DALLAS - A group of Catholic, evangelical and mainline Protestant leaders have asked that religion not be used to advance partisan political agendas on the presidential campaign trail.
The statement, signed by over two dozen priests, pastors and theologians, says that religion has intruded into the primary season in what the signatories see as troubling ways.
“In this year’s presidential campaign, we are troubled to see candidates pressed to pronounce the nature of their religious beliefs, asked if they believe every word of the Bible… and faced with prejudicial analyses of their denominational doctrines,” it says.
The statement was issued by Faith in Public Life and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, two organizations dedicated in different ways to bridging gaps between faiths and focusing on issues of social justice.
The statement lines out three basic principles it would like candidates and their supporters from both parties to follow:
1. That religious differences should not be used to marginalize or disparage candidates.
2. That candidates should acknowledge “that no faith can lay exclusive cliam to the moral values that enrich our public life.”
3. “While it is appropriate for candidates to connect their faith to their policy positions, their positions on policy must respect all citizens regardless of religious belief.”
Religion has popped up frequently on the trail, which is unsurprising in America, where levels of belief and church attendance are far higher than those in Europe.
Republican candidate Mitt Romney felt compelled last month to give a speech in which he pledged that his Mormon faith would not run the White House; rival Mike Huckabee is an ordained Baptist preacher who sprinkles his speeches with Biblical allusions; and the leading Democrats have also spoken openly about their religious beliefs.
Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.
– Photo credit: Reuters/Carlos Barria (Obama at a church in Iowa in December.)
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Isn’t it interesting that Mitt Romney says he is TOTALLY AGAINST POLYGAMY - yet he lives his life looking forward to an afterlife where he’ll be a SUPER POLYGAMIST with his own planet and his own Goddess Wives.
Mormon men are taught that after death (and if they are righteous) they will live forever as GODS over THEIR OWN PLANET - having unlimited sexual relations with MULTIPLE GODDESS WIVES so as to populate their own planet.
How can Mitt Romney say he is against something he believes is one of the greatest rewards in the afterlife. DO YOU really want a PRESIDENT who disavows something in his earthly life that he covets and aspires to in the afterlife?
Are you aware that Mitt Romney has performed death oath rituals hundreds of times in which he has drawn his thumb across his throat from side to side as if he were slitting his own throat and another where he has drawn his thumb across his abdomen as if he were disemboweling himself?
I am a former Mormon. I graduated from BYU. I was married in the Wash, DC temple.
I vehemently believe in freedom of religion. However, I am concerned that someone who professes questionable beliefs and who has participated in cult-like rituals involving grisly death-oath might become our President.
This information is not widely available to the general public. Mormons profess - what goes on in the temple is “sacred, not secret.” Well if they are so sacred and “not secret” then why was I asked to make death oaths swearing I would not divulge what I had seen and experienced in the temple?
Visit my blog at http://justicefreedom4all.blogspot.com/ to see video re-enactments of the actual temple rituals and interviews with other individuals who also experienced the Mormon Temple rituals.
After participating in these rituals myself, I could no longer hold the Mormon faith in my heart and in my mind. As I exited the Wash, DC Mormon temple after going through the rituals for the first time I was asked by other Mormon’s who accompanied me what I thought about what I had seen and experienced.
My response was that if those ceremonies/teaching were indeed of God, then I would rather go to hell with non-Mormons.
I feel that this information needs to be disseminated immediately. Voters must have this “sacred, not secret” information so they can make their own decisions about whether a practicing Mormon would be their choice under all circumstances of national security.
How meaningful will an oath of office be for someone who makes death oaths to their God in the name of their religion?
And what I find even more frightening - why is mainstream media treating these Mormon issues like the naked Emperor is marching by?
Dianne Pearce
- Posted by Dianne Pearce[…] in different ways to bridging gaps between faiths and focusing on issues of social justice. Call for religious respect on campaign trail - Tales from the Trail: 2008 __________________ Visit my […]
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