People are saying there is trouble for Mitt Romney, which is surprising because he is leading in the polls. However, the same problem that plagued his campaign in 2008—religion—strikes again.
A new poll finds that 22% of Americans will not vote for a Mormon. Now, Mormons have struggled for years in the United States, fighting against discrimination and general mistrust. This is of course slightly ironic due to the church’s very strong discrimination policies against certain groups, particularly homosexuals. (And their attempts to impose their moral agenda on others, outside of their church, including funding California’s proposition 8.)However, my bigger interest, is in a party that has corted religious xenophobic ideas for years, and this is the first time it is really hurting them.
Recently Congressman Peter King held hearings about American Muslim Extremists. Throughout his hearings he was unable to show that his statements “I talk to cops and counterterrorism people on the ground all the time, and they get virtually no cooperation [from Muslims].” It seemed instead King was targeting a community, which is as connected to the 9/11 attacks as a Christian is connected to Scott Roeder who killed Dr. George Tiller, simply because they are different.
This is common, it has been done throughout our history and is not something that we should be proud of. From African Americans, to the Irish, to the Chinese, to the Italians, to the Germans in WWI and WWII, Japanese, communists, Africans, Eastern Europeans, and now Muslims.
A better example however, is too look at our nations long history of religious bigotry. From the early days of converting the Native Americans and Africans, the the Riots in Boston (Irish Catholics), the strong discrimination against Jews, to president Kennedy’s struggle as a catholic. (See more here.)
Ultimately Conservatives, specifically religious conservatives have gained a strong presence in the GOP. They have pushed their moral agenda into policies as far reaching as school education, to foreign aid, and our currency (“In God We Trust” did not appear on paper currency until 1957, when it became the official motto of the United States. It was clear than and it is clear now, which God the conservatives support, and clearly not supporting those who do not believe in God at all.
Conservative have recently been relying on the Religious Right to carry them through elections. However, now they have a problem. Their front runner’s religion is distrusted and disliked by a large portion of the population, including their own voting block. This shows that the party is going to struggle, and have to try to convince their voters that Romney has the same values as they do, that he is one of them (similar to the democrats struggle to convince Union members who were racist, to vote for Obama). This is Ironic, because the conservatives have spent so much money isolating themselves from others and reinforcing their hatred for different religions and different beliefs that they suddenly have to try to become inclusive of MORMONS! It isnt really the beliefs though that is the problem, it is the Church Structure (much like peoples mistrust of the Catholic candidates, because they believed they would be directed by the church). This organization scares many Americans, because many Americans are highly distrustful of religious structures.
Too be honest with you—I don’t care about Romney’s religion. I don’t think we should care. I think we should recognize how ridiculous it was when we did it in the past, and how ridiculous it is now. I think it is time for America to speak to the dream that we have said we represent, inclusive of all religions, faiths and creeds. Rather, we should look to his homophobic, under inclusive, and mistaken policies and make our decisions based on that.
Also, just so you know, Atheists are more mistrusted than Muslims and Homosexuals.
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