Former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., moved a step closer to officially announcing a 2008 presidential candidacy. (AP photo)
Romney's Faith Story aired: Thursday, March 01, 2007
A strategy blueprint from Mitt Romney's presidential campaign was leaked to The Boston Globe this week. It revealed that his advisors are concerned that a number of issues, including the candidate's faith, will adversely effect his presidential prospects.
Mormonism was founded in 1820 by Joseph Smith, who said God visited him in upstate New York and told Smith that he was the prophet who would restore the true church.
The Church of Latter Day Saints is now one of the world's fastest growing faiths, with about six million followers in America and more than 12 million members worldwide.
Mormons believe deeply in the family and in the return of Christ to earth. They abstain from smoking alcohol, drinking caffeine and have long since repudiated polygamy.
Ann Romney has said that she thinks her husband should give a "JFK type speech" to teach voters about the faith, as then candidate Kennedy did in 1960, when he reassured Americans that his Catholicism wouldn't mean he'd take orders from the pope.
But author Damon Linker, says the task for Mitt Romney is much harder. He says, "the more Americans educate themselves about Mormon theology, the more their concerns about a Mormon president will increase."
Kathleen Flake disagrees. She is an assistant professor of American religious history at Vanderbilt Divinity School, as well as a practicing Mormon.
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Back in 2000, Robin Young visited the Boston Massachusetts Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints in Belmont, Mass. This was a rare opportunity for a non-Mormon to see the inside of a Mormon temple, where sacred rituals like marriage are carried out. Robin and her crew were the first members of the electronic media ever to be granted this level of access.
Guests:
Damon Linker
Kathleen Flake
SPECIAL FEATURE:
Visit to a Mormon temple.
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