Is it fair to be questioned about the basis of one’s religious beliefs when running for political office? The spotlight has been regularly cast on the 70th Governor of Massachusetts and 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for his connection to the Mormon Church. Romney’s stance has remained consistent throughout his campaign; he has always maintained that he separates his political ideologies from his religious beliefs, and asserts that we need to have religious tolerance in politics. But don’t the creeds that are instilled in individuals through religion have some impact on the way in which they would care for an entire nation? The lines between church and state are blurred in this way. If we examine Romney’s speech on faith in America it becomes clear that his conceptualization of religious tolerance is contained within the framework of Christ-based theologies. If you fast forward to 1:25 you will hear Romney proclaim that if he were elected president he would serve all people of the nation regardless of the religious schools of thought to which they belong:
If you then fast forward to 2:51 you will hear Romney discuss his beliefs on Jesus Christ, in doing so he assumed that those who were listening were followers of Christ-based religions. This alienates those believes of non-Christ based religions, including atheists and those who consider themselves to be spiritual rather than religious. I felt it was an extreme contradiction to his first point of universal tolerance when dealing with religion in politics.
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