Harold Bloom, America, and Mitt Romney

It's been over a decade now since the esteemed literary and Shakespearean scholar Harold Bloom published his rather unstellar foray into religious criticism, titled The American Religion: The Emergence of the Post-Christian Nation. Bloom's seeming obsession in the book with finding a robust gnosticism common to most brands of modern American religion was panned rather widely in both religious and secular circles. As a result, Bloom's book was quickly discarded by the religious world, and quickly forgotten by the secular world. Given Bloom's stature, this was a rather surprising turn of events. While sharing in the criticism of Bloom's analysis and often unfocused writing, I do think Bloom was on to something that is uncomfortably relevant as the nation turns its attention to the upcoming presidential election.

Bloom spent a good deal of time in his book discussing Mormonism. While there is much in his discussion that is problematic, he does seem to make an interesting point regarding the relationship between Mormonism and the United States. Bloom seems to argue that it's not really surprising that Mormonism is America's unique contribution to world spirituality. Why? Because among other things, Mormonism teaches that people can become 'little gods' reigning over their own worlds. This, Bloom seemed to suggest, is about as American an idea as there is. In my mind, Bloom may not be totally right, but he's more right than wrong.

During this presidential primary season, much has been made of the Mormonism of Mitt Romney. Specifically, it has been regularly asked whether Romney's Mormonism is relevant to his fitness as a presidential candidate. My own view is that while there should not be a religious litmus test for our politicians, the manner in which one's religious views informs her approach to public policy and governance is clearly relevant in deciding whether she should be elected. To that extent, Romney's faith is a relevant issue the same way that any candidate's faith is relevant.

But if Bloom is on to something in saying that Mormonism was birthed in America for a reason, then it could be argued that Mitt Romney might actually be the MOST qualified presidential candidate. Why? Because if a doctrinal element of his faith cuts through and captures one of the basic essences of the American psyche (becoming master and commander over our domain and being our own little sovereign), he may unknowingly understand America far better than most of us would ever want to admit.

Let me be clear. I'm not saying this because I am sympathetic to Romney as a candidate, or Mormonism as a faith option. I am decidedly unsympathetic to both. What I am saying is that many of the same people who think Mormonism is a kooky religion and Romney shouldn't be in the presidential race probably have a lot more in common with both than they think. While one result of this might be to conduct a more thoughtful examination of Mormonism, the ideal result would be for us to conduct a more thoughtful examination of ourselves and our country. We tend to avoid this, because we all like having our sacred cows that are off limits to tampering with. But it's unnerving to me that a rather important celestial tenet of Mormonism that is often considered especially bizarre is a tenet that seems to be so strongly embraced terrestially by so many of us, and yet, so few of us seem to see the contradiction. Mormonism is just amping up a mainstream American attitude. This isn't kooky, it's ominous.