Tuesday, November 27, 2007

More claification needed

In my last post about Romney and his religion, the following comment was posted:

Starting To Learn said...
It seems like a waste of time for Romney to try to "clear up" misconceptions of Mormon Doctrine in that if individuals really wanted to know what the Mormon church believes and teaches, those teachings are readily available on the church's websites, mormons.org and lds.org.
I have to respectfully disagree.

When someone runs for President, his/her entire life is showcased. Every nuance, every word and action throughout their life is intensely scrutinized. The religion of each candidate has been and will be discussed and dissected now and during his/her tenure. Like I said in my previous post, our current "President" made religion a big deal in his election claiming to be the most righteous man for the job. (Didn't he say in the 2000 race that he talked to God regularly?)

I don't think one's religion should have anything to do with whether or not he/she is qualified but since it IS an issue and since SO many people obviously care about it, then it is up the candidates to either dispel the rumors or tell the voters why it's not a big deal.

Confronting the religious detractors is especially key to Romney's win. Plain and simple, he wants to win. And in order to win, he's going to have to lay out every aspect of his life for everyone to see. In order to sway certain people to vote for him (i.e. the religious right), he'll have to show them that, as a Mormon, he's not crazy and that Mormonism really isn't as kooky as everyone claims.

Voters, even the most active ones, are quite lazy. We get our news from 30-second sound bites or read a few choice articles about the candidates we like. We can't expect voters to earnestly learn about the details of anything--especially Presidential candidates. This is why it's up to the candidates and their campaigns to tell us about themselves and why we should or shouldn't vote for them. This includes talking about one's religion.

Do I believe that one's religion will make them a bad/good President? No. But if one won't talk about such a prominent factor about their life, well, that speaks volumes about their character.

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