to all who say they dont care or doesnt matter as long as they get what they want..Shame..equality is what america is about but that freedom cannot happen if we dont questions peoples values especially when they contridict our most sacred ones in the bill of rights. Freedom to worship doesnt mean i will allow you to depict people by race, creed, sexual orientation as immoral, subhuman or criminal just because your religion has created doctrine for that. The issue was do we question a persons religious background when running for office, yes if you follow a doctrine of hate , intolerance and superior attitude. One person they say they dont care about mormans only morons, excuse me where do the abortion hating group get their moral compass from except religion, or believe what you want as long as you deal me a winning hand, come on how many people have lost their lifes just in this country because turning our back on people of power who felt being black meant being a animal hanging from a tree, being gay allow being drug behind a truck or just being female meant you could be a punching bag without voter rights BECAUSE THE RELIGION SAID IT WAS OKAY and we the public are content to eat out of their hands the slop they give us because at least we eat. Is that really what america is about? is that why i and others served this great country to give a rubber stamp to whoever as long as they dont bother me.
Because of doctrine we have allowed our rights to be changed, allowed killings in the name of god and allowed extremist from both sides to try to control, just in the last 6 years. We all should want people who can be smart see the bigger picture, put aside doctrine to oversee miilions of different people to do what is best by american standards. Republican , Democrat, Libertarian, I dont know, as long as their moral compass is grounded in our bill of rights. We have had leaders before from all segments who have done this before. Unfortunately the words Romney uses seem to be the same things we hear from the Church in Utah, so I ask you is he truely independent enough to be his own man or a mouthpiece for doctrine. I ask that of all canidates

Great posts folks!

I particular liked #109099 by WR Curley

”...they are American values if you will.”
“Well I won’t.”

“My man Mitt. He’s just another pol, people, beautifully groomed, shuffling the black jacks deep into the deck. Look, I don’t care if the guy worships at the sacred alter of the Big Board Brass Bell, so long as he funds universal health care. And terminates the scything of the innocents in that far-away-all-too-near waking nightmare I keep paying for and paying for.”

“But my values are black-jack values, muffled in the heart of the deck.”

“Yours for a new New Deal,”

AND:

#108992 by Andrew A.

“Amazingly, I agree with the conservative christians which believe that you should wear your religion on your shoulder that way it’s easier to tell how fucking stupid/full of shit a candidate truly is.”

Funny!

Thanks for the chuckle.

But I for one wish we could drop the “conservative christian” and break it down a little more definitively.

First, if we’re talking about the fruitcakes laughingly referred to as the “religious right,” there is not a true “conservative” in that bunch! Ask them to define conservative and they’ll rewind brain, hit button and say, family values, no abortion, gays are evil, the constitution makes Christianity the official national religion, God is on our side so we must fight wars for God, [Or maybe Bush speaks for god so we must fight wars for Bush] and every problem in the world is because of the liberals. That’s how deep they go. They love unborn fetuses and hate children in need. Especially foreign children suffering because of their Bush and his gods war!

Second, if we’re talking about Christians, that would be anyone who claims to follow the teachings of Christ and that COMPLETELY knocks the “religious right” off the list!

So lets call them what they are. Wing-nuts. Mean spirited. Pharisees. Selfish twits. Tragic reflections of in-breeding. Or just plain crazy. But lets not call them conservative or christian, because they are neither!

AND:

#108945 by Eliane Pohl

“A person’s religion is simply one more filter we can use when evaluating politicians who have become so good at pandering that they pretty much all say the same thing.”

Good point!

Particularly where Romney’s concerned. Seems he is indeed pandering. Mormons are so different from most so-called religious right’s, the “right’s” don’t consider Mormons to be Christians! [Not crazy enough I guess] Seems to me either Romney has decided to abandon his religion, or never truly believed it in the first place! So maybe the question should be, just how dishonest is this guy? [Or, how badly does he want the Mormon vote?] In any case, how can you trust a guy who doesn’t even remember what he claims to believe?

Folks in Utah fell in love with him because his vast experience in business management and people skills “saved” the Olympics in 2002.

NOT!

He was the figure head used to pull folks together and make it happen. The people of Utah saved the Olympics in 2002!

As for his great “people skills”, how many times did he say ‘Barack Obama’ the other day, while he was lambasting OSAMA? One mistake is forgivable. But he just kept on doing it!

Crypes! The guy sounds more like Bush every day!

Well I love this. You gotta profess to believing in gawd to get ourself elected. So we don’t really have to worry about what the candidate believes - he/she is only doing what needs to be done to get into office.

Fine. What I want to know is, how is this any different from any other subject matter, platform, policy speech, or personal value that any candidate would care to wax on about?

The way it’s rigged, they are going to say whatever the focus group dictates, unless they are making a point about NOT following focus groups, in which case they will be sure to advise you in advance.

The only thing that can be gleaned therefor, is what demographic the candidate is attempting to appeal to. From this we can surmise very little, except perhaps, how cynical or pragmatic the candidate is.

I for one, do not find it very reassuring to think: our politicians don’t really believe in all that savior cult swill, it’s just the price of admission to the halls of power.

that ain’t what I’m looking for in a leader.

We have had far too much of “my way or the highway” from all sides. It is time for dialog. We need to show respect for each other.

It wouldn’t hurt if we become more honest in such dialog. President Johnson used to quote Isaiah and say “Come let us reason together.” For a brief period he followed that advise. It is time to reason together continuously.

IF SANTA CLAUS IS YOUR ONLY BELIEF, ARE YOU STILL ELECTABLE ???

Well, if you want to be a Mormon or a Catholic or a Jew, then be a good one. But what does that mean, though? Jesus would hardly be found joining the Republican party! For a start, you can serve only one master, “God or Mammon”. If the GOP wants to be saved, it must “go to Jesus”, not expect “Him” to come to them.

Like Harvard University which has “Veritas” - Truth - as its much-ignored motto, the Mormons supposedly espouse Truth. In that case, then, they should be joining in tearing the Republican party apart for its lies and deceptions. It is an enslaving monster!

Weakness is no longer an excuse if one presumes to have “faith”. Strength, then, is NOT about “supporting the troops” but personal effort to make the world a better place for all, not just the selfish wealth-seekers of the military-industrial complex.

Quote from Mormon website: “God is your Father in Heaven (Matthew 6:9).  We call God Heavenly Father because He is the Father of our spirits and we are created in His image…”

This is, of course, a sexist statement but it also fails to understand the more complete knowledge that everybody now has, “believers” or otherwise, about their origins. Science supports the theory of the “big bang” as the “original creation” of the Universe. That IS “God”, not some white man with a beard up in the clouds.

But that is not the origin of the race of Man who has had to “evolve” here on Earth. Humans share their creation with the apes and that is also now widely known. Of course, there are the deniers but they are perhaps no longer evolving except towards the zoo along with their regressive Neocon relatives.

In the end, only your own personal morality can save you from becoming an ape-man (or ape-woman). That is, it is up to you to choose your own path - forwards or backwards. Karma will then ensure that you reap whichever you work most diligently towards. Free yourselves from those who would lead you on a downward, backward path!!!

I’m sorry but I cannot come up with an answer on this one. I’m still a little puzzled, about Mr. Romney’s first name, “Mit?” I wish someone could explain it to me.

I think the framers of the constitution were rather smart, in giving us freedom of Religion. People are free to believe in what ever they want, and I don’t try to convince them that their belief’s don’t make any sense.

But after 7 years of Born Again George, I’m just a little concerned that America hasn’t yet learned it’s lesson on this one.

Please don’t try and save me, I’d rather not be saved.

If a candidate was a member of the white aryian church of chirst would you then say religion was not a issue even thought the so called church was form on race. Well then how can you say any different about the mormans who openly dismissed most non-white race as evil and spawn of the devil. Only the federal law and lawsuits require them to stop before they lost their precious assets. This has no issue in the belief of God but the belief you are made superior to other humans. I regret the fact when I hear Romney speak you can see hear those hidden words that were used back in the early seventies. The fact he changes with the wind is only further evidence of this say whatever superior attitude that is so prevelant in many of the mormans because of how they were raised. What is scary as written on here is that others like the Nazi’s, KKK. White Ayrians have also adpoted this changing speech to justify their beliefs. I will also presume that the newer mormans have less attitude but thats is hope only.

John Kennedy was a man of “faith,” but (wink, wink, nod, nod) not TOO much faith so that we thought he would obey orders from the Pope instead of his brother Bobby.

Politicians have to profess a belief in God to be elected—-whether they have such a belief, are agnostic, or don’t believe in any gods at all excepting Mammon, of course.

Bill Clinton is far too intelligent a man to believe in fairy tales from the priests of any religion, but he knew enough to PRETEND to do so and make a point of it, because he knows about electability . . .

Get used to it; Romney’s Mormon faith has no more fairy tales than ANY of the other religions; theirs (the LDS) are just more modern and less credible to the masses who have to have their fairy tales steeped in antiquity and hidden under a cloud of something called “faith,” which is really gullibility for the stories told to children to make them behave better than they ever wanted to.

What Dionne says is true; what the candidates say about their religion shouldn’t make any difference since it is very likely a lie from the get go, but you can rest assured that no Mormon and no Islamic will be elected President of the United States unless it be a SECRET Mormon or Islamic who lies and professes faith in some other god who is more satisfying to the masses. Allah rules over pagans, and the Angel Moroni in Salt Lake City has his ass to the Temple and his hand out to the bank.

For the same reason, Hillary Clinton may never be President: men don’t LIKE women in charge, and reason has nothing to do with it. She couldn’t do any worse job than the Bushitter gang of thugs has done, but she very likely cannot be elected even though she is smart as a whip, and the present supposed electee is as dumb as dirt. None of the NASCAR crowd will vote for her, and none of the gun-toters will either; yes, all the women will vote for her, even most of the REPUB women—-who will do it secretly, but will do it—-and that is her only chance to succeed. Women who have a need to feel empowered at last may turn out in droves, women who have never voted before in their lives, and Hillary may coast to victory on a wave of feminism, but lacking the female part of it, she has little chance of being President.

What is Hillary’s religion? You likely don’t know what denomination she prefers for her Sunday trips to the church. It’s not an issue with her, but it is with Romney because he is outside the mainstream and suspect because he hadn’t dropped the LDS lable long ago. The same is true of Obama, though his natural charisma might serve to overcome most of the voter antipathy for blacks. The FACT that his skin is black is enough to defeat him unless all the negroes and all the women vote for him; otherwise, the Repub who runs against him will get all the same votes that RR got and swamp him for being black.

Fairy tales come true in religion and politics. If you don’t believe that, look at the moron (not Mormon) in the White House today.

As one who has read many histories of the Mormon “religion” and all other religions, I for one, have major problems with a candidate who believes in this fairy tale.  Am I prejudiced?  Yes!  Unequivocally.  But then, I am prejudiced against many religions, but especially this one, given its true history.  This is my opinion and I will not apologize for it.  We have had enough of the “religious righteous” governing us thank you.  I will not suffer another one.

Hell, of COURSE Mormonism is an -issue-! I think 60-70% of America said that they wouldn’t vote for an atheist regardless of their platform. Religion is a -huge- reason for why someone gets in. More than 70% of the country claims to be Christian; they want a God-fearing Christian in office to make the choices, not a ‘heretic’.

This country has an issue, and that issue is religion.