Can this be easily ignored?

Alert reader Karen F. sent me this story last night* about Mitt Romney's crazy Mormonism. It seems that Mitt's deceased father-in-law was a die-hard atheist, and while Mitt was able to brainwash his wife and her siblings into joining his wacky faith, his FIL held steadfast in his lack of faith.

Thankfully, crazy Mormons are allowed to baptize people after they die, so 14 months after his FIL passed, he was posthumously turned into a Mormon. YAY.

So, no sane non-Mormon person could possibly approve of this practice, could they? If Mitt gets the Republican nomination, can this be overlooked? Probably. Regardless of how disrespectful this practice is, I think that for many people it will be filed under the "Kind of weird and I don't necessarily agree with it, but not important in the grand scheme of things" category come election time. In a way, they're not wrong. What does crazy Mormon practices have to do with running this country? Can Mitt pass tax laws, meet with various heads of state, and baptize dead people in his spare time? Of course he can. However, the problem I see with this (besides its lunacy) is that it represents an attitude that is close-minded and unhealthy for this country. Where we (atheists) fight for freedom from religion, Mitt is dismissing everyone's right to have freedom of religion and from religion.

Obviously we're not at risk of having Mormonism declared the official religion of the US or anything, but this show of an obvious lack of regard for beliefs other than his own is concerning.

But he'll probably win the nomination anyway because Newt is an even worse choice.



*Karen's concern was less about the future of our country and more about an unfounded fear that our children will convert to Mormonism, marry, and baptize us both after we're dead just to piss us off.

Comments

  1. It's an interesting debate, from many angles.

    1) Posthumous baptizing - It is AT LEAST grossly disrespectful of the wishes and beliefs of the departed. I wonder how it would go over if they were converting the dead into Muslims rather than just a very weird form of Christianity? But still I can't say this bothers me too much since once I'm dead, I'm dead. Your magic spells really don't affect me, only your memory of me.

    2) Presidentail silliness - This IS a real issue in my mind. Let's talk about other fun beliefs that Romney has... he believes in magic underwear which will protect him from fire. He believes that the Garden of Eden was in Jackson County, Missouri. And he believes that when he dies he will get a planet of his own to rule over, just like God and Jesus have.

    All of these beliefs combine to make a frightening picture of a world leader. How can I trust his rational thinking on foreign affairs when he honestly believes that sticking your head in a hat and reading gold plates that no one else can see is a fine way to build a spiritual foundation for generations to come?

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  2. All good points. I think the concern is valid because there's no way we can expect Romney to separate his faith from how he rules the country (as other presidents have managed). It would be interesting though, since even the most batshit crazy Christians still think Mormonism is insane.

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