One of the Republicans being touted as a candidate for the Republican national ticket in 2016 is Florida senator Marco Rubio. Hence I was interested to read that his religious background was not simply Catholic as I had assumed but that he has been quite the religious chameleon.
During his life, he has gone from Catholic to Mormon to Catholic to Baptist and back to Catholic again. He has been baptized in both the Mormon and Catholic churches and currently attends both Catholic and Baptist churches.
Given that Americans have already elected a Muslim as president (Barack Obama, depending on whom you talk to) and almost elected a Mormon (Mitt Romney), it seems like the religious background of a candidate does not matter that much anymore. But I wonder how voters will react to a candidate who has been religion shopping to the extent that the Rubio family seems to have done.
If one adopts a rigorist RC position, then one gets nothing: Rubio seems to have gone through a Mormon baptism before he reached the Romans’ age of reason, so the RC -> LDS -> RC piece is his parents’ work, not his own. Assuming the linked reference is correct, the Baptists never held him under water, so the RC -> Baptist -> RC link is even more tenuous. The US Bishops’ Conference probably wishes he wouldn’t hang out with heretics, but since his politics goes their way (why shouldn’t your employer determine what your physician can prescribe?) they’re fine with him, as their obedient flock will be. His studied mindlessness on scientific matters will make him fine with troglodyte Protestants, while the others have probably done some denomination-shopping themselves. So the effect of his, er, odyssey of faith will be—meh.
So long as he blathers the right phrases during the campaign he’ll get away with it. Any xian is better than a mooslem you know.