“The most charitable way to look at Mormonism is that it’s the fourth Abrahamic religion. With Joseph Smith playing the role that Muhammad plays in Islam, and the Book of Mormon playing the role that the Koran plays in Islam. It’s based upon the Old and New Testaments, but it goes beyond them. That makes them non-Christian faiths.”

Evangelical leader Richard Land told NPR Thursday that he believes that voters who share his beliefs will have no difficulty voting for expected Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, “unless he were to do something catastrophic, like pick a pro-choice running mate.”

In a wide-ranging interview with NPR’s Robert Siegel on Thursday’s All Things Considered, Land listed Mike Huckabee as among those he’d like to see the former Massachusetts governor choose for his ticket. And he also said that former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum was “totally wrong” when he said President Kennedy’s 1960 speech on the separation of church and state nauseated him.
Land, head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist
Convention, spoke with Siegel from Nashville, Tenn.

In response to Siegel’s question about comments by Santorum – a favorite among evangelicals – disparaging the Kennedy speech about the absolute separation of church and state, Land disagreed with the candidate he once backed:

“I’ve read the speech at least 30 times; I’ve watched it on video 10 times; I was a 13-year-old living in Houston when my pastor went to the speech. I think then-Sen. Kennedy threaded the needle about as well as it can be threaded. He said, ‘I am not the Catholic candidate for president; I’m the Democratic Party’s candidate for president. I’ll make my decisions on what I think is best for the country, based on my conscience, and no external authority, i.e., the Vatican, will tell me what to do. But I’m not going to deny my faith in order to win this office, and shouldn’t be asked to.’ And he’s absolutely right. We have to assume that his conscience would be guided to some degree by his Catholic faith.”

Santorum, Land said, “fundamentally misunderstands the speech.”

With speculation swirling about who may emerge as the GOP vice presidential candidate, Siegel wanted to know whether Romney needed to pick a running mate to reassure evangelical voters or should choose someone who is closer to the center politically.

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