Riordan Can Learn From the Mormons

In the neck-and-neck battle for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan has followed the conventional wisdom of so-called moderate Republicans that the GOP must be more inclusive. If you ease up on the strong planks in the platform, the thinking goes, the voters will come.

The Mormon Church has proved just the opposite. Mormons have discovered that you gain adherents by standing for something, not by watering down your beliefs. An organization never gains support by compromising its values. What might appear appealing in the short run has disastrous consequences. Just ask mainline Protestant religions. Since the social upheavals of the 1960s, they have focused less on their doctrines and more on being popular.

In many churches, it is rare to hear a heartfelt exposition of the basic tenets of Christianity: the divinity of Christ, his literal resurrection, his atoning sacrifice, his imminent return, life after death. Ministers have substituted a feel-good theology, focusing on the outward expressions of Christianity, such as compassion, but failing to defend its causes. And what has been the result? Falling membership.

Mormons have what is probably the strictest set of beliefs and practices of any major religion. They don’t back off one inch about the divinity of Christ as the literal son of God. The resurrection is an absolute. Life after death is an absolute. Atonement is an absolute. Same with their daily practices: no tobacco, no alcohol. Tithe the full 10%, even for members in Third World countries. Mormons stick with their principles.

Yet they are experiencing explosive growth. Their president has said the church’s No. 1 problem is how to handle it. How many churches can say that?

Growth in religion and in political parties comes from clarifying principles, not from diluting them. Riordan doesn’t seem to understand that. Take his effort to replace the pro-life plank in the GOP platform, where he has succumbed to the false dichotomy of life versus choice.

Most Americans are neither pure pro-choice (abortion for any reason) nor pure pro-life (no abortions, no exceptions). Most can see that life and choice are not mutually exclusive. Every woman has the right to choose what she will do with her body. And where there was no choice (rape, incest) or when there is no choice (danger to the life of the mother), abortion is her option. But as most women seeking abortions seem to have forgotten and as Jesse Jackson said, albeit early in his career, the choice happens the night before, not the morning after.

That is clarification without compromise. That explanation, rooted in the principle of defending innocent life, will attract adherents. Wimping out and playing “me too” among a chattering pro-choice movement that avoids responsibility for its actions will not.

Inclusiveness does not mean trying to be all things to all people. Successful inclusiveness means inviting like-minded people to find a home for their beliefs with us; finding those voters who believe in such Republican principles as defending life, reducing government, building a strong defense, solving problems at the local level, using marketplace mechanisms wherever possible, strengthening families, letting wage earners keep more of their earnings and having faith in our fellow citizens to make decisions without big government looking over their shoulders.

Riordan should take a page from the Mormons. The Republican Party will grow by standing firm, not by going wobbly with lowest-common-denominator appeals. Mushing up Republican principles will not persuade Democrats to switch. It will only repulse them.

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Gary Lawrence, a Republican pollster, served as a lay bishop in the Mormon Church.