Presidential Election Of 1960

The “Bible Belt”, Religion, And The Republican Presidential Race

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After Mitt Romney won the Iowa Caucuses by EIGHT votes over Rick Santorum, some saw it as a victory.

But others pointed out that Romney actually received SIX fewer total votes than he did in 2008 in the Iowa Caucuses!

And Romney did not do well among evangelical Christians, which are a very large portion of the Republican vote in Iowa. Considering also that he received just 25 percent of the vote, the same percentage as in 2008, brought to mind that his Mormon faith MAY have an effect in the Southern primaries and other Midwest primaries where evangelical Christians still look at Mormonism as a religious cult, in areas considered the “Bible Belt”!

So Mitt Romney is not seen as overcoming the religion question as John F. Kennedy did in 1960.

But the problem is that Jon Huntsman is also a Mormon, and Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are Catholic, the problem that existed for Kennedy. Only Rick Perry and Ron Paul are evangelical Christians or Baptists, which is predominant in the South.

The question is whether Rick Santorum, who shares the religious and family values of many Southerners, but is a Catholic, can win them over and have an impact in future primaries. He is already trying to appeal to blue collar whites who are often rural in environment and religious more than the rest of the country. Will Perry and Paul have a better shot, particularly in the South, and can Gingrich, who converted to Catholicism, overcome that fact?

The point is that religion COULD be a factor in the final decision as to who the GOP Presidential nominee will be!

The Republicans On The Road To Self Destruction Over Religion!

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The Republican Party, in theory, has a fantastic opportunity to win the 2012 Presidential Election, considering the bad economic situation we are in, with no likelihood of the unemployment rate going down below 9 percent over the next year.

But in the midst of this hopeful sign for the party, it is religion that looks as if it will divide the GOP, and help to cause their defeat.

It is the same issue that we had with Al Smith in 1928 and John F. Kennedy in 1960, because of their Catholicism.

It is now the issue of the Mormon Church and the candidacy of Mitt Romney, and also, Jon Huntsman, both of whom have the best opportunity to overwhelm Barack Obama in next year’s election, were either of them to become the nominee of the party.

But with evangelical Christians in the South and border states having prejudice against not only Mormons, but also Catholics. Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists, there is a real barrier to Romney or Huntsman being able to win enough support in the primaries and caucuses, many of the early states (Iowa and South Carolina as examples) dominated by the evangelicals.

And if either were to, somehow, win the nomination, there is a good chance that someone would form a third party and divide the Republican vote, helping Obama to return to office.

As if the Republican Party does not have enough trouble with its inability to attract African Americans, Hispanics and Latinos, gays, and educated women, they add the burden of using religion as a disqualifying factor that may destroy any chance of them regaining power in the White House!

Here We Go Again: New Hatred By Evangelical Christian Pastors!

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It is a sad reality that many Evangelical Christian pastors have made a career out of promoting divisiveness and hate, in the name of their conservative values and the almighty dollar!

How else to explain why many of these pastors have continued to promote hatred toward President Barack Obama, including that he is a Muslim, born in Kenya, a Socialist, and out to undermine American values?

How else to explain a so called “unifying” pastor, Joel Osteen, who runs the largest megachurch in America in Houston Texas, on nationwide TV on CNN advocating homophobia, knowing full well that it is a major crisis in America, particularly for young gay men and women who are committing suicide because of bullying, and has no problem continuing to quote the Bible on this matter, in a distorted way? And then to learn that Joel Osteen, who inherited his father’s leadership of their church, dropped out of college and has NO ministerial training at a seminary, so therefore is, technically, a phony minister, who is very wealthy because of the contributions of his congregants, and of course, like all religious leaders, avoids personal income taxes?

How else to explain another Evangelical Christian pastor at the Values Voters Summit In Washington, DC, supposedly asked to introduce Texas Governor Rick Perry, declaring that Mormons are not Christians, but instead are a “cult”, an attack directed against former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the frontrunner in the GOP Presidential race, and indirectly against the other Mormon in the race, former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman?

It should not matter whether a candidate for President is a “good Christian”, as we have a belief in separation of church and state, and religion should no more be a barrier now than it was in 1960 when John F. Kennedy was the first Catholic to win the White House, after Al Smith, the earlier Catholic nominee in the 1928 Presidential Election, was soundly defeated because of his Catholicism. Of course, who were the leading critics of Smith and Kennedy? Evangelical Christians, who claim to be holier than thou!

It is clear that the same anti Mormon sentiments would be visited against a serious Jewish nominee in the future. These “good Christians” are excellent at promoting hate and division!

Mitt Romney or Jon Huntsman should be judged for everything except their Mormon faith. Neither is out to promote or advocate their faith, anymore than Smith or Kennedy were, or a future Jewish nominee would! Why do Evangelical Christian pastors however feel they have the right to force their congregants to think their narrow minded way?

It is time for all of the non Mormon Presidential nominees to condemn this pastor and make it clear that religious bigotry of any kind is not acceptable, and will not be part of the GOP Presidential race from this day forward! But don’t bet on that happening!

Rick Santorum Joins Michele Bachmann And Sarah Palin: Ignorant And Stupid On The Constitution And American History!

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Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum has joined the school of ignorant and stupid Presidential possibilities for the Republican Party!

Santorum criticized President John F. Kennedy for his speech in Houston during the 1960 Presidential campaign, where Kennedy declared his belief in the total separation of church and state, in order to allay fears of having a Catholic President. He made it clear that he might be a Catholic, but he would not allow the Catholic Church to dictate what he said or did in office. Indeed, he followed through on that completely!

But Santorum, himself Catholic, said Kennedy was wrong in so stating that belief, and that Kennedy was radical in promoting that view.

Santorum finished by declaring that Thomas Jefferson is “spinning in his grave” over this idea of separation of church and state.

And in so stating this, Santorum comes across as totally ignorant and stupid, and lacking in knowledge of the Founding Fathers, who definitely promoted separation of church and state, particularly Jefferson, who rejected traditional Christianity and became a Deist, which did not believe in organized religion!

More than ever, the GOP has troubles with candidates who have no clue as to our Constitution or history of the nation! This is, to say the least, a major embarrassment! First Sarah Palin, then Michele Bachmann, now Rick Santorum!

A Half Century Since John F. Kennedy Was Elected President!

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Fifty years ago today, John F. Kennedy was elected the 35th President of the United States!

Our youngest elected President, and the first and only Roman Catholic President to this point, Kennedy inspired the nation in a way that cannot fully be measured even after fifty years!

In a short Presidency of 1,036 days, ended by a tragic assassination which anyone who lived through it will never forget, Kennedy promoted the space program, the Peace Corps, civil rights, the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and the beginning of recognition that the Cold War confrontation needed to be changed in some way so as to avoid the kind of danger that the Cuban Missile Crisis represented to world peace and stability!

Kennedy gave us the thought of new beginnings and a sense of optimism, which sadly no longer exists in the highly charged world of American politics in 2010!

His memory should be honored by working toward unity and cooperation, but neither is likely anytime soon! 🙁