Yesterday, the Article VI Blog posted an interview with CT’s senior associate editor and book review editor, Stan Guthrie.
It was, actually, an interview sparked by an interview. Stan had posed questions to radio host Hugh Hewitt about his book A Mormon in the White House? (If you missed the original interview, you can read it here.)
The bloggers at Article VI are an evangelical Presbyterian (a Fuller Seminary grad) and a Mormon (a University of Utah law school alum). They’ve been blogging since April 2006 about Mitt Romney’s chances as a presidential candidate and the Mormon factor in American politics. (The blog’s title – Article VI – is a reference to the constitutional prohibition of a religious test for public office.)
In the 3,500?word interview, Stan gives an excellent account of his thinking about these issues.
I most appreciated this comment from Stan:
One of the things I have really appreciated since coming to Christianity Today is learning … that you need to see how the life is lived. How [a religion’s] followers live the thing – Whether it is Latter Day Saints, whether it is Islam, or Episcopalians, or whatever. You can’t just get it from press clippings and references in books. You have to see how it is actually lived out in the real world and what the nuances are and what is stressed and what is not stressed. I think as that goes on with followers of Mormonism, that some of those stereotypes and concerns will be addressed. … When you establish a relationship with someone, you have a much better chance of building a friendship and seeing things more sympathetically.
Evangelical Protestants will no doubt always disagree with Latter-day Saints about fundamental beliefs, such as the nature of God. But combine the scrutiny that would be given the life of a Mormon president with friendships such as the one shared by Article VI’s two bloggers, and we may someday find ourselves disagreeing less disagreeably.
