Watching Politics From the Pew: Who Cares if He Is Mormon?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""I do not expect everyone to agree. But I do expect, once in a while, to see substantive debates that flow from common agreement about the core goals we all have."\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/10\/watching-politics-from-the-pew-who-cares-if-he-is-mormon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Watching Politics From the Pew: Who Cares if He Is Mormon?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\""I do not expect everyone to agree. But I do expect, once in a while, to see substantive debates that flow from common agreement about the core goals we all have."\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/10\/watching-politics-from-the-pew-who-cares-if-he-is-mormon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Christ and Pop Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-10-11T15:05:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ben Bartlett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ben Bartlett\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/10\/watching-politics-from-the-pew-who-cares-if-he-is-mormon\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/10\/watching-politics-from-the-pew-who-cares-if-he-is-mormon\/\",\"name\":\"Watching Politics From the Pew: Who Cares if He Is Mormon?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-10-11T15:05:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-10-11T15:05:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/38a345f7247251389553b101df6da1be\"},\"description\":\"\\\"I do not expect everyone to agree. 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{"id":14547,"date":"2011-10-11T11:05:57","date_gmt":"2011-10-11T15:05:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christandpopculture.com\/?p=14547"},"modified":"2011-10-11T11:05:57","modified_gmt":"2011-10-11T15:05:57","slug":"watching-politics-from-the-pew-who-cares-if-he-is-mormon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/10\/watching-politics-from-the-pew-who-cares-if-he-is-mormon\/","title":{"rendered":"Watching Politics From the Pew: Who Cares if He Is Mormon?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Each week in\u00a0Watching Politics From the Pew<\/a>, Benjamin Bartlett offers a thoughtful Christian perspective on the latest political happenings in the news.<\/em><\/p>\n

At this point, I really don\u2019t understand how anyone can still manage to convince themselves that the United States of America is a Christian nation.<\/p>\n

Sure there are some old traditions and phrases and songs that stretch back to our Christian heritage.\u00a0 And yes, most (but certainly not all) of the great men and women who shaped our country historically at least claimed the Christian faith.<\/p>\n

But we are well past that point now and its time we Christians viewed ourselves as a key voting bloc and influencer of our country\u2019s direction rather than actually being a Christian nation.<\/p>\n

Take the recent debate regarding whether a Christian can vote for a Mormon<\/a>.\u00a0 It\u2019s silly.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t make sense.\u00a0 We all know that leaders can lead without being Christian.\u00a0 And we all know that there is nothing wrong with only voting for Christians if that\u2019s what you prefer.\u00a0 Why does anyone need to argue about it?<\/p>\n

The ugly fact is that we like to vilify people who don\u2019t agree with us, and one of the most powerful ways to vilify someone is to act like you are personally offended when they say something you don\u2019t like.\u00a0 It is in Romney and Huntsman\u2019s interest to be offended by pastors who say Mormonism<\/a> is a cult.\u00a0 It is in the interest of pastors who support Perry to act offended by the idea that a Mormon could lead them.\u00a0 It is in the interest of Democratic leaders to be offended that anyone could talk about religions using language that suggests exclusivity.\u00a0 It\u2019s a big game.<\/p>\n

I tire of it because in a multicultural society, the goal of government isn\u2019t to iron out these sorts of questions.\u00a0 The goal is to create a happy, healthy, safe, just society in which people can look for truth in safety.\u00a0 It is in everyone\u2019s best interest to pursue that goal together in the government.<\/p>\n

I do not expect everyone to agree.\u00a0 But I do expect, once in a while, to see substantive debates that flow from common agreement about the core goals we all have.\u00a0 Is that really so much to ask?<\/p>\n

Romney and Huntsman are Mormons<\/a>.\u00a0 If you honestly don\u2019t think you can vote for a Mormon, don\u2019t.\u00a0 But there\u2019s no need to throw a fit because you think our country is going to be led by immoral people who don\u2019t follow the true God.\u00a0 That\u2019s been going on for much longer than you or I have been alive.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"