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July 3, 2006
Would I Vote For a Mormon?
Bloomberg and the Los Angeles Times report on a Times/Bloomberg poll on the acceptability of persons having various religions affiliations as candidates for public office, specifically the office of President of the United States. The reports focus on possible Mormon candidates.
"35 percent -- say they wouldn't vote for a Mormon for president"
50% of "people who describe themselves as liberal Democrats" would not vote for a Mormon. In addition, according to the Bloomberg article "Thirty-three percent of moderate Republicans say they wouldn't, as do 35 percent of conservative Republicans." The largest single opposing demographic group is minorities. 51% of minorities surveyed say they would not vote for a Mormon. Among religious groups only Muslims did worse. 51% of all those asked would not vote for a Muslim.
So, would I vote for a Mormon? My first approach to such a question is to follow the high moral principle, which Mark Twain articulated best.
"Ye shall be indifferent as to what your neighbor's religion is. [apud Paine, Mark Twain: a Biography]"
But in politics nothing is quite that easy, particularly so when a candidate is not indifferent to his or her own religion and that religion's sectarian doctrines. And while the Constitution forbids a religions test for public office, the whole idea behind having elections is to choose candidates whose political views best align with yours.
Having said that it is easy for me to play the liberal pragmatic card and say "sure." If his or her political positions on key issues aligned more closely with mine than the positions of the other candidates from which I must choose, I'd vote for a Mormon.
But the liberal pragmatic card has two sides. The other side asks the question, "What is the likelihood of any given Mormon's political positions aligning with mine? One of my fears is that a stealth candidate, whose actual political beliefs are hidden during his or her campaign, might be elected. That is unlikely in the case of a Mormon. They tend to be deluded but, I think, above average honest concerning their beliefs.
My real problem is not would I vote for a Mormon. Rather, it is that, in the current political environment, I will have to vote for 1) a Mormon, or 2) for someone else with what I view as some different delusion or 3) for someone who lies about having one of the publicly acceptable delusions. What a choice!
Crooks and Liars and Atrios both have interesting takes on this poll. Give them a read.
Posted by Duane Smith at July 3, 2006 9:28 PM | Read more on Religion |
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