Mitt Romney: A reasonable man?

Fri, 09/23/2011 - 10:11

Here’s a hypothetical scene in which four presidential candidates are asked about their religious views.

Candidate 1: “It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.” He adds, “And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter.”

Candidate 2: “As I understand the Christian religion, it was, and is, a revelation. But how has it happened that millions of fables, tales, legends, have been blended with both Jewish and Christian revelation that have made them the most bloody religion that ever existed?”

Candidate 3: “During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution.”

Candidate 4: “When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad. That is my religion.”

Were this to take place at a public debate today, I expect Candidates 1 (Thomas Jefferson), 2 (John Adams), 3 (James Madison), and 4 (Abraham Lincoln) would be booed off the stage, their political careers ended.

Comments

Submitted by Melissa (not verified) on Fri, 10/28/2011 - 06:24.

Halelljuah! I needed thisyou're my savior.

Submitted by David Wulf (not verified) on Tue, 09/27/2011 - 15:30.

It always brings a smile on my face when quotes from the Founding Father's are on display. Too many times are they put side-by-side with Biblical figures as if they were together in some way. But again its proven wrong. While a few of them were, or as records suggest, "Deists", it was very clear that they did not support religions, as theistic believers say. While they did not condone any of them, religion playing a vital part of government, let alone politics, was seen as a dangerous way of thought.

Submitted by CIA JON (not verified) on Sat, 09/24/2011 - 21:34.

It's funny to watch Romney try to play to the religious right. He's keeping the general election in mind. He has to win the primary first.

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Herb Silverman

Herb Silverman is the founder and president emeritus of the Secular Coalition for America. He received his Ph.D. in mathematics from Syracuse University and is Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at the College of Charleston. In 1990, Silverman became South Carolina's most famous atheist activist when he challenged the state's religious test for public office by entering its gubernatorial race. He is a regular contributor to The Washington Post's "On Faith" blog.

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