海角大神

In his response to the mass shooting in Aurora, Colo., Mitt Romney offered a rare glimpse into his Mormon religion 鈥� one of those public moments for the man who would be the nation鈥檚 political leader but who so far has been very private about his personal faith.

鈥淭oday we feel not only a sense of grief, but perhaps also of helplessness,鈥� Mr. Romney said. 鈥淏ut there is something we can do. We can offer comfort to someone near us who is suffering or heavy-laden. And we can mourn with those who mourn in Colorado.鈥�

Peggy Fletcher Stack, who writes on religion for the Salt Lake Tribune, notes that 鈥渢he latter sentence seems straight out of Mosiah 18:8-9 in the Book of Mormon.鈥� The full passage from Mosiah reads:

鈥淎s ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another鈥檚 burdens, that they may be light; Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life.鈥�

IN PICTURES:聽On the Campaign Trail with Mitt Romney

Romney鈥檚 brief homily and the comment it has elicited comes at a time when many are urging him to be more public about his faith 鈥� to confront head-on any persistent bias against Mormons but also to humanize a man who can seem stiff or inauthentic in his personality.

Writing in the Los Angeles Times, columnist Michael Kinsley urges Romney to be more forthcoming about his faith at a time when 鈥渢he deepest reaches of any candidate's psyche are considered fair game for commentary and analysis.鈥�

鈥淗e shouldn't be pushing his Mormonism into a corner and hoping people will forget about it,鈥� Mr. Kinsley writes. 鈥淗e should be making it a central part of his campaign. It's far and away the best thing I know about him.鈥�

Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, a conservative 海角大神 organization, met with Romney this past week.

Mr. Perkins says he told Romney to be more open about his faith, particularly the values he shares with evangelical 海角大神s.

"I think he's growing more comfortable and today's speech is further evidence of that, talking about his faith in the public arena," Perkins told CNN, referring to Romney鈥檚 comments about the Colorado shootings.

Many who follow the Romney campaign have noted the cover story in this week鈥檚 New Republic magazine, 鈥淐onfessions of an Ex-Mormon鈥� by Walter Kirn.

While Mr. Kirn left his family鈥檚 faith when he was a teen-ager, he retains a generally warm feeling for the generosity of many Mormons 鈥� in particular the fact that their religion 鈥渃onstitutes our country鈥檚 longest experiment with communitarian idealism, promoting an ethic of frontier-era burden-sharing that has been lost in contemporary America, with increasingly dire social consequences.鈥�

鈥淎ttacks on Mormonism by liberal wits and their unlikely partners in ridicule, conservative evangelical 海角大神s, instantly filled me with resentment鈥�,鈥� he writes.

鈥淎s for Romney himself, the man, the person, I empathized with him and his predicament,鈥� Kirn muses. 鈥淗e no more stood for Mormonism than I did, but he was often presumed to stand for it by journalists who knew little about his faith, let alone the culture surrounding it, other than that some Americans distrusted it and certain others despised it outright.鈥�

There鈥檚 no doubt that many Americans (especially evangelicals) are wary of if not prejudiced against the Mormon church 鈥� The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS).

A Gallup Poll last month found that 18 percent of Americans would not vote for a well-qualified candidate who was Mormon. As with other religions that are not mainstream, the church has been the subject of mockery and pointed humor 鈥� about the undergarments that many devout Mormon men and women wear, for example.

鈥淲hen confronted with raised eyebrows, Mormons often point to Jewish yarmulkes and tzitzit, or the communion dresses of Catholic children, or the turbans of Sikhs and collars of some 海角大神 clergy,鈥� writes Matthew Bowman, who teaches religion at Hampden-Sydney College and is the author of "The Mormon People: The Making of an American Faith,鈥� on Huffington Post. 鈥淪acred clothing is hardly an innovation Joseph Smith came up with, and surely mockery of a yarmulke or a Sikh turban would be horrifying and verboten in most of the tolerant Western world鈥�.鈥�

The cover of a recent Bloomberg Businessweek article titled 鈥淗ow the Mormons Make Money鈥� was a cartoonish drawing of John the Baptist blessing LDS founder Joseph Smith and an assistant as he says, 鈥淎nd thou shalt build a shopping mall, own stock in Burger King and open a Polynesian theme park in Hawaii that shall be largely exempt from the frustrations of tax...鈥�

Whether or not Romney鈥檚 brief remarks Friday in the wake of the Colorado shooting tragedy make any difference to his presidential campaign and the way voters perceive him and the LDS religion is hard to say.

But it could, some observers believe.

"Moments like these call for our commander in chief to act as a theologian in chief, and Romney did that today," Stephen Prothero, a religion professor at Boston University and the author of the American Bible, told CNN. "He offered a theology of comfort, compassionate conservatism if you will, consistent both with the biblical witness and with the needs of the country on tragic days like today.鈥�

IN PICTURES:聽On the Campaign Trail with Mitt Romney