Rick Perry has been taking heat for the statements of pastor Robert Jeffress, who called Mormonism a “cult” when introducing Perry at the October 7th Values Voter Summit. And while Jeffress has been criticized for saying Mormonism isn’t a branch of Christianity, a recently-released poll shows that his views aren’t out of place among American Protestant pastors.
According to the survey — conducted by the Southern-Baptist affiliatted Lifeway Research in 2010 but released Sunday — 75% of American Protestant pastors disagree with the statement “I personally consider Mormons…to be Christians.” Only 17% agree.
While Perry has somewhat distanced himself from Jeffress’s comments, with a spokesman saying that Perry doesn’t believe Mormonism is a cult, Perry hasn’t gone out of his way to say he believes Mormons are Christians. As the Lifeway Research poll demonstrates, such a statement likely won’t be necessary to appeal to leaders in a key Perry constituency — the Evangelical Christian community.
The Lifeway Research survey was conducted from October 7th to the 14th and utilized 1,000 live telephone interviews with senior pastors, ministers and priests at randomly selected Protestant churches. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percent.
