Mitt Romney’s Mormon beliefs were in the spotlight recently when Robert Jeffress, a supporter of rival Rick Perry, called Mormonism a “cult” and urged “true Christians” not to vote for him. On Tuesday Romney said he found it troubling that people would choose a president on the basis of his (or her) religion.

One person who disagrees is renowned contrarian Christopher Hitchens, writing for Slate this week. Hitchens is, of course, famously secular in his views: in 2007’s God is Not Great he contended that any form of religion is “violent, irrational, intolerant”. But in his Slate piece he shows himself to have a particular dislike for Mormonism.

Hitchens says Mormons are hoping to stifle critique of their “weird and sinister belief system” on the grounds that it amounts to bigotry, but points out that elements of their policy and history should be open to scrutiny, such as the fact that the Mormon Church did not admit black Americans to the priesthood until 1978. He also criticises the Mormon practice of praying for the dead to retrospectively “convert” them – including Jews killed in the Holocaust.

His point is that “we are fully entitled to ask Mitt Romney about the forces that influenced his political formation” and suggests Romney should be asked to defend “his voluntary membership in one of the most egregious groups operating on American soil”. One consolation for Romney may be that in the same breath Hitchens also calls rival Rick Perry’s Baptist beliefs “weird and cultish”. iM

Read more:

• Romney’s Mormon Problem, on Slate

Photo: Reuters.