If Romney becomes leader of the republican party?

[_moksha]

I wonder, do you even know any republicans or evangelicals?

Couln't they be located simply by going out at midnight during a full moon and listening for howling, fluttering or dragging of chains?

[_Hoops]

I wonder, do you even know any republicans or evangelicals?

Couln't they be located simply by going out at midnight during a full moon and listening for howling, fluttering or dragging of chains?

Lol. I'm sure they could. I've seen them lurking around my house a lot.

[_honorentheos]

The group that holds the most antipathy towards Mormons is the seclular left. The Bill Maher types.

Hi Jason,

I thought this deserved further comment. Mainly because I agree with the sentiment in a broad way, but not with the details of your comment.

I would agree that secular left-leaning types such as those who enjoyed Maher's Religulous hold more than antipathy towards religion in politics - it's closer to dislike. Sometimes with fear or anger mixed in. I think most members of the secular left look to people who tend to lean right and are, say, climate change deniers for example, and see religion as the root that feeds the branches. And it seems to be something a person just can not reason against by it's own definition. Religious beliefs, particularly the dominant Western varieties, take faith in the face of counter evidence - or else they wouldn't require faith, right? But secularists are not particularly concerned about the Mormons more than they are with Perry, Bachmann, or Santorum. In fact, I'd say Romney and Huntsman seem almost sane by comparison to those three.

In contrast, I think there are select members of the Republican Party who are ok with or even prefer Perry, Bachmann, or the likes precisely because of their beliefs but if pressed on why they don't like Romney would have to agree a big part of it is his "Them" status when it comes to religion.

[_Hoops]

Religious beliefs, particularly the dominant Western varieties, take faith in the face of counter evidence - or else they wouldn't require faith, right?

Wrong. Again.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

Romney should defnitely be President. He's the most clear-headed politician out there.

[_Runtu]

All press is good press, or so they say.

I think it will be less of an issue in the general election (if he is the nominee) because most non-Evangelicals don't have such a rabid hatred of Mormonism. Also, I think Robert Jeffress inoculated the campaign against going all out on Mormonism. Before Jeffress, Mormonism was a cloud hanging over Romney, and I figured that someone was going to start digging into the church deeper, and that would hurt Romney. Now, of course, if you go after Romney's faith, you're lumped in with Jeffress. The man did Perry no favor at all.

Yesterday, David Brooks said he was pretty sure Romney would be the nominee because there isn't a credible alternative. E. J. Dionne said Romney hadn't sealed the deal yet but was likely to get the nomination.

And Jason is right: a lot of people in the secular left despise Mormonism because of its history of racism, sexism, and homophobia. Plus, they think it's an absurd religion, and I suspect it makes some people feel good about themselves because they aren't stupid enough to be fooled by Mormonism. I think it was Bill Maher himself who said it was such a crazy religion that Tom Cruise didn't join but Glenn Beck did.

I'm with Seth in that I don't see much difference between believing in a resurrected God and believing in a resurrected angel bringing plates. But it seems to be de rigeur in some circled to hate Mormons these days.

[_EAllusion]

by the way, if you are looking for election prognostication, you can't do better than pollyvote:

http://pollyvote.forecastingprinciples. ... -2012.html

Romney right now has a commanding predictive lead based on a variety of indicators. You should consider him about 2/1 against the field if you are betting.

[_sock puppet]

Romney should defnitely be President. He's the most clear-headed politician out there.

Dr Cam, why do you speak in riddles?

[_Willy Law]

Can't imagine how articles like this will be good for the church.

http://www.westword.com/2011-11-03/news ... em-or-not/

Best line from the story:

But isn't Brigham Young a football team?

No. It's actually a college that saw fleeting fame after discovering that Samoans were good at football. Then the Samoans realized that Mormons don't drink, which meant that dorm parties were totally lame. They all transferred to USC.

[_sock puppet]

by the way, if you are looking for election prognostication, you can't do better than pollyvote:

http://pollyvote.forecastingprinciples. ... -2012.html

Romney right now has a commanding predictive lead based on a variety of indicators. You should consider him about 2/1 against the field if you are betting.

Interesting that the PollyGraph linked shows the predictability of Obama's 2012 re-election having been 53% when it began in April, oscillating and reaching a high in early June just above 54%, and having taken a fairly steady downward trend since then to 50.2% today.