Mitt Romney’s Evangelical Problem

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My mother asked me the other day why Mitt Romney’s religion was supposed to be a problem for him. “Because lots of evangelicals view Mormonism as a cult,” I answered, and evangelicals are a huge part of the Republican primary base. Unfortunately, my answer lacked emotional punch, and it’s not as if I can pretend to be an authority on evangelicals, so there’s no telling if she believed me. But Amy Sullivan is an expert, and she explained Romney’s evangelical problem six years ago here. Have things changed since then? Maybe, but here, via Paul Waldman, is a “lighthearted” report on a mainstream Memphis TV station about Mormon beliefs. I’m willing to bet there’s not another religion in the world they’d be willing to treat this way.

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We just keep seeing it happen: Newsrooms owned by billionaires and corporations are spinning their own narratives, overwriting the truth, following only stories that keep them in the pocket of those with even more power.

Not here. We’re not owned by anyone. We’re not part of any cult that demands our allegiance to a bottom line. We’ve spoken up and spoken out while other newsrooms changed their stories—or cut them altogether—to keep the C suite happy.

Our mission is to find the truth and amplify it. That’s why we’re independent, nonprofit, and, crucially, funded by readers. The investigations on our website will always be free to read, watch, and listen to, but our newsroom is powered by readers who pitch in what they can so we can keep asking the hard questions.

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