Why the editor of ‘Christianity Today’ is praising Mitt Romney

After an excerpt from a forthcoming biography on Mitt Romney was published in The Atlantic, a prominent evangelical leader wrote an essay about the importance of character, using the Utah senator as an example.

The Rev. Russell Moore, now editor-in-chief of Christianity Today magazine, began his newsletter, “Moore to the Point,” by explaining why he argued in 2012 that evangelicals could vote for Romney, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Even if people disagree with a candidate on matters of theology, Moore wrote, they could support a candidate who has “the character and competency requisite to lead in a civil office.” He went on to say, “Whatever one thinks of Mitt Romney’s perspective, no reasonable person doubts that what he is saying publicly lines up with what he’s saying privately. “

Moore described integrity as “a holding together, an alignment of mind, mouth, and conscience” and said this alignment is increasingly rare in the public square, where politicians often say things that aren’t true because “they are afraid of the loudest and angriest among their own people.”

“The pull of the tribe over one’s conscience is strong,” he added.

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Moore, who said that he never endorses political candidates, concluded by saying that while Romney, who announced earlier this month that he will not seek reelection, won’t sit in the Oval Office, he has been faithful “to the vows he made and to the oaths he swore.“

“How many are left who will be willing to feel the sting of exile when they believe they have to choose between the truth and their tribe? As long as we keep acting as though personal character is irrelevant for — or maybe even worse, a detriment to — leadership, we will find that there are very few. Once you learn to justify the breaking of one vow, the breaking of the others gets easier and easier. If history has taught us nothing else, hasn’t it taught us that?”

He concluded, “Character matters, all the time. Character matters, everywhere.”

Moore, an ordained minister who opposed the election of former President Donald Trump on moral grounds, elaborated on his newsletter essay in a piece published in Christianity Today.

Moore was formerly president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and chief academic officer and dean of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, before breaking with the SBC. He is the author of the new book “Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America.”