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Judge Romney By His Religion? I Do It, and So Should You.
Race 4 2012 ^ | November 30, 2009 | Alex Knepper

Posted on 11/30/2009 6:01:03 PM PST by delacoert

I’ll just leave this here…

Before a defense of any kind of religious discrimination, one ought to make all of the necessary disclaimers: of course I oppose government-sponsored discrimination, and I certainly would not support the kind of absurd treatment described by Steven Reinhart in his piece featured below. That being said, there is a legitimate case to be made for judging any candidate for office by his religious convictions.

In late 2007, Mitt Romney made his somewhat-famous speech on religion, where he spoke the following words:

“Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom. Freedom opens the windows of the soul so that man can discover his most profound beliefs and commune with God. Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone.”

Similarly, Romney has stated: “I believe in my Mormon faith and I endeavor to live by it…my faith is the faith of my fathers. I will be true to them and to my beliefs.”

If freedom requires religion, if his Mormon faith sustains his life and he will be true to those practices, then I’m at an utter loss as to why we should ignore Romney’s religious beliefs when evaluating his fitness for the White House.

We ask plenty of questions of any Evangelical Christian candidate: what do his beliefs about the nature of God, the nature of the cosmos, and the meaning of man’s life mean for his potential tenure in office? But for whatever reason, these questions are looked at as unnecessarily piercing and prejudiced when asked of a member of a minority faith.

When Sarah Palin gave her fumbling answer about Israel’s settlements, several commentators jumped on her faith, wondering whether she subscribed to the bizarre but potent sect of modern Christianity that believes in the imminence of the End Times. Will anyone ask Mitt Romney about the oddities of the dogma of the Mormon Church? There are plenty of Mormon doctrines that may strike people as a bit odd — and rightly so. It is established in the church that the devout can reach the upper echelons of heaven and eventually become gods themselves, able to create their own universes and govern them as they see fit (all while supervised by the One True God). Why is it that when I bring this up to Romney fans, I am dismissed as a bigot?

As an atheist, I both understand and accept that in a predominantly Christian society, my thoughts on religion are necessarily going to open me up to questions. If I were to ever run for office (don’t count on that, by the way), I would not expect my supporters would try to ward off any questions about my atheism with the victim-card of discrimination. One’s philosophy of religion contributes profoundly to his worldview and thus is a completely valid criterion by which to partially evaluate a candidate’s fitness for office.

I view all religions as equally bizarre and irrational. But mainstream Christianity is often adopted as a cultural guise, meant for purposes of assimilation with the majority. Probe most self-described Christians and you’ll find plenty of deviation from standard dogma. Devotion to Mormonism, which is completely outside of the American mainstream, requires a certain level of commitment. To what extent will Romney’s faith influence his decision-making? I ask that question of devoted Evangelicals and judge them accordingly, and I will do the same of a Mormon. And I am not going to apologize for that.


TOPICS: Religion & Politics
KEYWORDS: braindeadbigots; excusesexcuses; hidebehindreligion; mitthides; mittwhit; mittwhits; mittwits; mormon; mormonism; rino; rinos; romney; romneyhiding; unusualtopic
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To: cripplecreek

When Utah Territory was a theocracy/dictatorship ran by “king” Brigham Young the tyrant..

He had anyone that wasnt a mormon or who got in his way or had something he wanted to steal ...brutally murdered...


21 posted on 11/30/2009 6:34:03 PM PST by Tennessee Nana
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To: Tennessee Nana

Nice try. LOL


22 posted on 11/30/2009 6:35:37 PM PST by cripplecreek (Seniors, the new shovel ready project under socialized medicine.)
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To: Ballygrl

It’s sad that people cannot be honest.

It’s equally as sad that Mitt Romney had to give this speech.


23 posted on 11/30/2009 6:35:40 PM PST by GOP_Lady
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To: DannyTN
A man’s faith is an indicator of his character.

What about a woman's faith?

24 posted on 11/30/2009 6:36:51 PM PST by La Enchiladita ("It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.")
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To: GOP_Lady

Holding hands with Rush wont make that butcher Romney any less sickening...

He inspires me to puke...

BTW do you ever have an independant thought ???

How did you ever survive BR Before Rush...


25 posted on 11/30/2009 6:36:54 PM PST by Tennessee Nana
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To: La Enchiladita

What about a woman’s faith?
_______________________________________

Romney is a mormon...

A mormon woman’s faith is whatever her mormon husband says it is...

Kinda like the Moslems...


26 posted on 11/30/2009 6:38:43 PM PST by Tennessee Nana
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To: Ballygrl

You learn fast.
:-)


27 posted on 11/30/2009 6:39:08 PM PST by La Enchiladita ("It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.")
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To: Tennessee Nana

I didn’t ask you the question.
Isn’t it time for your chill pill?


28 posted on 11/30/2009 6:40:22 PM PST by La Enchiladita ("It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.")
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To: Tennessee Nana

Like many, many, many other Rush listeners, Rush simply confirmed what we believed. Rush taught us how politics worked, just as Ronald Reagan did.


29 posted on 11/30/2009 6:40:50 PM PST by GOP_Lady
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To: La Enchiladita
Happy Holidays, dear La Enchiladita.

It's very nice to see you again. :-)

30 posted on 11/30/2009 6:41:41 PM PST by GOP_Lady
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To: GOP_Lady

It’s equally as sad that Mitt Romney had to give this speech.
____________________________________________

Nobody held a gun to his head...

If it was so sad why didnt he just stay home ???

It was sad for us too...

We would have been happier if he had not run as a Republican

Next time he should make hinself happy among his own kind...the democrats

:)


31 posted on 11/30/2009 6:41:57 PM PST by Tennessee Nana
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To: delacoert

To whomever declares him/herself to be an atheist (and therefore superior to us superstitious peasants because Richard Dawkins says it’s so), I ask,

When it comes to matters of faith and religion, who CARES what you think? And please don’t say your criticism is not about religion, but only about religion’s practical impact upon the larger mostly secular society.

You atheists declare that your individual existence ends with the death of your physical body, and that’s fine with me, so flame away while you yet breathe.

;^)


32 posted on 11/30/2009 6:42:30 PM PST by elcid1970 ("O Muslim! My bullets are dipped in pig grease!")
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To: delacoert

“I believe in my Mormon faith and I endeavor to live by it…my faith is the faith of my fathers. I will be true to them and to my beliefs.”

How can anyone believe that someone who thinks they will become a god of their own planet, will not be influenced in their judgement? Indeed, I think Romneycare is exactly the type of policy such an individual would dream up.


33 posted on 11/30/2009 6:43:18 PM PST by FastCoyote (I am intolerant of the intolerable.)
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To: GOP_Lady

Rush taught us how politics worked, just as Ronald Reagan did.
__________________________________________

Kid the Founding fathers taught us how American politics are suppose to work...

Reagan would have told you that too...


34 posted on 11/30/2009 6:43:22 PM PST by Tennessee Nana
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To: GOP_Lady

And equally wonderful to see YOU!!:)

I do like seeing the Christmas decorations going up. Say, maybe I should get over to the Mormon Temple and see how they are decked out for the holidays!!


35 posted on 11/30/2009 6:44:19 PM PST by La Enchiladita ("It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.")
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To: La Enchiladita

Did you need one..

You do seem a bit hot...


36 posted on 11/30/2009 6:44:19 PM PST by Tennessee Nana
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To: delacoert
"I view all religions as equally bizarre and irrational."

So the know-it-all atheist has judged all believers as bizarre and irrational. Our founding fathers were believers and the Constitution was based on religious principals, Christian principals. BTW, what are atheist principals?

37 posted on 11/30/2009 6:45:12 PM PST by EverOnward
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To: La Enchiladita
"What about a woman's faith?"

A woman's faith too. I used "man" in the second most common usage, that of member of the human species, without regard to sex.

38 posted on 11/30/2009 6:45:43 PM PST by DannyTN
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To: GOP_Lady

It’s sad that people cannot be honest.
_______________________________________________

Yeppers Romney is no Honest Abe

Romney is a lying jerk...


39 posted on 11/30/2009 6:46:07 PM PST by Tennessee Nana
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To: americanophile

Definitely start with muslims.


40 posted on 11/30/2009 6:46:54 PM PST by Let's Roll (Stop paying ACORN to destroy America! Cut off their government funding!)
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