Erik Erikson, Hugh Hewitt and the Great Unwashed Mormon Missionaries

Hugh Hewitt’s Book, “A Mormon in the White House” hits the NY Times Best Sellers list this weekend. I’ve reviewed the book from several angles. This post however is a correction for both Hugh and Erik.

Hugh is rightly upset with Erik over his recent review (as am I) mostly for this paragraph:

In another contradiction, Hewitt writes, in the chapter titled “Mitt Romney’s Advantages”: “Start with the Mormons. The basic unit of the LDS church is the ward, comparable to a Catholic parish. Wards are collected into ‘stakes,’ again, comparable to a Catholic diocese. There are eight stakes in Iowa, which include 85 wards. . . . And in those 85 wards will be an incredible not-so-secret weapon--a core of young people . . . not to mention experienced missionaries.” So “the Romney campaign will certainly attract hundreds of thousands of Mormons. . . . This is a standard feature of American politics, and much to be celebrated.” But this begs the question: If we can expect heavy participation by Mormon missionaries as grassroots activists for an American presidential campaign, why can we not ask questions about Romney’s Mormon beliefs and why can Americans not be concerned? After all, contrary to the popular perception of the left and media, there were no organized platoons of Presbyterian missionaries knocking on doors for Reagan, brigades of Baptists for Bill Clinton, nor marauding packs of Methodists for George W. Bush. This is something relatively unseen and new to most Americans --including many deeply evangelical Americans who believe Mormonism to be a cult, or at best a religion that has some shared roots, but is fundamentally grounded in heresies.

Hugh’s reaction was the same as mine: “The Increased Participation Of A Minority In Political Activism Does Not Excuse Bigotry Directed At Them”. Hugh’s point is absolutely valid. I have enough experience with Mormon / con-Mormon dialogues to know what is really at play. I would ask the following question to Erik: “Does the increased participation of co-religionists give you a right to BASH the Mormon Church?” I’ll leave that discussion to another post… here’s the correction for Hugh and Erik.

When you read the above post you envision the white-shirted pair of Elders suddenly taking off their badges and picking up a poster for Mitt. This is a false impression. Let me explain.

In most every “Ward” building there is a map of the world showing the location of Missionaries who are serving from local families. On our board (in the highly populous Ashburn, VA area) there are all of 6 pictures on the board. When you get back from a mission you are sometimes referred to as an “RM”, a “Returned Missionary”. Currently, we have perhaps 3 recent “RMs” who actually live in my ward. “But wait… you say…” you ask, “where do the 60,000 missionaries go?” Where do all the recent “RMs” go? Why, to school.

BYU is the largest private institute in the United States with almost 38,000 students. Then, there’s BYU-Idaho, and BYU-Hawaii. Beyond that a lot of Mormons will attend the University of Utah, Dixie College in St. George, or UVSC (a community college next to BYU). Most missionaries, when they return home, will head back to school within weeks. Hence the local ward unit (with the exception of the BYU campus) will have a minority of fresh “RMs” on hand. During the summer months their numbers swell in the local ward units… but if you recall, the elections in February and November.

So who’s left? Let me answer that this way. As an official unpaid fundraiser for the campaign let me give you the sampling of friends (who are Mormon) who have contributed from my local Stake through me.

• A local 40+ year old business executive for a large manufacturing company (served a mission 20 years ago to Korea)
• A mother of 3 in her 30s (who never went on a mission)
• A 40-year old father of 5 competitive intelligence guru for a telecom company
• 60-year old PhD. Running for local office
• 50-year old father of 4 (with just 2 kids left at home)
• Couple in their late 50s, own their own software business, he’s a ER doctor

Across all of the local Mormon donors there are probably a dozen “RMs” under 22. None of them reside in the area.

In short, who are the co-religionists who will be vying for Mitt and stomping the pavement? The majority will probably be adults, ages 26-60, who are politically savvy, most likely with kids who have settled into an area of the country.

Labels: campaign, missionaries, mitt romney