Romney Once Tilted Left, Now Right, of Official Mormon Teaching

SALT LAKE CITY -- Presidential candidate Mitt Romney once sounded like a Mormon liberal.

In his 1993 race for the U.S. Senate, the Massachusetts Republican spoke eloquently of abortion rights, protecting gays from discrimination and the possibilities of stem-cell research. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons), which had disciplined some other church members for taking similar positions publicly, took no action against Romney.

These days, Romney talks like a Southern Baptist.

Jesus is his "personal savior," Romney told a South Carolina newspaper recently. He's recently awakened to how Roe v. Wade has "cheapened the value of human life." And that includes stem-cell research.

In an apparent effort to appeal to evangelical Christians -- many of whom see Mormonism as a cult -- Romney is also warning against the dangers of teaching evolution and promoting the value of faith-based programs and school choice.

Such moves have earned him the devotion, and possibly votes, of groups such as Evangelicals for Mitt. They also have spawned opponents in his own faith such as Mormons Against Romney.

To many Mormon Democrats and moderate Republicans, Romney's earlier statements seemed to signal a new openness on the part of church leaders, suggesting church members could disagree and still be considered faithful Latter-day Saints. Further, they hoped Romney's visibility and prominence might help the church move into a more moderate stance, less wed to the right wing of the Republican Party.

"He was really visionary and knocked even Mormon liberals back on their heels," says Ron Scott, a Mormon journalist in Boston who is working on a book about Romney called "Catching Mitt: Slow Dancing the Christian Right." "And now that's turned around the opposite way."

Some call Romney's philosophical and policy changes a "conversion," while others dub them "flip-flops." But one thing seems clear: Where once he was to the left of the LDS Church positions, now he is firmly to the right.

Such independence fits well with church policy. Though it does weigh in on what it deems "moral issues," the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints long has claimed a position of strict political neutrality, repeating every year that it does not endorse candidates, allow church resources to be used for partisan purposes or attempt to direct or dictate to a government leader.

"Elected officials who are Latter-day Saints make their own decisions and may not necessarily be in agreement with one another or even with a publicly stated church position," reads a statement permanently posted on the church's Web site (www.lds.org).

In his four years as governor of Massachusetts, Romney says he didn't get a single call from church headquarters asking him to take a particular political position. During his tenure, for example, he signed a law allowing for the sale of alcohol on Sunday, even though the church prohibits members from drinking.

"My church doesn't dictate to me or anyone what political policies we should pursue," Romney said in an interview on the campaign trail in New Hampshire. "There are many things that my church tells me I shouldn't do, but it doesn't say whether we should make that a law or not."

Romney's current positions straddle those taken by his church and many evangelicals.

By any measure, Mormon opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage would be considered "conservative." But there are distinctions between how Mormons and other Christians approach various issues; some policy questions have not been taken up by the church:

Evolution

When Utah state Sen. Chris Buttars tried two years ago to rally legislators on behalf of "intelligent design" as an alternative to teaching evolution in Utah classrooms, the LDS Church took no official stand.

"Creationism requires literal belief in the biblical account of how God created all things, and that the Bible is infallible," David Bailey, a computer expert at Lawrence Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif., said at the time. "Mormons believe neither."

Faith-based Initiatives

Nor did the church join the drive for President George W. Bush's faith-based initiatives. In February 2001, LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley told CNN's Larry King that he was in favor of "complete separation of church and state" and would prefer to fund social programs "on our own."

School Prayer

Mormons in Utah may favor prayer in schools, but in places where they are in the vast minority, it's a different matter. In 2000, an LDS family in Santa Fe, Texas, sued the school district over the exclusive nature of Christian prayers at the local high school's football games.

Abortion

Then there's abortion. For more than a decade, several conservative Christians have picketed the semiannual LDS General Conference sessions, arguing that Mormons are "baby-killers" because of the church's stand on abortion -- the LDS Church opposes most abortions, but allows for exceptions in the case of rape, incest and threat to the health of the mother.

But the LDS Church doesn't call abortion "murder," largely because it has no specific doctrine on when life begins. That could also be why the church has no stake in the stem-cell debate.

Former church President Brigham Young assumed the spirit "arrived at the time of quickening;" another church president, David O. McKay, "felt that the spirit joined the body at the time of birth." Citing Scripture, others in the church teach that Adam's spirit entered his body at the moment when God gave him the "breath of life."

That's not the same as the "moment of conception."

Though Romney's positions may not line up exactly with the nuanced views of the LDS Church, he is not alone. Between 80 percent and 85 percent of Latter-day Saints voted Republican in the last presidential election, says BYU political scientist Quin Monson.

"Mitt may be reflective of a lot of church members," Monson said, "who might also be a little different than official church policy."

It's all a far cry from where Romney began his political journey in 1993.

Back then, there was hope that he would follow in the footsteps of his father, George Romney, governor of Michigan in the 1960s. The elder Romney defended the civil-rights movement even as the church still banned blacks from its all-male priesthood.

Mitt Romney's start included supporting the the nonpartisan Concord Coalition, dedicated to fostering sound social and fiscal policies by bringing together thoughtful leaders of both major parties.

"He was poised to be a leading peacemaker in the polarizing abortion wars and the emerging, potentially equally divisive gay civil-rights movement," said Scott, the author. "Open-minded Mormons still want to believe that the unflinching, pragmatic leader who emerged in 1993 is the 'Real Mitt."'