Posted on 11/13/2007 12:08:42 PM PST by meandog
Monday, November 12, 2007
By Martin Frost
One of my recent columns discussed the role of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's Mormon faith in his campaign. My column pointed out that some people could not vote for Romney because of his religion and I asked readers who felt this way to explain their position.
I received more than 400 emails in response to this column and have now read all of them. Let me start by saying that a majority of the people responding to my column took the position that a candidate’s religion should not be a factor in whether or not he is elected. I personally agree with that view. I think it's un-American to judge a candidate on the basis of his or her religion. But it's nonetheless clear from reading these emails that Romney’s religion will be an issue if he wins the Republican nomination.
Reproduced (in the excerpt) is a representative sample of the emails from readers who said that Romney's religion would prevent them from supporting him.
Charles M. Larson: "Their (Mormons) belief system and scriptural writings still proclaim and teach that God approves of racism by 'cursing' with dark skin and 'blessing' with light skin. And to people like myself, this is reason enough to not lend credibility to such an organization by offering one of its members the office of president of the United States."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Is Martin Frost the Democrat who Tom Delay’s efforts got thrown out of the TX delegation?
As far as Romney’s Mormonism, it hasn’t effected his policy decisions, if anything, it has conflicted with his policy decisions.
And draft dodging is a new one on me.
Martin Frost served in Congress from 1979 to 2005, representing a diverse district in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. He served two terms as chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, the third-ranking leadership position for House Democrats, and two terms as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Oh a story about Romney’s religion... now that’s a fresh angle...NOT. zzzzzzzzzzzz
“As far as Romney’s Mormonism, it hasn’t effected his policy decisions, if anything, it has conflicted with his policy decisions.”
People should remind themselves what choir puts out about the best Christmas music around, and that they sing the same, traditional Christmas songs as other Christians. Mormons are Christians who take a different route to arrive at most of the same beliefs.
I think it would be very foolish for anyone to not vote for Romney because of his religion.
What's not to like?
Also, he doesn't have cancer and is most likely to survive more than one term in office. W looks a lot grayer than he did 6 years ago. Juliana and Fred and McCain and Huckabee don't appear have the energy to survive the 24/7 inside-the-beltway pressure cooker. Huckabee isn't a friend to Arkansan Republicans and is a trojan horse.
Romney can win big if he gets support from the religious right.
Whether or not our own personal decision to vote, or withold our vote from Romney is because of his religion, the Republican party should NOT forget that there are many others who view Mormonism as a definite hurdle, and they won’t vote for him because of it.
Enough people in fact (by current polls), that he doesn’t have a chance of winning the popular vote for POTUS. The party will ignore the voice of its voter at its own peril.
He’s a tainted candidate whether some view it as bigotry or not. All the name calling in the world won’t change it. Maybe somewhere down the road, Mormon bigotry will be a thing of the past (maybe not), but at this point it is definitely a major stumbling block to many voters (approximately 19 to 37%).
“Charles M. Larson: “Their (Mormons) belief system and scriptural writings still proclaim and teach that God approves of racism by ‘cursing’ with dark skin and ‘blessing’ with light skin. And to people like myself, this is reason enough to not lend credibility to such an organization by offering one of its members the office of president of the United States.”
Mr. Larson must have missed the Old Testament verses about “drawers of water and hewers of wood.” The Christian Bible contains many verses which are now ignored. How many agree with capital punishment for adultery, or for failing to keep the Sabbath holy?
This will probably come out clumsily but here goes:
Mitt’s Mormonism does not seem to influence his public policy making...in a bad way.
I would have expected to see more sympatico with Christianity in his policies and stated opinions.
Mormomism is a Moral Faith, yet I don’t see the Moralism in his public policies, I think he is a Top Flight Executive, and a fine Family Man, but bedrock on Social Conservatism?
That I don’t see Will88.
How do you define Christian when you say that Mormons are Christian?
Republicans never nominated a Catholic for President either. But they looked hard this time and may nominate Giuliani. Times they are a’changin or are they?
I don’t have a problem with Romney’s faith, although I see Mormonism as a cult.
I have a problem with his flip flopping on the issues. Yes, he says all the right things today, but he didn’t yesterday, and who knows what he will say tomorrow?
I will state here I will vote for a dead hippopotamus if it would keep Her Royal Clintoness out of the White House. It won’t even take her four years to destroy 200 of American tradition.
Why wouldn’t we want a president whose ultimate aspiration is to be a god?
This is the absolute truth. There are countless, myriad reasons not to support Romney aside from religion. And honestly, it is insulting to be told that the public must not like him because of his religion. Many of his supporters seem to be happy to play the "religion" card, which is offensive.
Mormons believe that Jesus Christ is savior and the son of God...thus Mormons, simplisticly, are Christians...
However, they also beleive the son of God appeared before the navajho in the 18th century...or something like that...
1) Romney’s religion believes in God, and therefore that man’e sovereignty comes from God, not government.
2) Romney’s religion believes Christ is divine, and therefore believes that Christian values are not negotiable.
3) Romney’s religion believes that the Constitution was inspired by God, and therefore should in no way be subverted.
4) Romney’s religion believes that every child is a “child of God,” and therefore should be protected.
5) Romney’s religion believes in honoring and sustaining the law, when that law respects our freedom, and that where laws are unjust they should be changed by constitutional means.
6) Romney’s religion believes individuals should be self sufficient and not take government dole, but should help the unfortunate.
7) Romney’s religion believes in the importance of education.
And so on. . . .
Now whether or not Romney lives up to those ideals, that is another question. At least we know what direction Romney’s religion will be pushing him.
And I agree, We should be more interested in Romney living up to the ideals of his religion rather than dismissing him because of his religion.
“...I would vote for...”
Same here, on purely analytical grounds, Mitt is behind Thompson, and ahead of Rudy and McCain IMO.
If Thompson flairs out, then Mitt is my back up guy, he compromises too much for my taste, but he also isn’t hostile to issues that I care about unlike Rudy and McCain, both of whom are 2nd amendment poison.
Are you talking about Hillary?
Giuliani’s Catholicism is about as fervent as John Effin’ Kerry’s and Teddy The Swimmer Kennedy’s.
It’s been a while since a Mitt fan used the cancer bit.
Good work...
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