…whether they want to call attention to it or not, Romney’s achievement is historic. Nearly 200 years after the founding of Mormonism by Joseph Smith, who himself ran for president to call attention to his flock’s persecution, Romney’s nomination signals how far his faith, and the country’s acceptance of it, has come.
“If you look at it in a historical perspective, it’s absolutely incredible,” said Richard Lyman Bushman, a leading Mormon scholar and longtime acquaintance of Romney’s. “A century-and-a-half ago, Mormons were detested as a people as well as a religion. They were thought to be primitive and crude. And now to have someone overcome all the lingering prejudice, that’s a milestone.”
With apologies to Fukoyama, does this mark the end of prejudice, where all is equal and nothing is better?
Or, to be snarky, weird is the new normal.
Well, they gave up polygamy well over 100 years ago, and that was a major reason for their expulsion from banks of the Mississippi. With that removed, we’re into a theological discussion, and we have a commitment to freedom on those issues.
Used correctly it might help defuse the “people who don’t vote for Obama are racially prejudiced” white noise. “People who don’t vote for Romney are merely religiously prejudiced.” The Democratic party had a ‘first’ last election, and the Republican party has one this time.
I am not so sure Romney is any better than Obama. And be not deceived…. Mormon money flows heavy in the US. They have an oath that if they get a call, all funds they have are made available, at any sacrafice , to be used, to ensure their will be put in place. I believe it is referred to as an “all call”.
Although I am not a fan of either, I am willing to speculate that Mr Romney will be next President because of the financial support and contacts throughout the US