I am always leery when religion is inserted into politics, whether we are speaking of JFK and the controversy surrounding his Catholic faith, to Barack Obama and the anchor Rev. Wright conservative commentators hung around his neck, to Sarah Palin;s addition to the McCain ticket for the sole purpose of shoring up the evangelical wing of the Republican party in 2008.
I just don’t believe religion should play a role in the most crucial political decisions we make as a nation. Nonetheless, it always has. No avowed atheist or agnostic has ever been nominated as a major party’s nominee, nor has any Jew. Now we face the reality of Mitt Romney’s Mormon religion being held against him, since he seems to be the most likely GOP candidate to win the nomination of his party.
Frankly I couldn’t care less if he’s a Mormon or a Wiccan or a Pastafarian. His fitness for the presidency should be based on other qualifications than to which God he claims to pray. However, many Mormons, clearly feel that he stands less of a chance of being elected because of his faith rather than his appetite for vulture capitalism. I can’t say I blame them for feeling that way.
One-third of Mormons in the US believe that American voters are not ready to elect Mitt Romney, or any other member of their church, as president.
A survey of adherents to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) released on Thursday found that almost half of Mormons in the US considered themselves more discriminated against than African Americans.
While I don’t think Mormons are as discriminated against as African Americans, they do have a point when it comes to how other other fervent Christians, particularly evangelical protestants view them. A lot of the anti-Romney movement in the GOP race has to do with conservative evangelical Christians lack of trust in him based on his religion. I don’t think it will ultimately hurt him as much this year as it did in his 2008 campaign, but it is still a factor. Only 31% of self-described evangelicals voted for Romney in New Hampshire, which was an improvement over his showing in 2008, but the overall GOP field is much weaker this year, and there is no true evangelical candidate left in the race. Evangelicals are splitting their votes among a number of candidates including Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich. One is a staunch (if extremely compassion deprived) conservative Catholic and the other is a three time divorcee and serial philanderer.
Will Romney’s religion be a factor in the general election campaign against Obama? I have to think that yes, it very well may affect voter turnout among some of the more extreme conservative evangelical Christians, though how much of a factor it will prove to be is hard to pinpoint at this time. However, in my opinion his faith or lack thereof should be irrelevant. His record as a Governor of Massachusetts and as a venture capitalist and job destroyer at Bain Capital, and his proposed policies should be much more pertinent to voters. It’s unfortunate we have to even discuss his religion, but then again, considering the vicious and often slanderous attacks Republicans made against Democratic candidates based on religion such as Obama being a “secret Muslim,” it’s hardly surprising to see that Romney’s religious background is one reason for the Romney “enthusiasm gap” among the Republican base (at least at the moment). He’s not really one of them, and a lot of “them” don’t like that fact. How his Mormon faith affects the general election will be interesting to see.
