The prospect of having the first Mormon nominee for the Oval Office and the possibility of the first Mormon US president has the faithful both worried and hopeful. At least according to some reports from the trenches of middle class Mormon America:
(Bosotn.com) — For Mormons, this is a potentially volatile moment. They are deeply proud that their faith’s most prominent adherent, Mitt Romney, is steps away from a presidential nomination and could push the faith further into the mainstream of American life. With these feelings, though, comes a nagging fear that their beliefs, often misunderstood, will again be subjected to scrutiny, even ridicule, on a national scale.
“It’s something we’re afraid of. He’s going to be on the front line,’’ Steven Goaslind, a 30-year-old from Sandy, Utah, said on a recent sunny day as he pushed a stroller toward the temple. “It’s a mixed feeling for a lot of people. Hopefully the world’s gone beyond the bigotry.’’
Alas, the world has not gone beyond bigotry. And the biggest bigots Mormons will have to contend with in the event Mitt Romney is elected (Which I personally bet will happen) are not going to be atheists or progressives or Jews or Muslims. The attack will come from inside, from your purported allies, where it always comes from these days: the right-wing lunatics, leaders of the dominant religion, and conspiracy nuts whipped into frothing fury that now form the core of what was once a pragmatic, common sensed group of men and women who called themselves Republicans.
I don’t think that’s the Mormons’ only issue with Mittens though. Their other issue is he is lying openly and blatantly pretty much any time he says anything substantive. He’s gotten into the habit of thinking he can skate away from it, but it won’t stay that way and he is setting himself up for big problems if he doesn’t learn the WH is in the spotlight every second, every day, every week. Right now Mitt Romney should be forced to watch that lying video above, Clockwork Orange style. Because as goes Mitt Romney, so goes Mormonism, for the next decade.
A perfect example of blackwhite: a Mormon hoping that the world has become less bigoted.
I take the Constitution seriously when it says there should be no religious test for any public office.
However, one can extrapolate the potential effect someone’s religion might have on public policy.
That’s not discrimination; it’s evaluation.
Different.
I don’t think Mitt even KNOWS he’s lying. He’s been saying whatever he thought the present audience wanted to hear for so long it’s just automatic.
Only problem is that their beliefs are pretty vulnerable to ridicule even when they are not “misunderstood”. (Not that they are any worse than, say, Catholicism, but still…)
Hang on, there’s something familiar about the flip-flops.
God speaks his unchanging rule: all men must have multiple wives. Woops, God changed his mind. God says black people are forever cursed in his sight and shall never be members of the church. Uh-oh, God was just messin’ wit’ya, we can continue to haz tax-exempt status?
Maybe God is talking direct to Mitt; it’s just that He can’t remember from one day to the next whether some kind of mildly socialized health care is the greatest thing ever or the most evil plot invented by mankind. (Which is understandable; God is currently investigating the theological question of whether He can make a margarita so strong He can’t drink it.)
“in the event Mitt Romney is elected (Which I personally bet will happen”
You can’t really think Romney will win the election?
I don’t want him to win. But guessing for now, I would give him a better than 50/50 shot. Let’s see what happens in Wisconsin in two weeks. Similar dynamic there in some ways.
There has been a deep-seated theological tension between the major American religions–Catholicism, Mormonism, Judaism & the innumerable variants of conservative Protestantism–for decades. They’ve all sat on it for the sake of their common social agenda. I think we seculars have missed a bet here in not finding ways to divert these freaks from ruining the country by encouraging them to turn more on each other.