A vote for Romney is a vote for Satan

I don't usually blog about politics, but I saw today that there was an article from Salon.com where a televangelist from Florida who receives 40,000 emails a day, has stated that a "vote for Mitt Romney, is a vote for Satan", because Romney is a Mormon. Normally, I ignore the uneducated rantings of the misinformed, but this guy got under my skin today so please excuse me while I pull out the old soap box.

His reasoning went like this: Romney's election would serve as a giant advertisement for a competing religion, Mormonism, which Keller and others believe has falsely portrayed itself as another form of Christianity in an effort to find converts.

"He would influence people to seek out the Mormon faith," Keller predicted of a Romney presidency. "They would get sucked into those lies and they would eventually die and go to hell."

Aren't we as a nation beyond stupidity like this already? I don't write this as a supporter of Romney, or as a Mormon. I write this as a citizen of the United States that is worried about our future. I don't care if you are Mormon, Catholic, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish....how are you as a PERSON? In politics, or in business...Are you the best person for the job? I don't care what color your skin is. I don't care if you pray 5 times a day, or 5 times in your entire life. Are you trustworthy? Do you put others before yourself? How do you treat your spouse/children, etc.

To judge another person based solely on their religious beliefs is asinine to me. I don't understand it. When 41% of white evangelical Christians who attend church weekly say they are reluctant to vote for a Mormom, that worries me. I wonder how many of these people have ever met a Mormon, done any research on their beliefs, etc. My guess, is that many have simply been told that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is a cult, and have accepted that and allowed the teachings of their ministers to taint their perceptions. The majority of Mormons that I know are just like anyone else. They are hard working, intelligent, kind and decent people. They, like all of us, are seeking a way to make sense out of a world that seems senseless a lot of the time. They have families that they love, a country that they cherish and seek to better themselves and their communities. That sure sounds weird to me.

When I tell people that I am from Salt Lake City, I often hear "Really?" or "Wow" followed sometimes by "Why?".

I have been asked if we have roads for our horse drawn carriages. (WE ARE NOT AMISH, we have freeways, cars and even an international airport!)

I have been asked if we just ski everywhere we go. (Even though the majority of the state is desert).

I have also been asked how many wives I have. (Just one)

And if I really, honestly like living here. (Yes I do thanks!)

It's the 21st century, not the 12th. We need to open our minds to other realities and our hearts to our fellow man. The more we learn about each other, the more we realize how much alike we are, and that we're not as different or as scary as we thought we were.

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"Now it's come to this

It''s like we're back in the Dark Ages

From the Middle East

to the Middle West

It's a world of superstition

-

Now it's come to this

Wide-eyed armies of the faithful

From the Middle East

to the Middle West

Pray, pass the ammunition"

- Rush "The Way The Wind Blows"