Does A Candidate’s Religion Matter?

There is a good deal of quiet unease about Mitt Romney being a Mormon, and what that would mean if he became president, just as there was a good deal of unease when Jack Kennedy, a Catholic, ran for president. And certainly, if a Muslim ran for American president in today’s world, there would be a good deal of unease about that as well. Moreover, an avowed atheist probably could not win the nomination in either party, and almost certainly not the presidency

Leave aside the obvious point that many – perhaps most – politicians are probably nowhere near as religious as they pretend to be to the voting public, the question still remains whether a candidate’s religious beliefs are valid topics for public discussion and examination during an election.

We in America follow an interesting double standard in regard to discussions about other people’s religions. On the one hand it is generally considered impolite, insensitive, and politically incorrect to subject someone else’s religion to critical examination. On the other hand much of the nation seems to have no hesitation at all in supporting and participating in missionary efforts to spread their own peculiar version of religion to others around the world. Seventh-Day Adventists and Mormons go door to door across the nation every day, and almost all mainstream Christian denominations support missionaries around the world. Yet as I have noted before, any missionaries’ basic message is “whatever you have believed up until now is wrong – I have the truth”.

Now it is clear that religious leaders in many religions would like to use their influence on political leaders to impose their religious beliefs on everyone. In places like the Middle East it is easy to see that they succeed. In our country, Catholic bishops have tried and still try to force or persuade Catholic politicians to support the church view on issues like abortion and gay marriage, though their success has been mixed at best. More conservative evangelical Protestants have also tried to use their influence on social issues that matter to them, including abortion and gay marriage..

Give that is the case, it seems to me it is relevant for voters to ask what issues a candidate’s religious views are likely to affect. I certainly take that into account when considering any of the Christian religious right candidates. I would certainly consider that if a very devout Muslim or an ultra-orthodox Jew were running for office. So why should Mitt Romney’s Mormonism get a pass?

Now there is the question of just what Mormon views a Mormon president might be inclined to impose on the rest of the nation. No doubt he would seek to protect the Mormon Church’s vast wealth and holdings from taxation or any intrusive federal inspection or control, probably in the context of defending all religions from such intrusions, but is that any different than what a Catholic or Protestant or Jewish president would do for their religions?

Certainly some of the Mormon dogma is absurd, but is it any more absurd than some of the Christian or Jewish or Hindu or Muslim or…or….dogma? I don’t think so. All organized religions seem to accumulate absurd dogma that the faithful are nevertheless supposed to believe, or at least pretend in public to believe. (The followers of any of these religions can clearly see the absurdities in the other religions, but strangely seem blind to equal absurdities in their own beliefs). In that respect Mormonism is no different than the rest of the organized religions.

There is some discomfort with some Mormon practices, such as the absolute (theological) domination men have over women, but is that really any different than Catholic or Jewish or Muslim (theological) domination of men over women? Or than the suppression of women implied in some of the Protestant religious right movements under the “family values” rubric (which seem in practice to mean “women’s place is in the home ONLY”)?

Looked at dispassionately, I see little in the likely policies of a Mormon president that would be all that different from the policies one might expect from a Protestant or Catholic or Jewish president. But it certainly seems to me valid to explore and publically discuss a candidate’s religious views, and how they might affect her or his policies in office, whatever the religion.