How devoutly does Jon Huntsman practice his Mormon faith?
It’s a topic the former Utah governor has been regularly quizzed about in the two months since he returned to the U.S. from China. While he identifies himself as a Mormon, he has been reluctant to divulge much in the way of details.
Take his response in South Carolina last week to a question about his faith. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Huntsman said: “I believe in God. Good Christian. I’m very proud of my Mormon roots.”
For Huntsman, it was a typically ambiguous answer. Whereas Mitt Romney decided in 2007 to take critics of Mormonism head-on with a major speech that drew comparisons to John F. Kennedy’s speech about Catholicism in 1960, Huntsman appears to be downplaying his Mormonism.
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It might be a good strategic decision: A Gallup poll released last week indicated that 18 percent of Republicans would not vote for a Mormon. If either Romney or Huntsman wins the nomination, the GOP candidate will face even more opposition, with 19 percent of independents and 27 percent of Democrats opposed to voting for a Mormon.
Right now, Huntsman seems to be walking a delicate tightrope on faith-related questions. He told Time in an interview last month that he was “proud of his Mormon roots.” Asked if he was still a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Huntsman said, “That’s tough to define. There are varying degrees. I come from a long line of saloon keepers and proselytizers, and I draw from both sides.”
Also in May, responding to a question from a viewer on Good Morning America about whether he considered himself a “practicing Mormon,” Huntsman said, “I believe in God. I’m a good Christian. I’m very proud of my Mormon heritage. I am Mormon. Today, there are 13 million Mormons. It’s a very diverse and heterogeneous cross-section of people.”
Last year, Huntsman told Fortune that he receives “satisfaction from many different types of religions and philosophies” and doesn’t consider himself to be “overly religious.” (A New York Times article last week noted that Huntsman’s comments to Fortune made a splash in his home state; “many Utahans can recite from memory” Huntsman’s quote, according to the Times.) In March, the Washington Post reported that “Huntsman’s relatives and friends describe him frequently as an independent thinker, unbeholden to any church or party doctrine,” and that “many Republicans faithful to the church in Utah dismissed Huntsman as a ‘Jack Mormon,’ a derogatory term referring to a non-practicing Mormon.”
In Huntsman’s personal life, there are signs that he does not strictly adhere to Mormon practices. While Mormons are forbidden to consume alcohol, Huntsman occasionally drank the bajisu liquor that is “mandatory” at official dinners in China, according to RealClearWorld.com. (The report added, however, that Huntsman would discreetly try to switch to water after his first glass.) The Huntsmans’ second daughter, 25-year-old Abby, was married last year at the (Episcopal) National Cathedral, with the dean of the cathedral performing the ceremony. During his first weekend home from China, Huntsman chose to attend a non-denominational church in South Carolina rather than any of the Mormon churches in the area.
On the other hand, Huntsman as a young man served as Mormon missionary in Taiwan. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who served as Governor Huntsman’s first chief of staff, told the Salt Lake Tribune that Huntsman would periodically attend LDS services, and the he took time during his 2004 campaign to teach religion classes. Huntsman’s presidential campaign has made efforts to quash assumptions that he isn’t a practicing Mormon: In the wake of his remarks to Time, spokesman Tim Miller told the DeseretNews (a Utah paper) that Huntsman “remains a member of the church and proud to be part of the fabric of a large, vibrant faith.”
For Huntsman, the plan so far appears to be acknowledging his faith but refusing to let it dominate how the public perceives him. With no indication that he has a Jeremiah Wright–style controversy in his past, it’s a strategy that might just work.
— Katrina Trinko is an NRO reporter.
Correction: The sentence “Huntsman and his wife, Mary Kaye, are raising their five-year-old adopted daughter from India, Asha, in the Hindu faith she was born into, reports the Salt Lake Tribune” has been removed from this piece. CNN, which reported the same fact last week, was told by the Huntsman campaign that Asha is not being raised in the Hindu faith, although Jon and Mary Kaye Huntsman are raising her “to learn about and appreciate her native culture and the faiths associated with it.” Desert News has been switched to Deseret News, and a reference to Mormon “temples” was switched to Mormon “churches.”
"During his first weekend home from China, Huntsman chose to attend a non-denominational church in South Carolina rather than any of the Mormon temples in the area."
Mormons do not attend temples for their Sunday services. They attend churches. There is only one LDS temple in South Caroline, in Columbia.
More can be found here at the Church's media page on temples.
Not that a Huntsman campaign will ever be relevant, but....
If he is ashamed of the faith he was raised in, why doesn’t he just denounce it and move on?
Does he have any principles?
If he can't even figure out what his personal religious views are, how firm can we expect him to be on matters of principle that affect his job as president? What an embarrassment!
So he's culturally Mormon but not religiously Mormon. Not a big deal. There are millions of Catholics, Protestants, and Jews like that, so why not Mormons? This doesn't look like a cynical strategy of denying something he really believes in.
I don't see either why he should have to publicly "denounce" Mormonism if he no longer believes in all its tenets. Again that's not a requirement we make of cradle Cathlics or Jews who lapse away into indifference / atheism.
"During his first weekend home from China, Huntsman chose to attend a non-denominational church in South Carolina rather than any of the Mormon temples in the area."
Correction: Mormons don't worship on Sundays in the Temple. In fact, Temples aren't open on Sunday. Also, South Carolina only has one temple, but numerous church buildings that are sometimes referred to as chapels. In Mormon doctrine, Temples and chapels serve very different purposes.
Aside from that though, I do not understand the utter fascination people have about Romney's and Huntsman's Mormonism. Has everyone forgotten that Harry Reid is also Mormon? The media NEVER brings that up. They only focus on politicians being Mormon when they think it can hurt a GOP candidate.
The hypocrisy of the MSM is so obvious. They only mention Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman's religion, never Harry Reid's. The question I have is: ¿Has the National Review joined the MSM?
I'm on record on other comment threads as not being a supporter of the Huntsman candidacy. However, his ties to the LDS church, be they tight or loose make no difference to me whatever. I'd really prefer the pundits on our side stop referring to his Mormonism as often as they do.
Mormons are human beings and we are prone to the same vices and habits as anybody else, so it's lame to assume that all Mormons are 100% orthodox. As long as Huntsman isn't preaching to people about their lifestyles (which very few Mormons actually do) then he can do what he wants and still call himself a Mormon. There seems to be way too much judgementalism aimed at members of the LDS Church from without.
Huntsman's wishy-washy Mormonism is one very good reason I wouldn't support him. I support Mitt Romney because he's loyal to his faith. Huntsman, as I've said before, is an inexperienced, spoiled rich brat that never had to work to obtain anything in his life. If that's what the GOP wants, they can have him and lose my vote. Mitt at least worked for much of what he he's achieved and obtained. They're both, like many politicians, silver-spooned elite that have little in common with me, but Mitt shares my faith and won't shun it for personal ambition. That's character. Huntsman has none.
Now to the more important point. Conservatives, in their attitude toward Mormons, demonstrate the very propensity for bigotry of which liberals always claim they're guilty. Makes me wonder. Is my Mormonism so hateful that you can't embrace me for our shared conservativism? Nice to know fellow conservatives, who are not Mormon, hate me so much for my religious beliefs. For cryin' out loud, we share the same moral views, the same fiscal views, the same work ethic, belief in self-reliance, and the same love and support of the family, but you hate me because my view of the Godhead differs from yours, my belief in modern revelation and prophets runs counter to your hidebound Christianity. We love and worship Christ. We believe in him and do our best to adhere to his commandments. We believe in the Bible and its teachings.
If you're bigoted because your pastor speaks ill of us, remember, he has a vested interest in his opinion. Our vigorous missionary program is a threat to his livelihood. Mormon clergy are not paid, we have no reason to speak ill of other faiths and we don't. What good you have, by all means, keep it. If you're interested in more, contact your nearest Mormon neighbor, or go to lds.org for honest and true information about our faith. Don't listen to those with a vested interest in denigrating us and most of all, don't listen to former Mormons. Many will speak only of the bad they claim were reasons they left the church. What they say is biased and distorted.
Observe the activities of our Church and its organizations, and how we live, Mormons, that is. "By their fruits, ye shall know them." Do you know any Mormons? If so, would they make good neighbors, employees, friends? Does the Church do good in the world? If you know Mormons and anything about the Church, and you answered honestly, you'll wrest your bigotry and support Mitt Romney, because he's the best conservative candidate available and the best hope to oust Obama.
It's still stunning to me, even now, how many of my fellow conservatives consider me a "wacko" (thanks, Calvinist) and somehow a second class citizen, because of my religious faith.
I managed to earn a doctorate at a prestigious school, I'm multilingual, I've lived around the world, I've subscribed to National Review since I was fourteen, and I don't drool -- but I'm a wacko and apparently unworthy of holding serious public office.
Good grief.
For statements, in their own voices, from more dysfunctional losers and loons like myself, see
During the 2008 primaries there was a poll - and if someone could find it that would be great - that ran theoretical matchups and showed how they would do with Democrats, Republicans and independents: e.g., Edwards v. Romney; Obama v. McCain; Clinton v. Huckabee. That kind of thing.
In each instance, a candidate got about 90% of the vote from members of his party and only about 10% from the other; e.g., Obama got 90% of Democrats and 10% of Republicans regardless of his oppponent. The difference in each case was the vote of indepdents; the winning candidate was a function of his draw from independents relative to his opponent.
The only exception was Mitt Romney, who didn't get 90% of Republicans (but who still got 10% of Democrats): Romney got only about 80% of Republicans.
Yes, it's only 10% of one-third of the electorate, but that 3.3% matters. I can't think of any explanation other than his being LDS and I'm not sure how he surmounts it.
Calvinist, re: "magic underwear," do you refer to a yarmulke as a "magic beanie"?
Most Mormons view their religious clothing as having purely symbolic meaning. I would imagine there are rather fewer Mormons who believe they give literal, physical protection, than there are Calvinist evangelicals who take a literal, physical interpretation of Genesis. (Speaking of "wacko.")
I too am a Latter-day Saint and served my country in China as a diplomat working out of the embassy in Beijing. At all official functions hosted by the Chinese--or by any other embassy in the capital, for that matter--my wife and I had water or fruit juice at our table. In the three years we represented the U.S. in CHina, and for the thirty years we represented the U.S. and the Air Force throughout the world, we NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, were forced to drinnk anything alcohol, no matter the function. I don't understand why the ambassador would think he had to. Probazbly didn't have to and didn't, I would say.
The very fact that National Review is focusing on a candidate's religion speaks volumes about the bigotry of your writers. Where are the hand-wringing articles about Pawlenty's religion, or Bachmann's, or the other candidates?
It is time that you focused on the important pressing issues we face. I want to hear details on what the candidates would do to return jobs, turn around the economy, the real issues.
- If, as the article indicated, Huntsman teaches his religion to the young then he has been inducted into the LDS priesthood.
- If Huntsman were not in good standing with his elders and bishop he would not be teaching Sunday school.
- Just because his daughter was "married" in an Episcopal Cathedral doesn't mean she wasn't married before the eyes of God in a LDS temple.
I'm a little concerned that he doesn't admit publicly what he devoutly believes. Jon is clearly a Mormon in good standing.
In the LDS community, there really are 4 types of adult members of the congregation: temple recommend holders, active members, inactive members & disfellowshipped members.
In reverse order - disfellowshipped members are a small group. They have broken major rules of the church (marital fidelity is the big one that gets people in to this category) and may attend all services, but are not eligible to openly participate - they cannot teach a sunday school class, cannot pray in services, etc. The rank and file members of the congregation do not actually know who has been disfellowshipped - there is nothing like a 'shunning' process.
Inactive members are defined by the church statistics as those who do not attend weekly services in a three month period.
Active members therefore, have attended in the most recent three month period.
Temple recomend holders (ie those worthy to participate in temple worship) are adult members who basically keep all the rules - they must affirm their faith in Christ and His atonement, affirm their support for church leaders, attend church services regularly, maintains marital vows, pays tithes, doesn't use alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea, etc.
It is important to again note that only those who have been disfellowshipped would be ineligible to teach a Sunday School class - and that the number of members who fall into that group at any given time is generally quite small. Huntsman could be essentially a completely inactive member and still be eligible to teach.
It is likewise important to understand that if a member of the church fails to keep the 'higher' commmandments of the church such as the dietary prohibitions or the requirement to pay tithing, he/she would NOT be subject to disfellowship, and would still be eligible to serve in many different capacities. A semi-active, non-tithe payer who knocks back a beer or two now and then COULD teach a Sunday School class. This person would be a member in good-standing, but would not be eligible for temple attendance.
As to Huntsman's activity - he's definitiely an LDS priesthood holder, and has participated in LDS temple worship in the past, because he served as a missionary in Taiwan, and both are required for missionary service. By all accounts, he's currently an inactive member. His attendance is reportedly very sporradic - big holidays or when he's campaigning in Utah. And while while his temple recommend status is between him and his Bishop and Stake President, generally if you're not attending weekly services, you won't be allowed to attend temple services.
Comparing Huntsman's "mormonism" to Romney's - Romney is most definitely an active member, and a temple recommend holder. He has served both as a Bishop (over a congregation of ~500) and as a Stake President (over 10-15 congregations). Both are unpaid volunteer positions that require huge commitments of time and energy: generally 20-30 hours per week, sometimes less, but sometimes much more. And while they can delegate many of their responsibilities to others within the Priesthood, both Bishops and Stake Presidents serve in as spiritual counselors for their flocks. While he was CEO at Bain, Romney served as both a Bishop and later as a Stake President.
Both Huntsman's and Romney's public statements on their religious status are accurate with how they are practicing their LDS faith. Romney is a 'true believer' who is keeping all the rules, does all the extra things that are asked of Mormons, but not all do. Huntsman was born into the faith, participated fully into early adulthood, and then lapsed. He still claims membership in the LDS Church, is proud of his Mormon heritage, and is still a member in good standing. But on the whole, Huntsman is really not THAT Mormon...
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