"Governor Romney's being a Mormon shouldn't be a deal breaker for most people of faith," Land told the Austin American-Statesman. "After all, we're electing a commander-in-chief, not a theologian-in-chief."
Friday, February 16, 2007
Common Ground With Richard Land
Ethics Daily has published a helpful essay about "Romney Candidacy Spotlights 'Mormon Question'." The essay provides one of those rares quote from Richard Land, the head of the Southern Baptist Convention's political action committee, with which I can agree:
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2 comments:
This leopard is not changing his spots. He's only saying what is convenient at the time. If a Democrat was a Mormon he would screaming bloody murder.
First of all, Land is wrong. The President is NOT Commander-in-Chief of anyone except the U.S. military forces. We are not electing our "commander in chief," but the head of the executive branch of our national government--a person with great personal powers, but limited ones. This "commander-in-chief" theme is part of the militarization of our thought here in the U.S. and undermines our democracy.
Second, although Land is right about not electing a theologian-in-chief, this is quite a reversal. For decades Land and others have played the "Christian nation" tune and attacked the faith of anyone who didn't share their views. I wonder what he'd say if the Democratic nominee was, say, a Unitarian (Mike Graves is). I notice that Land didn't leap to Obama's defense when rightwing bloggers tried to smear him as a Muslim trained in a madrassah--neither by setting the record straight, nor by saying "there is no religious test for public office."
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