Mitt Romney is giving his "JFK Speech" on Thursday. Slipping in the polls with nearly a quarter saying they're reluctant to vote for Mormon candidate, Romney is formally addressing the issue of his religion. Doug talks to Ron Elving, senior Washington editor for NPR News, and Kirk Jowers of the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics about the impact of Romney's remarks. Later in the program we hope you'll join us: should religion be a factor in considering a presidential candidate?
Do you consider religion when voting for a candidate?
How are you listening to Mitt Romney's speech on his faith? Will you take it into account when choosing a candidate? Does religion matter in a candidate - and should it?
I don't consider a person's specific religion when voting. I'm a life-long member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and committed to it. I'm not voting for Romney.
I do feel some people within my faith are questioning my faith when I express this opinion. Oh well, hooray for the secret ballot.
My husband saw me working on composing our Christmas card the other day and asked me to not make it too political this year.
But how can we celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace without thinking about politics -- and the self-defined Christians who have lead us into a war that has, according to recent statistics, caused the deaths of 1 million Iraqis?
I wish Romney -- and Huckabee, and even Bush, were MORE religious - if they truly believed Christ is their greatest teacher, regardless of the specific other details of their mythology, then they would have to pay attention to the Golden Rule - to do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Instead we are faced with leaders who see Christ as a Savior, some good guy who will rescue them from the consequences of their choices.
They must think this Jesus guy is the Prince of Peace-Unless-There's-Money/Power-in-War.
As an African-American,who up until recently resided in Provo,Utah, and Having "survived" for over twenty years surviving amongst Mormons and their obvious racist contempt for Blacks and Native-Americans.
Having been raised in the deep south I have never in my fifty years of life experienced the level of overt religious racist bigots in my life!
Not all Mormons but most I've had contact with have threated me with suspicion,and contempt. Mormons make NO apologies for their brutal historical treatment of people of color.
Mormons changed their bible to support their personal view of Blacks and Native peoples to make it appear that God was a bigot: I say that the Mormon view of people of color was a cowardly attempt to devalue the creator and his most cherished creation.; I say that if God created man and race as he seen fit who are Mormons to hate and curse a people for no fault of there own...if Mormons hate people of color for the mere cowardly sake of ignorance and contempt of God's will that in its self is a true testament to the fraudulent
teachings and gospel of this dubious Christian cult.
ABSOLUTELY! It gives insight into the quality of the candidate's thoughts and intuition. Mitt Romney subscribes to a religion that says that the "garden of Eden" was located in Missouri, Priesthood holders will become polygamist Gods in the afterlife and dark-skinned people were cursed (to name just a few). When you confront such beliefs directly, with seriousness, it should cause alarm towards anyone seeking the most powerful position on the planet.
Whether a person's "religious faith" matters depends on that faith. For some racism is a significant element of their faith and for some smoking pot. In such situations I would think their faith would be a consideration. Simplistic questions get simplistic answers.
Two specifics on MR's speech:
1. How does his faith in the fatherhood of God and the equality of his children relate to his views on immigration, torture and Guantanimo?
2. What about women? The Equal Rights Ammendment?
I'm an Independant, who leans democratic, but Mitt Romney completely obliterated any chance of me voting for him when he said "Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom." To me, this speech was a veiled "religious test" for Romney, where he had to prove how religious he was, which says more about the state of the country than it does about Romney's politics. I'm a skeptic and see this "reluctant" speech as a way for Romney to get himself into the papers and only as a political maneuver, which can be viewed as some as Romney "using" his faith.
An important distinction of Kennedy's speech and Romney's speech, is that Kennedy talked about how religion doesn't matter to politics, and Romney inferred that it SHOULD be important to politics. Thanks
It is sad that Mitt Romney has felt he needed to make this speech this morning, but just as sad, the first “serious” candidates who may be a Jehovah Witness, Scientologist, or a member of several other religious sects will be required to defend themselves and their beliefs.
I find it ironic that many Mormons are saying religion doesn't matter when considering a presidential candidate. I happen to agree with them. But for many Mormons, religion suddently appears to matter a great deal when electing state legislators or drafting legislation or during policy debates on Capitol Hill.
Across the board, the most tolerant people I have met are those with no religion. It should have no place in American politics.
Utah is in a unique situation as far as religious majorities go. Utah Valley was recently reported as the most religiously homogenous area in the US (if not the world). With so many people sharing beliefs, the beliefs help shape their community.
In the end, it is the community values that shape politicians' actions, not respect for religion. If 95% of the voters in Provo personally disagree with a drinking ordinance, which politician is going to be willing to commit political suicide and approve zoning for more bars? It doesn't matter whether the voters disagree on religious or other personal grounds, they still disagree, and in the end, their votes count more than anything to their representative.
Representatives, by definition, represent the community at large, and communities change slowly. Instead of criticizing politicians for being religiously intolerant, we should work on developing understanding in our own communities.
I wonder how this statement by John Adams would be accepted today:
"The Christian religion is, above all the religions that ever prevailed or existed in ancient or modern times, the religion of wisdom, virtue, equity and humanity”
i think it's rich that romney would talk about no religious tests in government after he already stated that he would not appoint a muslum to his cabinet.
I am an "observant" Mormon; my experiences with many friends and colleagues who are of other faiths or of no particular faith leads me to believe that if we as Mormons simply better practiced the core doctrine of our faith, which is to love others with the kind of love that we believe Christ loves us, there would be hugely less distrust of the Mormon religion throughout the country. Whether you want to term that kind of love "agape" as the Greeks called it--which encompasses love, tolerance, acceptance and forgiveness, or any religion's (both Eastern and Western) version of the "Golden Rule"--to simply treat others as you'd like to be treated--it all comes down to loving others more fully and genuinely, without all of the conditions that we like to attach to our love.
As a citizen of this very diverse country, I would be quite cojavascript:newReply(0);
javascript:newReply(0);ncerned w/a Mormon prez. To consider that the LDS faith comes from Smith's beliefs, that the original 'dark shinned' (Native Americans) people of this country were more/less devil followers, that American American's were not even allowed into their religion, that Gays don't exist and should be 'saved'... these are beliefs that should be very suspect to any American.
Yes I do. Anyone who disregards the constitution’s separation of church and state and brings a “Religious test” into the campaign is disregarding, well. The Constitution. All the neo-cons who raised their hands in the earlier republican debate should be eliminated from running for any kind of political office.
The questions that should be asked are about history, social and science literacy and religious dogmatic beliefs so I can judge the real competence of the candidate.
I generally don't care about the religious affiliation of a candidate, unless that becomes an active part of their campaign. At that point, I know that they don't have anything substantially constructive to bring to office and I will not consider them.
Romney had an opportunity to build on JFK's thoughts, but squandered it. His speech was obviously tailored to appeal to the so called 'religious right' voters, but it was wasted and will ultimately hurt his efforts.
I would like to hear candidates that reply 'no comment' to many personal questions asked them, and especially concerning their religious beliefs. This public obsession has only distracted from learning what we need to know about the candidates....how do they see difficult problems, how they can help resolve them and how they plan to lead.
If they wear it on their sleeve, then I'll vote against them. I don't want to live in a theocracy - or in an environment that can produce it. “Faith-based Initiatives” were a terrible idea for our country – although some would argue that they worked well solidify support in a large voting block.
I used to hold the opinion that one's faith should not be considered when running for public office. I've changed my mind. I will now vote for the candidate that is less likely to lead or be led by “faith” rather than reason based on sound intelligence. In other words, my support is inversely proportional to the degree that someone claims belief in the supernatural (it doesn't matter if it is Zeus, Thor, the God of Abraham, Elvis' Ghost or the Tooth Fairy).
Belief in something that is not supported by any evidence is not a “virtue”, and I would look for better qualifications in a candidate.
12/06/2007 11:54:55 AM
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