There were two interesting threads in this column about Romney and Mormonism.
'Mormon Issue' Still Handicaps Romney
By Michael Smerconish - The Philadelphia Inquirer, Jun. 20, 2011
The first was Romney’s excellent response to whether his religion will be an issue for him as a candidate for President.
“I can't judge the politics. I don't know the answer to that," he said. "My experience so far, in Massachusetts running as a Mormon guy in a state that's overwhelmingly of other faiths, is it didn't seem to get in my way there. But most people in the country recognize that, in fact, the nation itself was founded on the principle of religious tolerance and freedom."
I was surprised to find that the Evangelical Protestants were the group most troubled by his religion because I automatically assumed it would be the Catholics.
The writer gives a nice lead in to his second thread with the story of "Sean," a self-described Catholic from Indianapolis who said, "I'm in that group that won't vote for a Mormon because I think it implies poor judgment and critical-thinking skills." How’s that for an unintended belly laugh?
Smerconish takes this as an opportunity to delightfully smirk at the religious glass house in general. He found a religion professor at the University of Pennsylvania who said, "Most Americans don't know the basic history and beliefs of their own faith, let alone any of the major religious traditions.” Ain’t that the truth?
· Who could believe, as Mormons do, that founder Joseph Smith was visited at age 14 by God the Father and Jesus, who instructed him not to join an established church? A few years later, Smith would use a "seeing stone" to read inscriptions on gold plates buried in the ground and translate them into the Book of Mormon.
· Not to be outdone, Scientology is predicated upon events of 75 million years ago when an intergalactic warlord released millions of soul-like beings into Earth's atmosphere. Those beings, called thetans, harbor confusion and conflict, which they use to wreak havoc on the individuals they come to inhabit.
· Just imagine what the Buddhists say about the Scientologists. These thetans were reincarnated from what, exactly? When did they go through their cycles of birth, life, and death? And how did they learn to release their attachment to desire and the self so they could attain Nirvana?
· Islam's holy text includes reference to Allah's creating man from a clot of blood, not to mention angels adorned with as many as four pairs of wings. Muslims believe jinn, humans and angels make up the three sentient creations of Allah. The Qur’an mentions that jinn are made of smokeless flame or "scorching fire". Like human beings, the jinn can be good, evil, or neutrally benevolent.
· Jews readily understand that the Earth was created in six days (and that God rested on the seventh). And they appreciate Noah's survival of a great flood after building an ark big enough to hold two of each animal, the drowning of the oppressive Pharaoh's army after Moses parted the Red Sea, and the conquest of Canaan, complete with walls toppled by shouts and the sun standing still in the sky.
· In addition to these Jewish beliefs, Christians also accept the virgin birth, complete with a star over Bethlehem that served as a marker to three wise men, not to mention how decades later, this son of God would walk on the water of the Sea of Galilee, convert water into wine, and rise from the dead after being crucified in front of scores of witnesses.
Critical thinking is, after all, in the eye of the beholder. Any questions about the Separation of Church and State imperative?
If you need a little more on the dangers of religion in government, we have the ongoing saga of I’m-a-damn-nut-job, president of Iran, and their Divine Leader.
Mr. Ahmadinejad has a vision of an Iran less dominated by clerics – more like pre-Islamic Persia – that would contain an ongoing role for him. The clerics are outraged.
Predictably, clerics have fallen back on religion to fight their popular but heretical opponent. Several aides arrested in recent weeks have been charged with evoking djinns, or secret spirits, and dabbling in other dark arts. One Ayatollah declared in a May interview that the president was bewitched by his chief of staff.
How’s that for enlightened government in the 21st century? And, these guys are building a bomb.
A Divine Wind Blows against Iran’s President
By NEIL Macfarquhar NYT, June 22, 2011
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