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In a previous post, I pointed out the moral and ethical issues involved in Mitt Romney's speech attacking atheists while defending his Mormonism in the name of tolerance.
American Atheists, in their 12/6/07 press release, made an argument against it in terms of practical, electoral politics.
Ellen Johnson, President of American Atheists, said that Romney "is no John Kennedy when it comes to the First Amendment."
"His speech was a 'pitch' to the religious right which already has too much political clout in this country," said Johnson. "Like other candidates, Romney is overlooking the 13% of Americans who profess no religious beliefs, and will voting their principles next November."
Johnson added that Romney "drapes himself in the mantle of religious self-righteousness, and then gives token mention to the First Amendment."
Dave Silverman, Communications Director for American Atheists said that "while there should be no religious test for public office, public officials -- including the President -- take an oath of office to defend the Constitution, not preach from some holy book like the Bible or the Koran."
"The President is supposed to represent all of the people in this country, not just the minority who say they go to church once a month," said Silverman. "Romney ignored America's Atheists and other secularists, and he -- along with any other candidate who makes the same error -- is missing out on millions of potential votes."
Romney's efforts to pander to the Christian Right will backfire in at least two different ways.
1) The speech will primarily serve to remind fundamentalist Christians that Romney belongs to a non-Christian faith.
2) The speech will alienate freethinkers, a large voting block in our society.
The problem is, the Jesusistanis are also a large voting bloc, and they are monolithic. They WILL determine who the Gopper candidate is, and that means Huck. We know damn well it won't be Mitt, but Huck is a fucktard himself.
I totally agree with you one your two points, also you said, "while defending his Mormonism in the name of tolerance." There are so many things about his defending in the name of "tolerance" that bug me. The biggest however, is that in this country it takes so long to "tolerate" those that are different than us... but truth is, tolerating isn't enough, it's not even close. I don't care who tolerates me because tolerating doesn't get me rights.
We need to start celebrating difference in this country, rather than just (barely) tolerating it...
Thanks for stopping by my blog :)
Last nights Moyers, and you know i love me some Moyers. It was brought out that there is the RIGHT , choice not to believe. Its a fundamental freedom. How sick and tired are we really , spiritual, religous or NOT, to have the freakin evangelicals having so much political power..And as said on the program, faith is ONLY important AS it relates to governance. And one's personal faith ought NEVER ever influence the political sphere. the commons of american public life.etc.
If mitmo was going for a the JFK speech wow oh boy howdy did he fall short. JFK knew it was about the fundamental seperation of church and state..Mit misses that point,panders and badly at that,
And yes it will all backfire. And our dem candidate may be running against freaking chuckabee..saints preserve us !
Whichever moralist the Repugs choose will have the same beliefs of Romney and the current dictator, which is all people are scum unless they are ultra wealthy, ultra white and ultra upright in believing in what the Robertson's and Dobson's tell them to believe.
You're so right on how this speech will backfire. Huckabee is sky-rocketing past him right now.
Of course Huckabee isn't any better when it comes to religion mixing with politics. What scares me is that he use to be a preacher. Yikes.
Not only did he leave out Atheists and other non-believers, he left out Buddhists (who are Atheistic) like myself. Not to mention Hindus and on and on.
One more comment.
I have been amazed how much the MSM has swallowed this B.S. that Mormons do NOT believe Jesus and Satan are brothers.
As a former Mormon born and raised in the church who served a two year mission in Africa I know allllll about that faith. And let me tell you, they DO believe that.
You don't have to do much research either to find out. Just go to the siteofficial LDS (Mormon website).