It occurs to me that a matchup between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney would mean that quite a few wingnuts would be convinced that there was no Christian candidate in the race. Obama’s father was an atheist, but he was born a Muslim. And the president’s Christian church had a crazy, radical pastor. Besides, he renounced that pastor. And does the black church even count? Anyway, he’s probably a Muslim. As for Romney, he’s a Mormon, whatever that is. Mormons aren’t Christians, even though their church is called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whatever that means. Some charlatan stared into a hat, and I’m supposed to be impressed?
I don’t think you can get people to agree to what it means to be a Christian. Obviously, if you say you’re a Christian, you ought to be taken at your word. Are Mormons really Christians? Does it really matter? Joseph Smith taught that the Christians of his day were apostates and he rejected the Nicene Creed of the Trinity. If people are cool with that, that’s their business. I have other problems with the religion, but then I like to keep my religious opinions far away from my political ones.
I wouldn’t rule out voting for a Mormon for president. But the fact that I think they hold really bizarre religious beliefs means that they start out at a big disadvantage with me. However, this disadvantage is softened by the fact that I think all the major religions are kind of strange, each in their own way.
I wouldn’t vote for Romney or Huntsman because they’re Republicans. But I’d be less frightened of the impact of their religious beliefs on the country than I would be by Mike Huckabee or Michele Bachmann’s religious beliefs. I mean, there’s crazy, and then there’s CRAZY.
