The Weasel Strikes

Read the drivel. At great length the man propounds the thesis that in America we have religious liberty --who would have thunk it--except, of course, for those who don't like Mormons, and they can't vote because that would violate the constitution. Wow, the man is not only a great historian of Chamber of Commerce boilerplate but an innovative Constitutional scholar as well.

I suppose I could quote:

There are some who would have a presidential candidate describe and explain his church's distinctive doctrines. To do so would enable the very religious test the founders prohibited in the constitution.

And earlier:

A person should not be elected because of his faith nor should he be rejected because of his faith.

And so endeth the Constitutional catechism of Sir Mitt.

May I say, Sir Mitt, that the Constitution you read is not the one our founders wrote. In the American Constitution there is no prohibition on the matters a citizen might consider in determining how he might cast his vote. To suggest that if he consider religion as a factor it is to "enable" some sort of religious test prohibited by the Constitution is Sir, to deny me my religious liberty, my freedom of expression and the freedom of my conscience before God. It is true, Sir, that you don't do this with storm troopers, or through the force of law, but you do attempt to do it through the force of moral opprobrium.

I doubt if ever before, in the history of this American Republic, has there ever been a presidential candidate who has suggested that I do not have the religious liberty to cast my vote for the President of the United States in consideration of both his faith and mine. Religion, Sir, is not to be forced on a citizen of this nation as a hidden private matter that can not enter the arena of public expression and public contest. Religion, Sir, is important. It is important to me and it's not an expression I'll allow you to strip from me as a right.

Pretty disgusting stuff, pretty disgusting man. --Of course, there is the boilerplate. Very nice stuff, very patriotic. I imagine it's this stuff that has gotten everybody so a goo goo. Really, it's good. Print it up. Somebody can use it for a speech sometime.

At one point the Mister Sir Mitt says:

I believe in my Mormon faith....Some believe such a confession of my faith will sink my candidacy, so be it.

So be it. We've entered now into a time of challenge to religious liberty. Will a Christian in America be allowed to examine and criticize a faith he finds false, or will he be silenced by the thugs of "tolerance", and be shamed at expressing his faith?

I suggest there is such a thing as a true and wholesome liberty. I suggest, in the words of Mitt Romney: let "the vibrancy of our religious dialogue" begin.