Contests over latter-day space: Mormonism’s role within evangelical geopolitics as seen through last-days novels

Harry Reid and Mitt Romney represent Mormonism’s deepest participation in the nation’s electoral politics over the religion’s nearly 180-year history. Both the U.S. Senate Majority Leader and the candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, respectively, are active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.1 Mormons are no more than one in 50 Americans, yet Romney and Reid’s centrality within the nation’s political conversation and LDS ‘overrepresentation’ in Congress suggest Mormonism’s potential significance to U.S. geopolitics.2 Over the past 25 years, many Mormons have arguably been part of the Christian Right movement, joining evangelicals and others to promote a traditionalist social agenda. Will Mormons similarly join evangelicals in promoting a coherent eschatological geopolitical program, one that attempts to influence U.S. foreign policy? This chapter attempts to answer that question.