Religion in Politics

In the GOP’s presidential election primaries, many petty issues about different candidates’ personal lives have been thrown around. One of the more recent topics that candidates and their supporters have enjoyed drawing negative attention to is Mitt Romney’s Mormonism. The Huffington post’s Jon Ward wrote an editorial, Romney Advisor: Perry's Campaign Encouraging Anti-Mormon Message, over this issue. Mormonism has recently been cast in a poor light with many people commenting about its unchristian ideas and believes. GOP’s Rick Perry and Robert Jeffress, a supporter of Perry’s, have been some of the main people criticizing Romney for his faith.  

Romney believes that Governor Rick Perry is purposely entering the issue of Romney’s Mormon believes into the presidential primaries. Perhaps Perry hopes to scare off voters by demonizing Romney’s Mormon faith in order to keep ahead of him in the polls. Mick Miner, Perry’s spokesperson, has said that the Perry campaign is not trying to encourage an anti-Mormon sentiment. Perry’s campaign said that he does not believe that Mormonism is a cult. However, they still have yet to renounce Jeffress for his anti-Mormon sentiments as Romney had asked. Perry defends his actions by saying that we are in a country of free expression, and that he has no right to tell Jeffress what he can or cannot say.

In my opinion, a candidate’s religious outlook or beliefs should not hold any weight in the question of possible presidential competency. One of the main founding ideas of this country was the right to have freedom of religion. If this idea of freedom is so integral to American values, then why do many people still believe religion is an important issue when it comes to politics? The hypocrisy of the ideas of religious freedom is ever so apparent in political America. Although Romney’s religion has been demonized, Romney himself has openly spoken against the Muslim religion. Romney presents a double standard on religion. He seems to be fine with intolerance when his religion is not the one on trial. Religion is such a diverse spectrum in today’s society and I do not understand how the country founded on freedom and diversity still holds judgments and prejudice towards religion.

While author Jon Ward does not deeply express his ideas of religion in politics, he also does not side with either Romney or Perry and his followers. He writes his editorial with little political or religious biased. Instead, he works to inform the reader about the issue of religion in politics.