Religion and presidential politics
I'm no fan of Mit Romney, but only because I don't agree with his policies. Some people don't like Romney because he's a Mormon. That disturbs me. Romney has been caught in a coordinated attack on his religion on two fronts. The arguments boil down to this: 1. If he is faithful to his church's teachings, he will apply them to public policy. 2. If he does not apply his church's teachings to public policy, he is not faithful to his church's teaching. John Kerry was similarly attacked in 2004 for not adhering to the Catholic Church's rules on abortion. These arguments are a false choice. The assumption underlying these positions is that religion is primarily a set of behavioral laws, obedience to which is your ticket to heaven. Conversely, violating a church's laws constitutes moral failure and/or blasphemy and is a ticket to hell. The good news is that this false assumption is coming out in the open where it can be exposed for the fraud that it is.