mormons

Passing off an old prejudice as atheist cool.

But do expect serious scrutiny of his time at Bain.

Senator addresses Mormon question. Sort of.

Better to just ride out the Gingrich surge.

Debacle raises questions about readiness of Gingrich campaign.

The GOP has a mess on its hands.

Marginal Republican presidential candidate previews shaming tactics of 2012.

Planets! Tablets! Underwear! When some of America’s most celebrated pundits and public intellectuals talk about Mormons, these are the images that are summoned. Ironically in this “Mormon Moment”—signaled by a hit Broadway musical, polygamous housewives on TLC, and of course two Mormon presidential candidates—Mormons, long considered quintessential “outsiders” to mainstream American culture, today find themselves at the center of the American zeitgeist. Yet it is the Mormons’ supposed theological weirdness that is the centripetal attraction.

“I think today’s anxiety about Mormonism can’t be compared to that of the past. The anti-Mormonism that was nearly universal during Smoot’s era is now a tradition maintained by a very small slice of the American population. The Republican primaries gave that small slice a megaphone: the artificial loudness of their voice makes people overestimate their number.”

Despite historic prejudices, Romney ahead in SC.