'Non Christian' President? Sorry, my OP's are often erratic, hot-headed and ill judged.

[denem]

Last edited Mon Feb 6, 2012, 12:53 AM - Edit history (4)

I apologize. I fly off the handle. Take my posts with a pound of salt, if you don't already. Religious bigotry, or bigotry of any sort is not what I'm about. Period.

I penned the 'Non Christian President' OP almost immediately after reading Frank Rich's essay on Mitt Romney in New York Magazine.', titled 'Who in God's Name is Mitt Romney' (four paragraphs cited below). The words that whipped up my ire were:

In Romneyland, Mormonism is the religion that dare not speak its name, and “Someone takes a shot at the governor’s faith, we put a scarlet letter on them, RB, religious bigot.” RB? OK. But if you are a Democrat running for office, it's open season? - so I started writing, and posted..

Romney is a coward, as grantcart posted very eloquently. Take Romney's 'Faith in America' speech in 2008, composed to clear the air, he mentioned LDS once.

IMO 'Cult' is a word better left for the likes of Scienctology, but when a RW Evangelical Christian gets in your face raging about all things Democratic, I don't see any harm, in point out their churches to do not consider Mormomism to be Christianity.

The thing is, what do you make of a candidate who's slogan is "Believe in America", who won't discuss what his religion believes America to be?

Who in God’s Name Is Mitt Romney?

In the current campaign, Romney makes frequent reference to faith, God, and his fierce loyalty to “the same church.” But whether in debates, or in the acres of official material on his campaign website, or in a flyer pitched at religious voters in South Carolina, he never names what that faith or church is. In Romneyland, Mormonism is the religion that dare not speak its name. Which leaves him unable to talk about the very subject he seems to care about most, a lifelong source of spiritual, familial, and intellectual sustenance. We’re used to politicians who camouflage their real views about issues, or who practice fraud in their backroom financial and political deal-making, but this is something else. Romney’s very public persona feels like a hoax because it has been so elaborately contrived to keep his core identity under wraps.

His campaign is intent on enforcing the redaction of his religion, not least, one imagines, because a Gallup poll found that 22 percent in both parties say they would not vote for a Mormon for president. (Only 5 percent admit feeling that way about an African-American.) A senior adviser explained the strategy of deflecting any discussion of Romney’s Mormon life to Politico: “Someone takes a shot at the governor’s faith, we put a scarlet letter on them, RB, religious bigot.” Good luck with that. Like Romney’s evasions about his private finances, his conspicuous cone of silence about this major pillar of his biography also leaves you wondering what he is trying to hide. That his faith can be as secretive as he is—Ann Romney’s non-Mormon parents were not allowed to attend the religious ceremony consecrating her marriage to Mitt—only whets the curiosity among the 82 percent of Americans who tell pollsters they know little or nothing about Mormonism.

Weeks before his death, Christopher Hitchens, no more a fan of LDS than of any other denomination, wrote that “we are fully entitled” to ask Romney about the role of his religion in influencing his political formation. Of course we are. Romney is not merely a worshipper sitting in the pews but the scion of a family dynasty integral to the progress of an ­American-born faith that has played a large role in the public square. Since his youthful stint as a missionary, he has served LDS in a variety of significant posts. The answers to questions about Romney’s career as a lay church official may tell us more about who he is than his record at Bain, his sparse tenure as governor, or his tax returns.

The questions are not theological. Nor are they about polygamy, the scandalous credo that earlier Romneys practiced even after the church banned it in 1890. Rather, the questions are about the Mormon church’s political actions during Mitt Romney’s lifetime—and about what role Romney, as both a leader and major donor, might have played or is still playing in those actions. To ask these questions is not to be a religious bigot but to vet a candidate for the nation’s highest job. Given how often Romney himself cites his faith as a defining force in his life, voters have a right to know what role he played when his faith intersected with the secular lives of his fellow citizens.

http://nymag.com/news/frank-rich/mitt-romney-2012-2/index2.html

[roguevalley]

1. since his party spews faith he's obligated to

Tell. Period.

[CTyankee]

2. well, i like the article but i think you need to take it down a notch and understand that

it's not all about you.

It's not all about me either but...

[Kurmudgeon]

3. Just quit assuming any Christians, evangelical or not, are automatically GOP.

Please????

[denem]

5. I don't assume Christians = GOP

I said "WHEN evangelical Christians rage about all things Democratic", as many of them do.

The effort to imprint politics on Christian denominations, other faiths, is tragic, for congregations and the politics in general. I'm just sick of having politics devolve into arguments about Christian theology.

Anyway, point taken.

I've edited my OP to try to make it clearer.

[Kurmudgeon]

7. Many thanks, much appreciated!

[fitzangus]

4. LDS

There are quite a few Mormons in my family. They are amiable persons though obviously not philosophers. Let's face it Mormons have some very strange views. Probably the one that's the strangest is that eventually if you climb that mormon evolutionary ladder you can become the god of your own planet.
Now I'm not pulling your leg this is true. They also believe that if you're not a mormon in this life when you cross over go get a chance to change your mind. There into genealogy so that they can baptize their ancestors and relatives art Mormons.
I myself am a Buddhist or at least I will be until I pass away,Then I guess I'll be a Mormon . I think the Mormon church is going to take a real pounding when their beliefs become aired to the public in the next election. There are plenty of apostate Mormons who have spilled the beans.
Yes it is not a good assumption to assume that all Christians are republicans. My family are traditional southern democrats and they haven't switched over to the party of Lincolns(pun intended).My wife is half Mankato Lakota,so Abe is not someone I bring up to her lest I suffer from alopecia totalis one night.
I even know guys who are Members of the Sons Of Confederate Veterans and voted for Obama. Of course these guys are also members of almost every other historical organization you can think of. The point is you can't make general assumptions about any group of people.

[denem]

6. Yes, you're right. You can't generalize. Harry Reid is a Mormon

in a state that about 9% LDS.

I've edited my post to try and make that clearer.

But I've heard enough sermons about 'if you're Christian, you are obliged to vote Republican'