Pastor Jeffress defends ‘Mormonism is a cult’ comment, hits back at Bill Bennett

There seems to be a lot of outrage over Pastor Robert Jeffress telling a reporter yesterday that Mormonism is a cult, just after he introduced Rick Perry at the Values Voter Summit. Even Bill Bennett blasted him this morning accusing him of religious bigotry.

Jeffress hit back this morning on MSNBC:

To say that I am a bigot because I prefer an evangelical Christian over a non-Christian, I wonder if that makes Bill Bennett a bigot because he prefers Republicans to Democrats. I mean, we ought to be able to say ‘yes I believe that a Christian in office is better than a non-Christian’. I reminded people yesterday, Alex, that it was John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who said “we have the duty and the privilege as Christians to select and prefer Christians as our leaders”.

Here’s his full interview from this morning:

After listening to his interview, I don’t have a problem with anything he said, yesterday or today. He backed up his assertion that Mormonism is a cult based on what a theological cult is defined as, in the context of Christianity, and said that he was asked his opinion by a reporter and he gave it. He is a Christian pastor that believes strongly in electing Christians. Why is that bigotry? We aren’t talking about hate or intolerance. We are talking about preference based on ideas and belief, and it’s clear that Pastor Jeffress puts a lot of emphasis on the fact that someone believes in Christ. And I completely agree with him on that point. I would prefer to elect someone who is a Christian as well, given that everything else lines up correctly.

But to take it one step further, he said that if Romney gets the nomination he’d vote for him over Obama, which tells you there is more to his decision to vote for someone than just their religion.

***

UPDATE: This thread has now been closed for comments.


Comment Policy: Please read our comment policy before making a comment. In short, please be respectful of others and do not engage in personal attacks. Otherwise we will revoke your comment privileges.