{"id":2704,"date":"2011-10-21T08:55:00","date_gmt":"2011-10-21T08:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2011\/10\/why-a-candidates-faith-matters.html"},"modified":"2011-10-21T08:55:00","modified_gmt":"2011-10-21T08:55:00","slug":"why-a-candidates-faith-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2011\/10\/why-a-candidates-faith-matters.html","title":{"rendered":"Why a candidate\u2019s faith matters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Hearing Mitt Romney\u2019s surrogate Bill Bennett\u00a0<\/span>refer to me as a bigot<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Jon Huntsman call me a \u201cmoron\u201d<\/a>\u00a0last week\u00a0<\/span>after my controversial comments on Mormonism<\/a>, amid calls for civility and tolerance in public discourse, reminds me of the exclamation: \u201cWe will not tolerate intolerance!\u201d But beyond the personal insults, I am concerned that these men are attempting to prematurely marginalize religion as a relevant topic in elections.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Utilizing such incendiary rhetoric against those of us who dare bring up a candidate\u2019s spiritual beliefs cuts off discussion about religion before it begins. However, polls continue to reveal that a large segment of the population does care about a candidate\u2019s faith. Voters who embrace any faith \u2014 or no faith \u2014 should consider the following:<\/span><\/div>\n

First, discussion of a candidate\u2019s faith is permissible. Over the past several days, talk show hosts have lectured me about\u00a0Article VI of the Constitution<\/a>, which prohibits religious tests for public office, as if considering a candidate\u2019s faith is somehow unconstitutional, un-American or even illegal. How ludicrous. This is a not-so-subtle attempt to eliminate through intimidation religion as a suitable criterion by which to choose a candidate. The Constitution is referring to religious litmus tests imposed by government, not by individuals.<\/span>
Read the rest here<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hearing Mitt Romney\u2019s surrogate Bill Bennett\u00a0refer to me as a bigot\u00a0and\u00a0Jon Huntsman call me a \u201cmoron\u201d\u00a0last week\u00a0after my controversial comments on Mormonism, amid calls for civility and tolerance in public discourse, reminds me of the exclamation: \u201cWe will not tolerate intolerance!\u201d But beyond the personal insults, I am concerned that these men are attempting to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2251,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy a candidate\u2019s faith matters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hearing Mitt Romney\u2019s surrogate Bill Bennett refer to me as a bigot and Jon Huntsman call me a \u201cmoron\u201d last week after my\" \/>\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\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2011\/10\/why-a-candidates-faith-matters.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why a candidate\u2019s faith matters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hearing Mitt Romney\u2019s surrogate Bill Bennett refer to me as a bigot and Jon Huntsman call me a \u201cmoron\u201d last week after my\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2011\/10\/why-a-candidates-faith-matters.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-10-21T08:55:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andre E. 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