I am proud to be working with Lowell Brown and John Schroeder as their webmaster for Article 6 Blog, a site that is tackling the prickly questions surrounding religious tests on candidates for elected office, which are prohibited by Article Six of the U.S. Constitution. My job is easy, I just setup the blog and keep it running, John and Lowell have to tackle the topics, plus the discussions in the comments are getting complicated, and sometimes heated. Who would have thought that the possibility of an LDS member (a Mormon) running for President of the United States would spark so much controversy? Well, obviously a lot more of you than I would have imagined — actually, I didn’t think about it much at all.

I know relatively nothing about LDS, except for biased opinions from folks I’ve known, some very close. I’ve probably learned more about the Mormons in the last few weeks of working on Article 6 than in the last 20 years. As a born-again Christian raised in the Southern Baptist Church, I can say with a lot of certainty that I could never see myself accepting the basic tenants of the LDS doctrine as “truth”, and could never become an LDS member. With that said, I also can’t see myself not voting for Mitt Romney in 2008 if he is the Republican nominee, just because he’s a member of LDS.

You see, I learned an important truth a few years ago when I had the opportunity to spend a great deal of time in discussions with a friend and mentor who happened to be a devout Catholic. He used to get a kick out of my telling him of reading, during my formulative years, the religious pamphlets and tracts that called “Catholicism” a cult. Icon worship, Mary worship — all were not just strange, but called heretical if not blasphemy in those writings. Via the talks with my friend I found myself coming to some understanding of his belief in the transubstantiation of the Eucharist, and the reverence required of him by that belief. I have also learned much about Catholicism from reading the Anchoress for over a year, still I cannot see myself ever becoming a Catholic, but I do believe now that we have a lot more in common than I would have acknowledged in the past. Maybe the more that I talk with Lowell and read his writings, I’ll be able to say the same, maybe not — that future will reveal itself as time goes on.

So, on to the religious beliefs, or one of them, that I cannot understand or respect — Scientology. A made-up-from-whole-cloth religion by Sci-Fi writer L. Ron Hubbard, this religion is designed to consume the insecure of the Hollywood elite, and part them from their funds in a most efficient way. Tom Cruise is a prime example, brought into this by Mimi Rogers (was she hot in the Rapture or what?) and now treated almost like a god by the Scientologist elite — as long as his money holds out I’m sure. But, considering what I have said above, I have to judge Tom Cruise on his actions, not his choice of religion — which is fairly easy as I wouldn’t elect him dog catcher, regardless of his religion. I do, however, enjoy many of his movies. Go figure.

Doug TenNapel attacked religious bigotry with a vengeance in his post for today. I encourage you to read it all, but he wraps it up with:

So here’s to rampant religious expression. I’m a born-again, Pro-Life, Bush-admiring Christian and I work in Hollywood. I want to live in a country where my personal convictions and statements do not cause me to lose work or prosperity assuming I do a good job. I afford the same rights to those I work with who embody the things I oppose; the gay man, the New Ager pluralist, the Green Party guy, the Scientologist.

I couldn’t agree more! But I gotta tell ya — practicin’ this is much harder than preachin’ it! (db)

This entry was posted on Friday, May 12th, 2006 at 7:21 pm and is filed under Decision '08, Politics & Religion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.  |   Print This Post  |   Email This Post

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