And it seems to persist in the Mitt Romney campaign. Three political science professors argue that saying Romney is flip-flopping is merely a cover for anti-Mormon sentiment (see also here.)

In the context of the intolerance of the presidential campaign, I�ve been yearning for that feeling I had that evening 21 years ago in the marbled sanctuary in Washington. I think I found some of that in a recent review of media opinion (please note that the review here centers on opinion writing which is expected to have a bias rather than news reporting which is expected to be balanced).

For example, consider the recent work of Denver Post columnist Gail Schoettler and Chloe Oliver in the Hattiesburg (Miss.) American. Schoettler said that the media needs to get past the trivial in the coverage of presidential politics, while Oliver reminds readers that �those who propose to save us from a monster must be careful as they employ their tactics. Otherwise, they may become the monster they seek.�

It�s heartening that religious writers have expressed similar sentiment. Although it didn�t get much traction among Mormons at the time it was published in December, I stumbled upon this column by Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League.

Foxman wrote: �As we said during the 2000 campaign with regard to Senator Lieberman, candidates should feel comfortable explaining their religious convictions to voters. At the same time, however, we believe there is a point at which an emphasis on religion in a political campaign becomes inappropriate and even unsettling in a religiously diverse society such as ours. Anyone who legitimately aspires to the presidency of the United States must be prepared to set an example and be a leader for all Americans, of all faiths and of no faith.�

In its house editorial, the January Christian Century magazine said Christians should seek a candidate with virtues for governance: �Some Christians worry that a Latter-day Saint in the White House would give a public relations boost to Mormonism. But if indeed Romney were elected and proved to be a president who pursued peace, served justice and remembered the poor, and if his presidency thereby lent prestige to Mormonism, we would have to say that the boost was in some sense deserved. That event too would have to be seen as part of the paradoxical way that God rules the political sphere.�