We should have seen this coming. I’m sure some people did. But it caught me by surprise. One of the major impacts of the 2012 presidential campaign was the insertion of Mormonism into the good graces of mainstream Christianity in the United States. Will that situation last? I’m not sure.

Mitt Romney was the first member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints (LDS) to be nominated for president by a major party. In some ways, the situation was similar to that of John Kennedy, a Catholic, in 1960. The major difference I see is that white evangelicals overwhelmingly supported Romney in this election. (that designation by race and religious belief is used by pollsters; it reflects the fact that this group tends to vote as a bloc) That wasn’t true of the Kennedy campaign.

American Christians had to decide between a man whose politics they disliked (Obama) and a man whose religious views they disliked (Romney). Many accuse Obama of holding to other religious views, but for the purposes of this article, let’s take his statements about his personal beliefs at face value.

This was a complicated choice. Many in this voting group, the religious right, hold to the ideas of returning America to mainstream Christian values. Historically, they have considered the LDS to be outside of those values. Could someone who didn’t fit their definition of Christianity be the champion of Christianity in the U.S.? Many decided that he could.

So how to deal with the cognitive dissonance between political and religious beliefs? Many chose to redefine how they viewed Mormonism. Probably the most famous example is the Billy Graham Evangelical Association, but others did the same. While stopping short of embracing Mormons as brothers, they toned down their teachings against Mormonism.

Will that attitude remain? Has Mormonism turned the corner and become an accepted part of the evangelical community? Time will tell. They’ve certainly worked hard at it. (I hadn’t heard of the book The Mormonizing of America until recently, but it seems to express well what is going on)

To me, especially considering my views regarding kingdom and politics, this was perhaps the biggest impact of the 2012 campaign.

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