A few more thoughts

Following my comments earlier in the week regarding Mitt Romney's magic underwear, I received an email that essentially accused me of being anti-Mormon and opposing Romney simply on the basis of his religion. This is obviously a point that needs much clarification.

First of all, I support every one's right to practice whatever religion that they want, as long as the practice of that religion doesn't start affecting other people in a negative way. The Republican party has created an incredibly unfortunate situation by crawling into bed with the Evangelicals. Despite what Evangelicals believe, they didn't get a damn thing for electing Bush two times, except blood on their hands from the Iraq war. And by the way, abortion - still legal. Hope it was worth it. The belief that religion has a place in government is one example of how your own personal religious beliefs, as innocuous as they were when they were just personal, can seriously fuck with the rest of us. And the Evangelicals are double-fucking us because they expect political favors in return for their support.

Being Mormon doesn't make Romney a bad candidate for President, but it does mean that he has some explaining to do. It is a fact (as O'Donnell points out in the video Lord Bling posted below) that until 1978, Mormons believed that black people were a different color because God hated them and really only changed because they realized that this would seriously hinder their plans for world domination. Romney may or may not have agreed with that stance, but he and others need to acknowledge that this is not an issue that should be disregarded as his religious freedom. Would you support a person who was a member of the Klu Klux Klan in the 1970s for President? Didn't think so.

People do have the right to practice whatever religion they want, but I have the right not to vote for you for President if I think that your religious beliefs and practices are going to negatively impact American people. Because of Mormon's frequent, sudden dogmatic shifts, they have a credibility problem that will haunt Romney, as it haunted his father George. Perhaps in the early days of Chritianity, they faced some of the same resistance. Romney could solve the problem by coming out and saying "I don't agree with the stance of the Mormon Church when I was in my 30s", but that won't happen. Instead, people who question Romney's credibility on this basis will be wrongly accused of being against him only because of his religion, when really the issue isn't his religion at all, it's about his willingness to that being a racist is not defensible, just because your people think that God is a racist too.