{"id":440,"date":"2011-12-22T17:23:00","date_gmt":"2011-12-22T17:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/12\/romneys-mormonism-is-worse-than-newts-scumbagism.html"},"modified":"2011-12-22T17:23:00","modified_gmt":"2011-12-22T17:23:00","slug":"romneys-mormonism-is-worse-than-newts-scumbagism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/12\/romneys-mormonism-is-worse-than-newts-scumbagism.html","title":{"rendered":"Romney’s Mormonism Is Worse Than Newt’s Scumbagism?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

It seems to me that Mitt Romney is a pretty decent sort of guy.\u00a0 Of all the Republican candidates, he\u2019s the only one whom I could remotely imagine voting for in a general election.\u00a0 (Yes, I am an independent and have even voted for Republicans as I have admitted on this blog in the past.)<\/p>\n

What turns me off about him is that he doesn\u2019t seem to commit to anything.\u00a0 I\u2019m also very angry about how, like most of the Republican candidates, he so easily throws the gays under the bus.\u00a0 But that\u2019s politics, I guess.<\/p>\n

Now contrast him to Newt Gingrich who is so slimy that if you tried to put a sticker on him that said \u201cdecent,\u201d it would burst into flames.\u00a0 I won\u2019t go on and on about him because pretty much everyone knows everything there is to know about this scumbag.<\/p>\n

And because of that you would think that the \u201cfamily values\u201d and \u201cmorals\u201d crowd would stay away from the guy like termites avoid an Orkin factory.\u00a0 You would be wrong.\u00a0 It seems that when pitting Romney against Gingrich, the real important factor<\/a> is what fairy tale each subscribes to:<\/p>\n

The new president of the [South Carolina] Baptist Convention, a part of the Southern Baptist Convention (the largest religious group in the state with nearly 1,900 churches and 900,000 adherents in 2000)<\/a>, says the choice is clear.<\/p>\n

The Rev. Brad Atkins, tabbed in November to lead the group for the coming year, told Patch on Friday that while Gingrich\u2019s infidelities may represent a major obstacle for some Christian voters, it isn\u2019t an issue that necessarily excludes the former speaker from consideration. Rather, it\u2019s an issue that calls for prayerful consideration of Gingrich\u2019s numerous public confessions to his wrongdoings.<\/p>\n

The issue presented by Romney\u2019s faith may be more deeply rooted to South Carolinians.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn South Carolina, Romney\u2019s Mormonism<\/a> will be more of a cause of concern than Gingrich\u2019s infidelity,\u201d said Atkins, the pastor at Powdersville First Baptist Church in the Upstate.<\/p>\n

\u201cConservatives can process and pray their way through the issue of forgiveness toward a Christian that has had infidelity in their life, but will struggle to understand how anyone could be a Mormon and call themselves \u2018Christian.'\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rick Perry\u2019s pastor has already called Mormonism a cult<\/a>.\u00a0 Now this is technically true, but so are all of the other dogmatic religions.\u00a0 Christianity is the Cult of Jesus.\u00a0 Mormonism is the Cult of Whatever the Hell it is that they believe.\u00a0 Haredi Judaism is the Cult of the Rabbis.<\/p>\n

But when Perry\u2019s pastor said it, he meant that HIS religion was a cool, totally God-approved, 100% right way of life and that Romney\u2019s was a horrific heresy.\u00a0 You just have to know how to translate these people accurately.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

According to fundamentalist Christians, as long as you subscribe to the correct fairy tale, you can be as big an ass as you want thanks to the out clause called \u201cforgiveness\u201d provided by Jesus.\u00a0 (And Newt\u2019s Catholicism, whose popes were once vilified by Protestants as the antichrist, is part of the Christian family again.\u00a0 Someone please tell Martin Luther.)<\/p>\n

The silliness of all this is overshadowed by the dangers of allowing our country to be led by seriously immoral men who rely upon magic tricks to clear their consciences and their records.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It seems to me that Mitt Romney is a pretty decent sort of guy.\u00a0 Of all the Republican candidates, he\u2019s the only one whom I could remotely imagine voting for in a general election.\u00a0 (Yes, I am an independent and have even voted for Republicans as I have admitted on this blog in the past.) 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