With Mitt Romney’s primary victory in Florida on Tuesday night, a Mormon candidate may have solidified a first-place status for the presidential nomination for the first time in recent years.
Romney, if elected, would be the first Mormon president in American history.
A musical, “The Book of Mormon,” is playing on Broadway, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is running television ads about members of its faith. The attention the religion is receiving has sparked conversations about Mormonism.
Mormonism is a religion with about six million disciples in the country, and less than 2 percent of the U.S. adult population identifies as Mormon, according to a recent national survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
At Penn State U., about 50 students gather for Mormon church services at the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center on Sundays, and the only on-campus Mormon student group — The Latter-day Saints Student Association — meets at the center, Robert Smith, director of the Center for Ethics and Religious Affairs, said.
Smith said hesees Mormon students as people that are “very active religious activities participants, open to other faiths and do not try to convert other people.”
The Pew Forum survey also shows most Mormons attend religious services on a regular basis and pray every day. Seventy-four percent of Mormons support the Republican Party and consider their political ideologies as “conservative,” according to the survey.
Many Mormons feel they are misunderstood and discriminated against by other Americans, and most say the media and movie portrayals of Mormonism hurts society’s image about Mormons in general, according to the survey.
Smith said the fact that the United States has elected a black president with the election of Barack Obama shows that the country is more open than ever.
“Many Americans don’t know much about Mormonism, and the lack of knowledge led to some misunderstandings,” Smith said. “If people know more about this religion, they will be more comfortable with a Mormon president.”
Mormons nearly unanimously describe Mormonism as a Christian religion, but the general public is “unsure” or “doesn’t know” of the fact, according to the survey.
Smith said Mormonism is a continuation of Christianity, and followers believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
“Mormonism belongs to the mainstream society,” he said. “Mormons have good, solid and strong moral beliefs, which lend to the development and maintenance of what United States is all about.”
Former governor of Utah Jon Huntsman, a former candidate for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, is also a Mormon.
Jonathan Brockopp, associate professor of history and religious studies at PSU, said the appearance of two Mormon presidential candidates this year shows that Mormons are starting to be active in politics.
“For American politics, religion is only a part of cultural makeup, but it’s hard for people to elect an atheist president, because they regard religions as very important,” Brockopp said.
Brockopp said Romney is a good example of someone who is Mormon and will lead to more curious people who want to learn more about the religion because of his candidacy.