The media portrayal of the Mormon Church during the Salt Lake City Olympics offended Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah. “People would address it as if no one of any education or intelligence could possibly believe such an outlandish story,” he said. So the 76-year-old congressman penned a defense. Many hope that the resulting book — “Leap of Faith: Confronting the Origins of the Book of Mormon” — will help to dispel skepticism about fellow Mormon and likely presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Bennett sat down with The Examiner to discuss his lifelong faith, and its fought-for place in the public square.
Do you consider yourself to be of a specific faith?
I am an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It is the anchor in my life. It gives me an understanding of who I am, where I fit into the eternal plan and who my heavenly father is. It grants structure and stability to my place in the scheme of things.
Did anyone or any event especially influence your faith or your path in life?
If I were to pick a single event as the most pivotal, it would be my missionary experience. I spent two years in Scotland going door to door, sometimes speaking on street corners, and I had the privilege of holding a leadership position presiding over five congregations, called branches. The challenge for a 20-year-old to be responsible for who should serve as a branch president – when to release someone, when to call a new one – you do a lot of praying in that situation to make sure you get it right. You learn to rely on the Lord in situations like that.
You just wrote a book “Leap of Faith: Confronting the Origins of the Book of Mormon.” How did your beliefs develop as you wrote it?
I set out to examine the book from the perspective of whether or not it was a forgery. And even as someone who knows something about it, I discovered things I had never known before – some that reaffirmed and reestablished my faith. But at the same time I discovered things that made me realize, okay, this raises a legitimate question. I found the two side by side, and that’s how the title became “Leap of Faith” because it became clear to me that any decision, for or against, requires a leap of faith. You cannot accept the book without realizing that at some point there’s got to be a clearer explanation for certain things. If you decide it’s a forgery, you’re also taking a leap of faith – you’re saying there’s got to be some other explanation for what [founder of the Mormon church] Joseph Smith knows, other than that God told him.
How ought Mormon politicians approach their faith in the public sphere, and the attacks against it?
The attacks from people who go after physical, factual aspects about the founding of the church can be dealt with, and a Mormon politician should deal with them very directly. The other side, the doctrinal attacks – you’ve got the evangelical community saying, “We don’t care if you can prove these things – we still think that your doctrine is a serious attack on Christianity.” Proving the physical things is not going to deal with that. That comes down to a doctrinal dispute that is not exclusive to Mormons. And I think that to get into a serious doctrinal debate in the public arena would be a mistake for a Mormon politician. Religion is as vibrant as it is in America because all of the doctrinal positions compete in the public square for the support of their members – individuals responding to religious messages in an attitude of freedom, and no state picking winners and losers. If you disagree doctrinally, let’s talk that through, but don’t use the power of the ballot box to suppress a religious group.
At your core, what is one of your defining beliefs?
At the core, of course, is the belief in the existence of God, and then specifically the atonement of Jesus Christ for the sins of mankind. And then comes the question of what do you do to respond to the opportunity created by that atonement? Do you turn your back, which is sin, or do you do your best to embrace it? I try to do my best.
