Posted by
Cassandra on Saturday, June 02, 2007 7:15:02 PM
Mike says "I'm not a bigot!"
I kind of went crazy listening to Mike Gallagher defend his claim to non-bigotry on the subject of Mormonism last Thursday. It went like this. "I'll be damned if anyone is going to make me stop sharing my concerns about Mitt Romney's religion." He says questioning a candidate's religion is valid because it most certainly does have an effect on how he or she would govern. That's why he wouldn't vote for an atheist. Because not believing in God would have a lot of bearing on how a person governed; for example, how they thought about the source of our civil rights in America, and what role government should play etc. So yes, if a person's religious beliefs would affect how they govern, that IS important. He even implies that Hugh Hewitt is being a little hypocritical here because Mike's reluctance to vote for Romney is no different than Hugh's to vote for an atheist.
Mike's Big Example
Mike granted that believing you "get to be a god or goddess of your own planet after you die" or that you wear "holy undergarments" doesn't count as something that effects how you would govern. (These throw-away lines of things he's not going to bring up, let us know next to nothing about Mormonism, but a lot about Mike's sources of information. That source would be PAMI--the Professional Anti Mormon Industry. Each year hundreds of anti-Mormon books, pamphlets and internet articles are published. People make their living doing it.)
So Mike has to produce an example--just so we know he's not really a bigot. He really IS concerned about something that MATTERS--something that would affect how Mitt Romney governed. His example is the issue of Blacks and the priesthood in Mormonism. This church policy was not changed until 1978. Mike throws out a couple of statements that either show his extreme gullibility or that he is a liar. He said this policy "had something to do with" Brigham Young believing that blacks skin color showed they were going to burn in hell. He says Mitt Romney was growing up in the 60's and 70's and would have been influenced by this stuff. On his radio he also said that Mormons believed blacks "were evil." It's hard to believe that Mike is uneducated enough to believe that this is what Mormons believed. Don't you, Mike, as a national radio show host, have some responsibility to check your facts and not throw out lines like "I think it had something to do with Brigham Young believing that . . . ."?
Say What You Mean Mike--Is Romney a Racist?
So do you have the courage to say what you only intimate: Is Mitt Romney a racist because of his religion? Was he a racist governor of Massachusetts? Was his father, George Romney, a racist governor of Michigan? Mike knows these are ridiculous statements. George Romney was a courageous and untiring leader in the fight for Civil Rights in his state in the 60's. Wikipedia, for example, calls him a "strong supporter of Civil rights." And his son, Mitt Romney, doesn't have a racist bone in his body. Mike knows that. So why use as his example of how someone's religious beliefs could affect how they govern, something that is simply witless and off point. Was it because he couldn't think of anything REAL. Romney's religion, i.e., his values, led him and his wife Ann to support many inner city projects to promote education, etc.. His record as governor reflects his actual values.
Scare Tactics
Then some brain dead caller phones in Mike's show to let us know that the Mormons have Temple Death Squads that eliminate people who have been through the temple and then leave the religion. Mike. Why didn't you call this loonball out. This is a lot like the one about Mormons doing human sacrifice in the temple. Religious bigotry is when you WANT to dislike a religion so much that you will believe anything no matter how stupid, just because it is against a group of people you don't like. Stereotyping is what the human mind does to "simplify a complex reality." "A stereotype is a standardized conception or image of a specific group or people or objects." In other words, "stereotypes are 'mental cookie cutters.'"
I have been a Mormon for almost 50 years. People leave this church all the time. This is what we do to them: We call them up and invite them to social activities at the church. We assign "home teachers" (men) and "Relief Society visiting teachers" (women) to go to their homes and bring cookies and ask if they need any help with anything (pruning trees, or moving, for example). In other words, we try and fellowship them back into the fold. We don't kill them. If you want to believe awful things about the Mormons so much that you will swallow this kind of nonsense, you are a bigot or uneducated backwoodsman. Sorry, it's true.
"You Don't Know What You Really Believe"
My personal favorite approach is the one that says "the Mormons themselves don't really know what they believe." But if you want to buy some guy's book for $19.99, he'll tell you the Real Uncovered Unvarnished Secret Truth about Mormonism. In this version of the universe, the Mormon leaders in Salt Lake, really know the truth, that they are devil worshipers or whatever, but they manage to keep it from the people. Well, my husband is a regional leader in the Mormon church. He spends lots of time with these Salt Lake City leaders. He has had the opportunity to get to know them up close and personal. Maybe he's "in on it" now and is doing a really good job of keeping the truth from me! ( Oh, come on)
I will say it again. If I want to know what a Baptist believes, I ask a Baptist. Someone in a blog comment challenged me on where I get my information on Evangelical beliefs. I read their books. (My current recommendation is anything by John Bevere. I happen to think he really gets it right. I hope that recommendation doesn't cost him any sales.) I listen to Charles Stanley (we have our differences), Allistair Begg, John MacArthur, Chuck Colson. I attended three years of Bible Study Fellowship. I loved it. There was rarely a point in those three years of Bible study that I found myself differing from the BSF interpretation on anything.
Ignorance
You, who are so convinced you know more than I do about what I believe, try and remember what it feels like to be told by a leftist what it means to be a evangelical Christian-that you are narrow minded, that you hate Mexicans, that you don't care about the environment, that you are so dangerous you shouldn't be allowed to vote. Their hateful comments about Christianity are motivated by fear and dislike. I feel the same thing coming off Mike Gallagher and the people quick to call in and mock the Mormons. Be honest Mike. You know Mitt Romney is not a racist. But you can't stand Mormonism, at least the highly stereotypical view of it you have been fed by your anti-Mormon sources. Your jubilation about Fred Thompson is touching. (I can hear you thinking: "Oh, thank G*d I won't have to vote for a Mormon!") And your lack of real information about what Mormons believe is unconscionable for a radio show host. Take a trip to Salt Lake City and let them show you around, like they did Al Sharpton. It'll open your mind a little.