Church and State Are Separate for a Reason
It seems that the issue of Mitt Romney's Mormon faith just won't go away.
Al Sharpton made some questionable remarks about Mormons in his debate about God and religion Monday with author and atheist Christopher Hitchens at the New York Public Library. (Here is a recording of the debate.). Tuesday, Sharpton said he didn't mean to insult Mormons (who he had basically said don't really believe in God). But when the heat wouldn't go away, Sharpton tried, as he often does, to shift the argument.
Wednesday night on CNN, he challenged Romney "to say whether he believed in the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the past, when blacks were not considered equals." Romney condemned Sharpton's remarks as bigoted.
The entire debacle was made worse Wednesday night when Republican strategist Ralph Reed bobbed and weaved when CNN's Anderson Cooper asked him if he thought Mormons were Christians. (Reed had originally come on to condemn Sharpton's comments.) Although he didn't say no, Reed, an evangelical Christian, equivocated rather than answer the question directly.
Last time I remember checking, there is a specific injunction in the Constitution against any religious test for any public office in the United States. The most intelligent comment on this issue came from a woman interviewed for the Rocky Mountain News piece above.
Local resident Mary Ann Baago said [Romney] won her vote, and she criticized the media and political analysts who continually raise the religion issue.
"Don't look at his religion," Baago said. "The first election I voted in was for John F. Kennedy. People said, 'Don't vote for him. He's a Catholic. The pope will run the country.'"
10:45 AM ET | 05-10-2007 | permalink
