Mark DeMoss has a message for his fellow evangelicals: You can't attack and demean Mormons or President Barack Obama and still consider yourself a follower of Jesus Christ.
It is impossible to abide by Paul's admonition to regard others as more important than yourself, DeMoss said Tuesday during a Brigham Young University devotional, "and also stand outside [LDS] General Conference hurling insults as [Mormons] walk by to worship with [their] fellow Latter-day Saints."
Just because the First Amendment gives everyone the right to "demonize" others with their speech, he said, "doesn't make it right."
His remarks were part of a 45-minute speech largely devoted to DeMoss' advice about becoming more Christ-like. The self-deprecating PR man described the positive impact of several individual Christians, including his own father, on those around them. He urged LDS students gathered in the Marriott Center to think deeply about their goals and motives, making sure their words and deeds reflect their dependence on God and Jesus Christ.
DeMoss, who runs a faith-based public-relations firm in Atlanta, has been an unpaid adviser to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign for the past five years. He has grown to admire the candidate and his family, and, he said in a phone interview, believes that any question about whether Mormons are Christians is "irrelevant to me in the context of choosing a president."
The so-called "Mormon problem," DeMoss said, also has diminished somewhat since Romney's first campaign.
That's mainly due, he said, to several factors: the idea of a Mormon president is no longer new; Romney's religion has been vetted in the media; Romney is a more experienced and confident candidate; and many evangelicals now are looking for a candidate who mirrors their values, not their theology.
"If you set theology aside," DeMoss said in the interview, "there is no question that Mitt Romney's values mirror the values of most evangelicals."
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SOURCE: The Salt Lake Tribune
Peggy Fletcher Stack
