be Christian.

Casting a vote for a Mormon candidate thus means casting one’s vote for a polytheist who present himself to the world as a Christian.

I can see situations in which that might be a morally legitimate option. For example, if one lived in Utah, where the only viable candidates in many races are Mormon, it could be morally legitimate to vote for a pro-life Mormon over a pro-abortion Mormon.

But matters seem different when we are talking about national races, such as the presidency.

To elect a Mormon to the American presidency would, to my mind, be a disaster.

It would not only spur Mormon recruitment efforts in numerous ways, it would mainstreamize the religion in a way that would deeply confuse the American public about the central doctrine of the Christian faith. It would give the public the idea that Mormons are Christian (an all-too-frequent misunderstanding as it is) and that polytheism is somehow compatible with Christianity.

In other words, it would deal a huge blow to the American public’s already shaky understanding of what Christianity is.

That means it would massively compromise a fundamental value on the scale of the abortion issue.

Faced with the choice of voting for a pro-life polytheist-claiming-to-be-Christian or a pro-abortion whatever, I might well choose to simply sit out that race and refrain from voting for either candidate, because voting either way would mean doing massive damage to America.

Note that I’m not in principle opposed to voting for polytheists. I could see, for example, voting for a pro-life Hindu over a pro-abortion monotheist. But a Hindu does not claim to be a Christian and thus does not risk confusing people about the core doctrine of Christianity the way Mormonism does.

Akin is a serious and subtle thinker.  I agree with his observations but I disagree with his conclusion.

I think that there is a serious value in the American tradition of tolerance.  The American social compact involves "bracketing" a candidate's religious views from his public views.  This has been a very effective way of preventing sectarian squabbling that would divide the religious vote to the benefit of the secularists.  By agreeing to disagree, we do not automatically respond to a candidate's view on tax policies with an appeal to their wrong-headed views on transubstantiation.

Of course, that live and let live view doesn't mean muting religious disagreements.  Insofar as Mormons are not Christian, then the proper response to the erosion of what it means to be "Christian" about which Akin is properly concerned is more speech about the subject.