Tomorrow at this time, most of us political junkies will be analyzing "the speech" by former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney addressing religion in modern American political life. And we will still be talking about the buzz over another former governor, Mike Huckabee of Arkansas.
I think that if Mr. Romney puts to rest the concerns of some Americans about the Mormon faith and ties it in to the amazing religious liberty that is a direct contrast to the many Islamic-centric nations of the world. And, it will be a direct challenge to Mr. Huckabee, who is going after "Christian" American voters.
While the timing of this speech will be debated for a while to come, Mr. Romney had to do it. It is not just evangelical Christians that seem to have doubts about Mr. Romney because of his adherence to the Mormon faith. If many a poll is to be believed, a rather high percentage of Americans have an outright open hostility to Mormons. And, sadly, it is because of a lot of misconceptions perpetuated by a media that thinks most people of faith are whackadoos.
But, for a man who wants to represent all of America to be touting that he is the "Christian" leader, Mr. Huckabee can not answer some basic questions about the faith that he espouses. In fact, Mr. Huckabee is downright testy when reporters ask him about his view on creationism. Since he said that he did not believe in evolution and in creationism, he opened the door. And, Mr. Huckabee would not comment on whether he thought Mormons were indeed Christians.
Since the correct name is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I think they are Christians, but as I have noted before, with an asterisk since they do have that Book of Mormon and some different interpretations than most Christian denominations. And, for Mr. Huckabee, some people think that Southern Baptists are sort of weird in their beliefs.
Thus, what Mr. Romney has to do is talk about what his faith means to him, what faith means to a lot of Americans and that there needs to be a tolerance-not acceptance-of different faiths. Not to have a multicultural view of faith in which many groups dilute what they believe in the name of being "interfaith". But respectful. And, even respectful of those with no faith.
The United States was founded on religious liberty and the freedom of religion.
It is beyond belief that some people do not get it. While the American left wants to banish religion to the ash-heap, and take away our freedom to worship as we please, we are reduced to the leading Republican for president having to remind the American people what it means, religious liberty and the free practice thereof.
That is what Mr. Romney needs to address.
2 comments:
This speech could really be big for Romney. You're right, if he talks about what faith means in his life, how important faith is to most Americans, our growing tolerance of all faiths, and the common ground that unites many people of faith, this speech will be a home run.
I'm still not sure what I think of Ol' Huck. He was right not to fall into the trap of answering the question about Mormonism. The Very Objective Reporters would like nothing better than to pit Romney and Huck against each other as the religious extremist nuts...
You are right about the VOR, wanting to pit conservative against conservative. And nothing better than a religious war, right? BTW, I thought the speech was great and contrasted the fight we are in with radical Islam and the religious freedom we have in the United States.
Post a Comment