'Mormon President' Film Draws Ties Between LDS Founder, Romney
A documentary scheduled to be released this fall will tell the story of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon religion, and his run for the American presidency.
In addition to following the controversial religious head's campaign trail, A Mormon President will also draw connections to this year's Mormon candidate, Mitt Romney, and how his faith may affect his election run.
The movie is strategically placed to coincide with Mormonism's "focus moment."
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"Focus moments are when events and ideas connect to create interest in a particular topic that may have been previously neglected," explained Adam Christing, producer and director of the movie, in a statement. "We experienced similar moments about Catholicism and Judaism when Kennedy and Lieberman ran for office. Because of Romney, we are now in a focus moment about Mormonism. People are becoming very interested in the history of the Mormon church and its connection to the political culture of our nation."
During the current campaign, Romney's Mormon faith has been a key focus to many around the country. Political analysts have been trying to get a feel for whether or not it may play a large role in his bid for the presidency, especially since many Christians have expressed their reservations for endorsing a Mormon.
On an episode of "Larry King Live" last week, King asked the Rev. Albert Mohler, Jr., the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, whether or not Romney's faith bothered him.
"Oh, it does certainly concern me as an Evangelical Christian," answered Mohler, who is one of America's pre-eminent Evangelical leaders. "I have to answer first as a Christian and say I believe Mormonism is a false that is antithetical to historic orthodox Christianity."
He then went on to say, "But, at the same time, I'm not electing a theologian. I'm looking at electing a president, and I will have to consider all of those things in the context of what a candidate represents."
A Mormon President may blur the lines between how faith and politics come together as it shows positive and negative sides that arose around Smith during his lifetime.
"This film may be upsetting to 'anti-Mormons' because it shows what a generous man and visionary leader Joseph Smith was," added the director. "It may shock some Mormons because it documents the untold story of Smith's secret marriages to more than 30 women and his campaign for President which led directly to his murder in 1844."
Besides the fall film, Romney's electoral campaign has awoken a number of Mormon programming as voters have become more interested in Mormon history and what the religion says. This includes a PBS show called The Mormons and the film September Dawn (2006) which tells about the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857 where a group of Mormon militiamen and Paiute Indians murdered a wagon train of 120 emigrants.
