Prominent Dallas minister says Romney no Christian

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's membership in the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has come under fire again — this time by a prominent Dallas minister who told his congregation Romney is not a Christian.

The Dallas Morning News has reported that the Rev. Robert Jeffress, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, said in a sermon on Sept. 30 that while Romney "talks about Jesus as his Lord and savior, he is not a Christian. Mormonism is not Christianity. Mormonism is a cult."

The newspaper story published Thursday said some members of the pastor's large audience began to applaud as he continued his discussion of Romney's faith as part of a talk titled "The Power of a Positive Purpose."

"What really distresses me is some of my ministerial friends and even leaders in our convention are saying, 'Oh, well, he talks about Jesus, we talk about Jesus. What's the big deal?' It is a big deal if anybody names another way to be saved except through Jesus Christ," the pastor said.

The Rev. Jeffress had prefaced his remarks about Romney by saying, "I'm going to get in trouble I know for saying this, but I think it needs to be said" and that he was "neither for nor against Mitt Romney ... he may make a worthy president."

"Unfortunate" was how Romney spokeswoman Gail Gitcho described the comments Friday in an e-mail to the Deseret Morning News.

"Dr. Jeffress' comments are unfortunate and certainly don't represent the beliefs of the growing number of evangelical and social conservative leaders from across the country who have lined up in support of Governor Romney's candidacy for president of the United States.

"These endorsements show recognition of the common values that Governor Romney shares with all Americans — strong family, strong moral fiber and a belief in doing what's right. Governor Romney is the strongest candidate to stand up for conservative values in the White House," Gitcho said.

Kirk Jowers, director of the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics, said ministers who criticize Romney's faith "are being incredibly shortsighted to urge religious bigotry among their congregations against those who don't share their identical beliefs, especially when it could so easily be turned against them."

Jowers, a Romney supporter, said the Rev. Jeffress "is apparently clearly exasperated by some of the endorsements by evangelical leaders" that Romney has received. "A lot of people see a wave of evangelical support moving toward Romney right now," Jowers said.