I'm no Romney fan, but...

Hi all!

The title of the post was possibly misleading, though that was somewhat deliberate. I've kept pretty quiet about it (on here), but you should have been able to reason out by now that I'm supporting Barack Obama in this election. I can think of probably a million reasons why Romney is NOT the man we're looking for, but one thing that I don't hold against him is his religion.

This meme is representative of the mean-spirited attacks on Romney's religion.

A lot of my fellow liberals and Obama supporters seem to see no problem making fun of Romney for being a Mormon, and I'd like to spend this post explaining why I take issue with this.

Don't get me wrong - some of the beliefs of Mormonism are absurd and unbelievable. The fact that it's a relatively young religion isn't exactly helping either. It's like Tosh said, "Let's not base your entire life on a religion that's old enough for my dad to be like, 'Oh yeah, that's not true. That didn't happen.'" I mean, magic underwear? Really?

But here's the thing: ALL religions have one aspect or another that's entirely ridiculous. Christianity believes that Jesus was dead for three days and came back to life. In Hinduism, the deity Ganesha lost his head, so he picked up an elephant's head and used that one instead (shown below). Scientology was created by a science fiction writer who admits he did it to become rich, yet it has a significant following. Christian Science has little to do with either Christianity or science, and rejects medicine for the sick. Where's the fairness in acting as if Mormonism is any more absurd than any of these other examples?

Lord Ganesha, just because I felt like sharing. He's pretty awesome - remover of obstacles, patron god of knowledge and learning, and the overcomer of vices. It's almost like Hindus see a connection with knowledge and overcoming obstacles. Weird. 

But that's not all, and nor is it the most important reason to shy away from ridiculing Romney's religion. The more important reason is, quite simply, that it is no one's place to make fun of others' beliefs. I've told you since my intro post that I value all belief systems and believe that there's something to be taken from each of them. That's still very much the case. I also abhor self-righteousness and anyone acting like their impossible-to-prove beliefs are any more sound or valid than anyone else's. Last but not least, I mean it when I say that I believe in religious tolerance and freedom of religion - even for Mitt Romney.

It especially irks me because Obama supporters were so quick to defend the president against claims that he's a Muslim, largely by stating that the religion of the president is irrelevant and to act otherwise is just trying to distract voters from the real issues. How is it any different this time around?

And, really, it's not like there aren't a million other reasons to not vote for Romney. His flip-flopping policies on issues such as reproductive rights, his opposition to equal pay for women, his lack of regard for the environment (I mean, "clean coal?" REALLY?!), his disconnection with the working poor (or, really, anyone who isn't a millionaire), his dirty business sense, and his positions on government aid for education are all good reasons. He practically hands out new ammunition every day! (Privatize FEMA?! Are you kidding me?!)

My point is this: my fellow liberals need to follow their own advice and STICK TO THE ISSUES. Leave irrelevant personal information out of the discussion. No one sounds informed by bashing someone's personal beliefs, especially when they attack the other guy's but defend their candidate from that same scrutiny. Freedom of religion applies to ALL religions - even the religion of the opposing party's candidate.

(For the record, this also reflects my views on people making fun of Sarah Palin for having a pregnant daughter and a child with Down's syndrome. I can't STAND Sarah Palin, but why get nasty when there's so many REAL reasons to dislike her?)