Evangelicals for Mitt?

He's running for President, not Pope. Of course I'd vote for a Mormon, if he appeared to be a man of integrity and supported the issues that I believed to be important.>

Oh, Bob, you're mean.

The way I see it, I don't mind the religion of the person per se; like Rod said, I would vote for an atheist, in theory. But the thing is, an atheist isn't really likely to agree with me about abortion, gay marriage, and other cultural issues; if an atheist I liked existed, though, I wouldn't have a problem.

As for Mormon...well, as I understand, they would agree with conservatives on most issues at least. I'd have to check Romney out, but from what I know he could be a possibility. His religion will probably be made into a big deal, though; even people who don't know what Mormons believe, seem to distrust it immediately.

God bless.>

Fr. Neuhaus wrote about Mormonism a while back. He said that they tend to agree with conservative Christians on social issues such as denying rights to gays, but that Mormons are nonetheless not Christian.
">http://www.irr.org/mit/neuhaus.html>

I could vote for one, with one hand holding my nose. But then I've done that many times already. Joe Conder>

I'd vote for a Mormon if I thought the other candidate was worse. But that's how I make all my voting decisions: pulling the lever for the person I think will do the least damage, and hoping I'm getting it right. But voting literally "for" someone? As in "I believe in this person, I'm on this person's team, I have good feelings and hopes here"? I've never done it. Can't imagine doing it. Hey, I've met a few politicians. But I've also always been constitutionally averse to investing hope/faith/whatever in politics generally.

Nice side benefit of this kind of cynicism is that if anyone actually does do something worthwhile or competent, you get to enjoy a moment of pleasant surprise.>

Father Neuhaus later retracted and decided to classify Mormons as 'marginal Christians' or 'heretical Christians,' which sounds about right to me.>

I'm an evangelical and I'd be willing to vote for a Mormon. Not for Romney, but for a politically-good Mormon. I'd be willing to vote for a Jew, Muslim, New Ager, or atheist. For me, the accuracy of the candidate's theological views is not the issue when choosing a secular leader in a pluralistic society. I wouldn't support having a Mormon, Catholic, or apostate Protestant as a leader of my church but that's not what the Presidency is all about.

Focusing on God and our understanding of his Kingdom is important at times on a personal level, but in a political sense it s mostly a distraction...unless we think that our political party must be grounded on religious or irreligious truth. I don t. Populists should be reaching out beyond our comfort zone if we re interested in a majoritarian political coalition. People of every stripe should feel welcome. Litmus tests on religion should be avoided. For me, I would also avoid litmus tests on controversial secondary issues because the primary issue in politics is always WHO RULES? (=democracy? majority rule or minority rule?)

I won't support Romney not because of his Mormonism but because he's just another phony politician who will do the bidding of imperial warmongers and corporate exploiters. I say he's a phony because I don't buy his "conversion" to anti-abortionism any more than I think Steve Forbes was sincere when he flip-flopped...or George W. Bush, for that matter.

By the way, there are no genuine conservatives in a traditional Taft-Goldwater-Helms sense running for the GOP nomination in 2008 with the possible exception of Tom Tancredo. So it's hard for me to get excited about any of the Republican possibilities. Senator Feingold is closer to Goldwater than Senator Allen will ever be. That's the wonder of Jefferson-descended populism!>

Markus: Sorry, dude. People can apply whatever test they want to decide who they vote for.>

One of the things I look for in a candidate is a sense of humor -- a sense of perspective, a willingness to take constructive criticism, and a willingness to laugh at oneself. Mitt Romney had me when he joked sometime ago, with regard to gay marriage, that as a Mormon he believes that marriage is between a man and a woman and a woman and a woman. Sure, that by itself won't make me vote for him, but it will make me give him at least a serious look.>

The London Bookies keep upgrading Mitt's chances for the Republican nomination. In fact, I'd never heard of him until I checked the English Book on the American Presidential Race.

Anyhow, with Allen in "PC Media Trouble," Mitt may be the most conservative Repiublican candidate with a shot. So, on the basis alone, he gets my vote. Surely, Mitts religion (which I understand is very conservative on soical issues) cannot cause anymore harm than King George II's whacko dispensationalism has in the Middle East.

Just early impressions.

XP>