Romney’s Mormon Faith Is Thrust Back Into Campaign Spotlight

2012 Elections Saturday, October 8th, 2011

By Stephen Clark, FOXNew.com

It was bound to happen sooner or later.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who was questioned repeatedly about his Mormon faith during his 2008 presidential bid, finds his religion under attack again in the 2012 GOP race.

On Friday, Robert Jeffress, a senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Dallas who supports Texas Gov. Rick Perry and introduced him at the Values Voters Summit, called Mormonism a “cult” in remarks to reporters.

When Perry took the stage, he said Jeffress “hit it out of the ballpark” with his introductory remarks in which he called the Texas governor a “proven leader, a true conservative and a committed follower of Christ.”

But Perry’s camp said later that Perry disagreed with Jeffress description of Mormonism as a “cult” and that the Values Voters Summit organizers chose the pastor to introduce the Texas governor.

“The governor doesn’t agree with every single issue with everyone he knows or supports his candidacy,” Perry campaign spokesman Mark Miner said in an email to Fox News. “He is running for president to get our economy back on track and create jobs. Those are the real issues that matter to people.”

On Saturday, conservative talk show host Bill Bennett condemned Jeffress’ comments when he introduced Romney at the summit.

“I would say to Pastor Jeffress…you did Rick Perry no good sir in what you had to say,” he said to raucous applause, calling the pastor’s remarks “bigotry.”

In his remarks, Romney said, “Speaking of hitting it out of the ball park, how about that Bill Bennett.” He went on to urge Republicans not to let religious differences to divide them and to pick a nominee who is most qualified to boost the economy.

To read more, visit:  http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10/08/romneys-mormon-faith-is-thrust-into-campaign-spotlight/

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