Sorry, but I’m actually with your bishop on this one. And me a Baptist. This is surprising.
But then schism is a definitional thing, perhaps evil from your perspective (or perhaps Rome is the original schismatic?), but certainly not a universal, intrinsic evil, like willful murder or brazen idolatry in defiance of God’s most basic laws. And we are your “separated brethren,” after all. I am stunned we would be unable to agree that someone who has aspirations to be a god has stepped into intrinsic evil that should foreclose our support of him. Who knew?
So then do you think your bishop is wrong? If Pelosi was a conservative in every other respect, but still pushed abortion, and she were running as the R against Obama, would you vote for her? Intrinsic evil and all? I mean, she’s not going to be canonized anytime soon, but that shouldn’t matter. You said so. Right?
Peace,
SR
I maybe haven't had sufficient chocolate to fire up my neurons today, but either I'm not following you, or you are misconstruing Bishop Morlino's remarks.
Morlino didn't say one word about Romney's Mormonism.
He did speak about not voting for intrinsic evils, but nobody has asked me to vote for Mormon polytheism or for any other religion as a matter of public policy. Naturally, if Romney were proposing Mormonism as the Established Religion of the United States, I'd vote against him --- just as I'd vote against you, SR, if you were proposing that the Baptist Church should be the Established Religion. But since nobody is in fact proposing this, that point is not relevant.
In a society in which there is not religious unanimity, I always recommend Natural Law as a way of talking about public issues. It doesn't rely directly on supernatural revelation, and so one doesn't have to waste time arguing about the Koran, the Book of Mormon, or even the proper interpretation of the Epistle to the Romans.
Rather, using Natural Law, one can use arguments based on evidence and reasonable inferences from evidence, in order to find the policies which best contribute to human flourishing. This works. The Declaration of Independence and the Federalist Papers are full of Natural Law.
Bishop Morlino did not address the Mormon faith or the Baptist faith or the Hindu faith. Nor would he --- when talking about politics --- unless they had an impact on public policy.
So I don't think you can claim him as your ally in your argument against non-Christians running for political office..