Secrecy and the Mormon Faith December 6, 2007

Favorite:

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2007/11/10/Mitt_Mormonism_and_the_Media

Award-winning filmmaker Helen Whitney discusses the tradition of secrecy in the Mormon Church, and speculates on its effects on Mormonism in American culture.

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"Mormonism and American Politics: Mitt, Mormonism, and the Media."

Mitt Romney's run for the White House raises perennial questions about the place of religion in the public square and offers scholars an interesting occasion to reconsider the relationship between religion and American politics. The media has made much of Romneys religion and so have some sectors of the American public. What can we learn from public attitudes about Mormonism? Are the religious beliefs of a political candidate relevant to serving in office, and if so, how? Are there political implications to Mormonism? Do the careers of other Mormon politicians shed any light on this question? In what ways is Mormonism politically comparable to other religious groups? - Center for the Study of Religion, Princeton University

Russell Arben Fox is assistant professor of political science and director of the Political Science program at Friends University in Wichita, KS. He received his Ph.D. in Political Theory from Catholic University of America. He has published articles on religion, education, American political thought, East Asian political thought, communitarianism, and nationalism in Polity, The Review of Politics, Philosophy East and West, American Behavioral Scientist, Theory and Research in Education, and The Responsive Community. He has been an active participant in Mormon internet symposiums and blogging since 2003.