{"id":123,"date":"2012-08-11T14:19:34","date_gmt":"2012-08-11T20:19:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/carynriswold\/?p=123"},"modified":"2012-08-11T14:25:54","modified_gmt":"2012-08-11T20:25:54","slug":"romneyryanobamabiden-religion-politics-overload","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/carynriswold\/2012\/08\/romneyryanobamabiden-religion-politics-overload\/","title":{"rendered":"RomneyRyanObamaBiden ~ Religion & Politics Overload"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Now that the two presidential tickets are set, the number of things to talk about in terms of religion and this election has exponentially grown.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A Biden-Ryan debate<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Catholic showdown of timely proportions, with two men who present two very different visions of an American Catholic in the twenty-first century.\u00a0 As Paul Raushenbush put it<\/a>,<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth the current vice president and the recent addition to the Republican ticket are Catholics from heavily Catholic states. \u00a0Yet they represent opposing views on virtually every issue.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the same week when the Leadership Council of Women Religious is substantially considering reorganizing<\/a> its relationship to the Vatican, and intra-Catholic debates on national budgets<\/a> and women\u2019s health<\/a> and religious freedom<\/a> are raging, it seems timely to have these two as running mates.<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s Health as Collateral Damage<\/span><\/p>\n

We already knew that women\u2019s health, contraception, and the imposition of conservative religious ideology on national policy was a significant issue this election year.\u00a0 With Ryan\u2019s addition to the top tier, there is much more to come.<\/p>\n

The National Organization for Women<\/em> issued its first statement<\/a> on the ticket, including the following point:<\/p>\n

\u201cA Romney-Ryan administration would support anti-abortion efforts like \u201cpersonhood\u201d amendments, totally defund Planned Parenthood and all ferderally-funded [sic] family planning services, and use government to sanction religious opposition to birth control<\/strong>. Their vision is a threat to women\u2019s rights, public health and the economic security of the vast majority of people in the United States \u2014 all for the benefit of the most fortunate among us.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Doesn\u2019t sound very smart and \u201cwonky\u201d to me.\u00a0 Or Christian.<\/p>\n

A Romney\/Ryan ticket.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mormons and Catholics mutually exclude each other from Christianity.\u00a0 Does anyone think that the running mates have discussed this?\u00a0 Would you love to be a fly on the wall if they ever do?\u00a0 A piece in the National Catholic Reporter<\/em> in 2010 described the Catholic-Mormon cooperation to oppose same-sex marriage as a \u201cshotgun wedding,\u201d saying:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Roman Catholic church does not consider Mormons to be Christians. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a statement<\/a> in 2001 that declared Mormon baptisms to be invalid Christian baptisms. The statement was written under the papacy of John Paul II and was signed by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the current pope.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0Mitt?\u00a0 Paul?\u00a0 Care to respond?<\/p>\n

Obama.\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The only self-avowed born-again Christian in this elite group of four.\u00a0 Theologically, the most aligned<\/a> with conservative Christian voters (many of whom don\u2019t think that either Catholics or Mormons are Christians).\u00a0 But Barack Obama is the one from whom those same voters flee in fear, calling him a Muslim as if the hint of such a thing can effectively discredit him.<\/p>\n

Aaron Blake pointed out at The Washington Post<\/a><\/em> a few weeks ago:<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Obama\u2019s \u201creligion\u201d may be just as much of a liability as Mitt Romney\u2019s (actual) Mormon religion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to a new poll<\/a> from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, more people are concerned about Obama\u2019s religion (19 percent) than about Romney\u2019s (13 percent).\u00a0<\/p>\n

The reason? \u00a0The unbelievable number of Americans, now numbering 17 percent, who for some reason think the president is a Muslim.<\/p>\n

So while there has been a lot of consternation about whether Americans will be hesitant to vote for a Mormon like Romney, misinformation about Obama\u2019s religion may matter just as much come November.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I remain stunned that for some voters, an imaginary Muslim is still worse than a real Mormon.<\/p>\n

So there\u2019s a lot to sift through in the coming months.<\/p>\n

Are you ready?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now that the two presidential tickets are set, the number of things to talk about in terms of religion and this election has exponentially grown. A Biden-Ryan debate. Catholic showdown of timely proportions, with two men who present two very different visions of an American Catholic in the twenty-first century.\u00a0 As Paul Raushenbush put it, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1142,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,11],"tags":[31,34,32,29,30,33],"class_list":["post-123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-news","tag-barack-obama","tag-election-2012","tag-joe-biden","tag-mitt-romney","tag-paul-ryan","tag-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nRomneyRyanObamaBiden ~ Religion & Politics Overload<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Now that the two presidential tickets are set, the number of things to talk about in terms of religion and this election has exponentially grown. 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Riswold is a feminist theologian in the Lutheran tradition. She is Professor of Religion and also teaches Gender and Women\u2019s Studies at Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois, where she has worked for over a decade teaching undergraduates to think critically and creatively about religion. She earned her Ph.D. and Th.M. from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, holds a master\u2019s degree from the Claremont School of Theology, and received her B.A. from Augustana College in her childhood hometown of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/carynriswold\/author\/carynriswold\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"RomneyRyanObamaBiden ~ Religion & Politics Overload","description":"Now that the two presidential tickets are set, the number of things to talk about in terms of religion and this election has exponentially grown. 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