Great NYTimes article today on Mitt dropping out of the race. Why didn’t his campaign go anywhere? Put another way, those dreaded secularists – whom Romney himself criticized in his off-tune and hugely miscalculated speech on religion in December – were far more likely to vote for him than were…
Category: Politics
The Anthem
Changing America by respecting everyone’s humanity, getting real, and by bringing people together. Awesome.
Harold Bloom on Mitt’s speech
I was just going back over some articles I recently read in an issue of Sunstone and caught this quote from Harold Bloom’s take on modern-day Mormonism, “What he [Joseph Smith] most distinctly was not was another American Protestant revivalist. Mitt Romney would not like my saying this, but if…
Transforming Mormonism?
Noah Feldman has published a fascinating essay in the New York Times Magazine. Feldman focuses especially on Republican anti-Mormon bigotry and wonders how Mitt Romney’s bid for the presidency might change Mormonism. The rise of the religious right posed a tricky political quandary for the LDS church. On the one…
Romney and Religion
Mitt Romney’s presidential candidacy has brought Mormonism—and the role of religion in politics—into the spotlight in some interesting ways. His candidacy is revealing of some of the fault lines both in Mormon culture and in the American political environment. The Mormon church has long had a confused approach to its…
even Republican op-ed writers are dissing Romney now
David Brooks, the token Republican at the NYTimes, tore Romney a new one this morning in an op-ed. I don’t know that his criticisms are all that new (e.g., Romney is a flip-flopper and best friend of the wealthy), but to hear it from a conservative is an intriguing change.
Mitt’s Mormon Predicament
When Mitt Romney ran against Ed Kennedy for United States Senator in 1994, the adventure ended in double-heartache. Not only did Romney loose but within a week of his defeat, his religious leaders chose to censor him publicly. Instead of being celebrated the champion of his people for taking on…
intriguing story on conservative persecution complexes
A friend of mine (who works at Yale) sent me this story about a Yale student who staged several incidents to make it seem as though he was being persecuted for his conservative views. While I am always amazed at the lengths people will go to in order to make…
Motes and Beams
I am fascinated by the reaction to Lawrence O’Donnell’s criticism of Mormon orthodoxy. I understand why many Mormons would feel hurt by O’Donnell’s criticism. Personally, I don’t have a problem with O’Donnell’s criticism, in part, because I find it difficult to disagree with him and, in part, I have embraced…