Read Across the Pond blog - Times writers on the White House race

Mitt Romney accused Mike Huckabee, his rival for the Republican presidential nomination, of attacking his religion yesterday after Mr Huckabee suggested that Mormons believe that Jesus and the Devil are brothers.

The controversial remarks by Mr Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister who is surging to the top of the Republican field, were made public as he and his rivals debated last night in Iowa — their final televised meeting before the state’s crucial nominating caucuses on January 3.

The latest skirmish came as the race for the Republican nomination appeared wide open and more confused than ever, with nearly 80 per cent of Republican voters saying that they had yet to decide whom to back.

Mr Huckabee, who now leads in Iowa and South Carolina, and is just behind Rudy Giuliani, the longtime frontrunner, nationally, was asked by The New York Times if he believed that Mormonism was a cult or a religion. “I think it’s a religion,” he replied. “I really don’t know much about it.” Then, unprompted, he asked: “Don’t Mormons believe that Jesus and the Devil are brothers?”

Mr Huckabee’s sudden surge in the polls is caused in part by support from religious conservatives, many of whom believe Mormonism to be a cult. Evangelical Christians account for 40 per cent of Republican voters in Iowa. Mr Romney, his significant lead there lost to Mr Huckabee, was forced last week to give a speech addressing his Mormon faith.

Mr Huckabee was referring to a Mormon belief that God created all beings, including Lucifer, who is regarded as a fallen angel. Mormonism does not refer to Jesus and the Devil as brothers.

Jan Shipps, a non-Mormon expert on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — as the Mormon Church is formally called — told The Times that Mr Huckabee’s remarks were a “perversion” of Mormon teaching popular among Southern Baptists.

Mr Romney told a morning television show: “I think attacking someone’s religion is really going too far. It’s just not the American way, and I think people will reject that.”

During the debate last night, Mr Huckabee said: “I’m going to be a lot more careful about what I say because I find it’s been amplified.”

Mr Huckabee is already facing unwelcome scrutiny of his record in Arkansas, where he was deputy governor from 1993 until he became Governor in 1996. He stepped down this year. Mr Romney launched his first negative television advertisement in Iowa yesterday, accusing Mr Huckabee of being soft on illegal immigrants when he was governor.

In last night’s debate Mr Huckabee was forced to respond to questions about comments he made in 1992, when he said that people with HIV/Aids should be quarantined. He also stands accused by fiscal conservatives of raising taxes while in office.

Mr Romney cited his “pardons for criminals”, a reference to Mr Huckabee’s role in releasing from prison Wayne DuMond, a convicted rapist who after his release raped and killed a woman.

There are also doubts about his foreign policy experience, amplified by his ignorance about the US intelligence report on Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions a day after its release last week. Mr Huckabee, according to one survey, is level with Mr Giuliani nationally, having more than doubled his support since last month.

In Iowa Mr Huckabee leads Mr Romney by 32 points to 20, despite the former Massachusetts governor outspending him in the state by 20 to one. But in New Hampshire, the second nominating state Mr Romney must win, he maintains a strong lead.

The Democratic and Republican races are harder to predict than usual because the key issues are shifting rapidly. For the first time this year the economy has eclipsed Iraq and terrorism as the most important subject.

THE MORMON WAY

— There are approximately 5.2 million Mormons in the US; about 30 per cent live in Utah

— Mormons believe that in 1827 the Angel Moroni visited Joseph Smith and directed him to translate a group of gold plates

—The plates told of a group of Hebrews who came to the Americas in 600BC, and also contained a testament of Jesus’s visit to the Americas after his resurrection

— In addition to the Bible, the Mormon canon includes The Book of Mormon (Smith’s translation of the gold plates) and The Pearl of Great Price (Smith’s translation of Egyptian papyri he obtained in 1835)

— Mormons believe in following strict rules for living: doing good works; tithing 10 per cent of their income to the Mormon Church; avoiding alcohol, drugs, tobacco, and caffeine. The religion also forbids premarital sex and homosexual relationships

— Church-sanctioned polygamy was outlawed in 1890

Source: Mormons: History, Culture Beliefs, Dan Thomas (ed)

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