Mitt Romney: "Over a thousand years the world is reigned in two places: Jerusalem and Missouri"

As Abby Ohlheiser outlines in her feature in our new issue, while both candidates have been pitching for the religious vote in next week's US Presidential election, they have largely steered clear of discussing their own faith. There are various reasons for this, but one of them is rather obvious – it's an issue that has the potential to embarrass the candidates, and therefore it's prudent to avoid the issue.

This is true for Barack Obama, whose past association with the pastor Jeremiah Wright caused problems for him during the 2008 campaign, and perhaps even more true for Mitt Romney, whose Mormon faith is considered by many to be a cult outside of the mainstream of Christianity in the US.

And now, just five days before the election, proof of just how embarrassing Mormonism has the potential to be for Romney has emerged in the form of a video of the candidate explaining his beliefs in a radio studio, apparently off-air. I've embedded the fill clip below so you can see for yourself, but here's the stand out quote:

"Christ appears in the Mount of Olives, and splits the Mount of Olives and appears in Jerusalem. That's what the Church says. And then over a thousand years, the world is reigned in two places, Jerusalem and Missouri."

It's certainly an interesting perspective when you're campaigning to lead the world's foremost military power.



Update 2 November: There's a longer version of the video too, which is well-worth watching. Thanks to 5ecular4umanist in the comments for linking to it.