Clearly, any derogatory comments about anyone’s faith—those comments are troubling.
So if we criticize radical Islam, is that troubling? Romney's comment is way too sweeping.
Mormonism is clearly outside the pale of traditional christianity. I find it troubling that any statement rightly identifying this group as a cult is dismissed as bigotry. It is also troubling that many Americans consider this a christian religion.
While I do not think that being Mormon necessarily disqualifies someone from being POTUS, it definitely suggests that Romney's judgment on important matters is somewhat questionable.
[Clearly, any derogatory comments about anyone’s faith—those comments are troubling.]
“So if we criticize radical Islam, is that troubling? Romney’s comment is way too sweeping.”
Which goes to what I’ve been predicting for quite a while. Because Mormonism does hold to strange tenets (seer stones, multiple Gods, Celestial polygamy, etc.), Romney has no choice but to be silent about his faith, AND to also censure all discussion of Mormonism.
The end result of the “religion doesn’t matter in politics” mantra we keep hearing is that the subject will have to be censured in a heavy handed way - in the end provoking even greater protests and discussion.
I’ve been called a bigot for bringing up these issues, but my point has always been that you only need 5% of Evangelicals to walk on this issue to destroy Romney as a presidential nominee in the general election.
Dr. Laura Schlesinger always stresses the need for people to be of the same faith in a marriage (or at least be aware of the problems), but when we marry a politician for eight years of a presidency, it seems like we stick our heads in the sand.