Just because we
can’t accuse someone of planning to sabotage the nation doesn’t
mean we can’t ask if they believe in miracles and if they’ll rely
on them in lieu of smart policy decisions.
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So let me get this straight. If you
believe God spoke to people and angels walked the Earth thousands
of years ago, you’re in a religion. If you believe God spoke to
people and angels walked the Earth hundreds of years ago, you’re in
a cult. And if you believe God spoke to people and angels walked
the Earth on Thursday, you’re in a mental institution.
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Just what is and is not a cult became a
hot topic last week when Texas megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress,
at a gathering of evangelical conservatives to introduce Texas
governor and Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry, said
frontrunner Mitt Romney is not a Christian and his religion,
Mormonism, is a cult. Evangelicals are often suspicious of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, preferring earlier-day
saintliness. They say the New Testament of the Bible
is the last word. Mormons say the Book of Mormon, delivered unto
them by the Angel Moroni in the 1820s in western New York State,
counts too.
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From the Jeffress hullabaloo has sprung
an outcry that describing the faith of a responsible and
respectable group of
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Americans as a cult is practically
slanderous, and certainly unacceptable. This is true.
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But discussion of beliefs? That needs to
happen. Consider that it is almost a prerequisite of a presidential
run that a candidate profess a “deep and abiding faith” in God
(those with shallow, intermittent faiths need not apply) and
declare it a cornerstone of their lives. But that means various
things to each candidate. To some it means, “My advisers say I need
to profess a deep and abiding faith in God, so here goes.” To
others it might mean, “The Bible
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is the literal truth, and holds all the
answers to how our nation should be run.” Big, important
difference.
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If candidates say the first thing they
ask themselves when faced with a tough decision is “What would
Jesus do?” it
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could signify almost anything, except
for “Wear a yarmulke, keep kosher, and observe the Sabbath on
Saturday,” which is what Jesus would actually do. Do they mean,
“Love all, judge none, seek peace” or “Teach creationism, bar
Muslims from high office and make the United States a nation of
Christian soldiers?”
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Voting without knowing could be like
picking paint blindfolded: only a good idea if you’re never going
to take off
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the blindfold.
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When it came out that President Barack
Obama’s longtime pastor had said God should damn America, it was
reasonable to ask if Obama agreed. A voter ought to know. There are
no Jews, Muslims, Hindus or Buddhists mounting major campaigns for
president this year, but if there were, they too would need to
explain how their faiths would affect their governing.
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Much of our reticence about questioning
a candidate’s religious beliefs springs from the accusation, when
soon-to-be President John F. Kennedy was running, that he would
take his orders from the Vatican.
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That’s wasn’t a discussion of faith,
though. It was a baseless charge of treason.
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Just because we can’t accuse someone of
planning to sabotage the nation doesn’t mean we can’t ask if they
believe in miracles and if they’ll rely on them in lieu of smart
policy decisions.
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Dividing the supernatural, faith-based
belief of the candidates into religions and cults based on whether
their last revelation same millennia ago or centuries ago is like
exchanging angry rhetoric over whether the Harry Potter movies rock
harder than the Star Wars saga (even though they totally, totally
do).
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But we must evaluate those beliefs, if
we’re going to decide which one deserves to occupy the mental
institution that is the White House.
- Lane Filler, MCT Campus