The loaded term that is “bigotry”
In his latest newsletter Dick Morris proves that he doesn’t quite know everything:
…but most seem turned off by his [Mitt Romney’s] Mormon faith. While this artifact of bigotry is obscene…
No, what’s obscene is the ignorance of most political people when it comes to religion. As much respect as I have for little Dickie as one with a finger on America’s political pulse, he should stick to what he knows rather than try to demonize people such as myself who have strong convictions that disagree with his mere inclinations. The word bigotry refers to those incapable of tolerating differing opinions, so in the pure sense of the term, yes, I am a bigot when it comes to religion. But what do you call those who are incapable of tolerating falsehoods? Why don’t we have an instantly marginalizing buzzword for that?
Intolerance isn’t a bad thing when it is directed against bad things. Intolerance for racism. Intolerance for child abuse. Intolerance for tweed. But the golden rule for political correctness in this day is “intolerance for intolerance”, and Dickie’s playing up to it, just like other neo-conservative commentators do. “It doesn’t matter what religion they are, just as long as they have one.” O RLY? What about when Keith Ellison runs for president, will you crap a brick then? It’s bad enough that Barack Hussein Obama is running.
I reiterate the fact that Mormonism is a cult. Just because it has millions of widespread members and lots (and I mean LOTS) of money behind it doesn’t affect this fact. And I simply can not and will not vote for someone in a presidential election who unabashedly believes such a delusion. I’d just as soon vote for Tom Cruise.
So how do they respond to this? “I’m not running for pastor; I’m running for president!” That’s really a very cute little statement, but it’s meaningless to the concern being expressed here. The question at hand is one of judgment, and how an individual’s faith affects his decisions. To minimize the importance of one’s faith in day-to-day life…just as long as they have some base theological morality…is scandalous in itself. One’s religion affects one’s world-view…or, at least, it should, or it’s merely superficial to the person in question. And that’s just as reprehensible to me as someone not having faith (the true one or otherwise) at all.
(See my prior post on the subject, “Mitt Romney won’t get my vote”.)
