Religious intolerance is an ugly thing and few practice it with as much flagrant ugliness (or as expertly) as the Boston Globe. For years, the paper has needled Mitt Romney about his LDS faith, barely disguising their contempt. Have they gone too far with this article? Or have they, as I’m sure they would argue, done us all a public service?
The article contends that Mitt Romney’s political operation has quietly worked in congress with leaders of the LDS church to plan a hostile takeover of America, essentially. It’s all rubbish, of course, or at least most of it is. And yet it is likely to affect Mitt Romney’s outreach efforts to other Americans of faith.
It is possible, according this article, that BYU officials have run afoul of laws prohibiting tax exempt organizations from engaging in the direct efforts to elect a candidate. It is possible. But it would not exactly be the first time something like this happened in politics. And it would be a minor infraction if they did. It is not uncommon for candidates for high public office to prospect their alma mater’s alumni list for cash and political support, for example.
There is, however, little question in my mind that this faux-alarmist story will be disquieting to many evangelical Christians and Roman Catholics. The Globe has deliberately presented the Romney campaign and the LDS Church as some kind of fifth column conspiracy. This is disgustingly un-American; but tricks like this have worked in the past. The Globe, or any publication interested in Romney’s faith, would do an actual service to voters if they ran a series on the tenants of the LDS Church (about which, I have found, many Americans are ignorant).
Hmmm. This doesn’t sound like he’s bashing the Mormon faith to me. In fact, I would say that he’s actually defending Mitt Romney and his personal beliefs, while noting that he doesn’t support Mitt’s political ambitions, which is certainly no secret.
Unfortunately for Mitt, the revelation of the attempt at enlisting organized Mormon support led to several stories and explanations from his team, all differing from one another. Not good. And then to follow that with dropping the religion-bashing card in an attempt to claim victim status smacks of pettiness. Could it be that Romney is not ready to run the gauntlet? I wouldn’t go that far at this point, but then again, look how quickly VA’s Sen. George Allen’s fortunes have turned.
One more point to the Mormons- other than what I learned in school about their history, my only knowledge comes from having been aquainted with several through business and mutual friends. They really do stick together and help one another. They seem to be a close, almost clannish community. I don’t think that it should come as a suprise that they might wish to help one of their own in some endeavor or other. There’s absolutely nothing at all wrong with that.
The bottom line on this is that this is much ado about nothing. Mormon bashing? Methinks the Romney camp doth protest too much.
