The Media, Romney, and Mormonism

LA Times media columnist, Tim Rutten, has written a very important critique of recent media comments about Mitt Romney's Mormon faith. Though Romney isn't my cup of tea, politically, it's unfortunate that there is significant pockets of opinion, that somehow a Mormon is unfit to be President of the United States. They base this not on his record, but on readings of Mormon doctrine or no the basis of misinformation or misunderstanding of what they've read.

The LDS church has an interesting history and an unorthodox theology (at least from the perspective of mainstream Christianity). But what does that have to do with his ability to govern? Didn't we already go through this with JFK? As Rutten reminds the reader, Romney's father, George, was a liberal Republican, an opponent of the Viet Nam War, and Romney, though moving to the right as he has tried to climb onto the national stage (maybe to overcome that taint of Massachusetts liberalism) is on the record in the past as someone with a fairly moderate perspective. Now it's legitimate to ask who the real Romney is, but it's not legitimate to rule out someone because of their faith. We've already gone over this with Keith Ellison, and now we're back at it. The pundits among us, should know better. When the Constitution ruled out religious tests, it ruled out religious tests!

Take a look at Rutten's column, it's an important contribution.

Comments

Popular Posts