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As part of a larger effort to claim that their candidate is being persecuted for his religion, Rick Santorum’s staff is pointing towards Mitt Romney’s religion via the Washington Examiner’s Byron York:
Santorum’s aides believe it is unfair that reporters are asking questions about aspects of Santorum’s faith and not asking similar questions about Mitt Romney’s. Of course, Santorum has spoken more publicly about the details of his religious beliefs than Romney has, and that is why some of the questions are popping up now. On the other hand, some in the Santorum camp are pointing to a 2007 interview Romney did with Iowa radio talk show host Jan Mickelson in which Mickelson essentially goaded Romney into discussing, off-air but on-camera, a few details of Mormon beliefs. (“The Church says that Christ appears and splits the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem,” Romney told Mickelson. “That’s what the Church says. And then, over a thousand years of the millennium, that the world is reigned in two places, Jerusalem and Missouri… . The law will come from Missouri, and the other will be from Jerusalem.”)
But specifically religious questioning of Romney is as rare as specific Romney statements about Mormon beliefs. Given the current grilling of Santorum, that is a source of growing frustration to Santorum’s advisers. “Why is Mormonism off limits?” asks one. “I’m not saying it’s a seminal issue in the campaign, but we’re having to spend days answering questions about Rick’s faith, which he has been open about. Romney will turn on a dime when you talk about religion. We’re getting asked about specific tenets of Rick’s faith, and when Romney says, ‘I want to focus on the economy,’ they say, OK, we’ll focus on the economy.”
The answer, of course, is that Mitt Romney is not on record suggesting that his campaign is part of God’s Own Resistance to the takeover of America by Satan, or that 45 million mainline Protestants have gone over to Satan’s side in that battle, or that the President of the United States is trying to abolish Christianity in the pursuit of a secularist “phony theology.”
If Rick Santorum believes what he says and says what he believes, he should stand up and be counted instead of whining about alleged persecution or pointing fingers at other candidates. If he wants to go after the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as representing still another “phony theology,” he’s welcome to do that as well, at his peril. But he shouldn’t expect the news media to do it for him.
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Mitch on February 22, 2012 5:06 PM:
So much for Article VI, paragraph 3.
JW on February 22, 2012 5:17 PM:
Frankly, I'd like to see Romney questioned about Moroni, too. I think it would be a fair one. After all, that story was spun in the 19th century. Does Romney believe that an "angel Moroni" revealed itself to Joseph Smith? If nothing else, the answer would certainly be revealing.
T2 on February 22, 2012 5:36 PM:
Missouri? really? as in the State of Missouri? that's weird.
Josef K on February 22, 2012 5:44 PM:
How exactly did we end up with two religious fanatics (Santorum is obivious, but its always a toss-up as to whether Romney is worshipping the LDS, Mammon, or his own reflection) vying for the Republican nomination?
Barbara S on February 22, 2012 6:05 PM:
How could anybody:
1. Ignore what Santorum said in his Satan Speech about Protestantism and Protestants;
2. Josef K - Romney is no "religious fanatic;" and
3. JW - What has religion got to do with being president? Not a thing. Nobody who bashed Prostestants deserves to get anywhere near the nomination.
This jackass is not being "persecuted" for his faith. He brought all of this down upon himself because of what he said about another religion. Nobody's questioning his Catholicism - they're questioning his bigotry.
Texas Aggie on February 22, 2012 6:30 PM:
Another thing that wasn't mentioned that is important is that, weird as Mormonism may be, Santorum's version of catholicism is even weirder. When it gets to the basics, Mormonism is a lot closer to Christianity than Santorum will ever be. The differences between Mormonism and standard Christianity are mostly, but not all, superfluous, like the bit about the end times.
Both call for people to take care of their neighbors, to work for peace, to respect others, in other words, Christ's Sermon on the Mount. Santorum rejects the basics and replaces it with a potfull of hate and garbage dug out of his own twisted soul.
Mitt's Magic Underwear on February 22, 2012 6:37 PM:
Sorry Ed, regardless of Santorum, Mitt should be grilled for his Mormonism. He was a "priest" after all.
JW on February 22, 2012 6:43 PM:
"What has religion got to do with being president? Not a thing".
Of course it does. In order to "be" president, a candidate first must be elected. Every candidate in the history of this country has avowed a belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ, even/especially the ones who knew better, because none dared to disavow it.
Ken on February 22, 2012 7:26 PM:
Oh please please please let Santorum bring up this issue at tonight's debate.
citizen_pain on February 22, 2012 7:47 PM:
Is this fucking clear enough??!
"The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."
United States Constitution, Article VI, paragraph 3
Will someone please stand up and stop this insanity
Bonnie on February 22, 2012 7:53 PM:
I have never found Romney trying to shove his religion down my throat and forcing me to live by his religious precepts. Whereas, Santorum does want to shove is religion down my throat. Thus, he wants to infringe on my religious freedom.
Steve P on February 22, 2012 8:11 PM:
It's more cultural than faith-based--Mormons being famous for their family-first culture--but I'm waiting for someone to ask Mitt how he reconciled his beliefs with okaying in-house cable porn when he was running Marriott.
Skip on February 22, 2012 8:26 PM:
The sick, the poor, the stewardship of earth, the hungry will all just have to wait until Santorum, armed with his little book full of interpretive evils to which he can apply any name, legislates his biblical demons into submission. Is that a possible canonization I smell?
Anonymous on February 22, 2012 8:37 PM:
@Mitt's Magic Underwear: "Sorry Ed, regardless of Santorum, Mitt should be grilled for his Mormonism. He was a "priest" after all."
Just FYI, the LDS priesthood is available to any male. In fact, nearly every male become a priesthood holder by the time he finishes high school. It's not like being a Catholic priest, an Episcopalian priest, or even a voodoo priest. As a priesthood holder, Mitt can (and probably has) performed baptisms and all kinds of other rituals within his family. He was even a bishop, which accorded him some say in his local stake, but in no way compares to the position of the Catholic bishops, for example. There is no hierarchical priesthood in the LDS church, although there is most certainly a business hierarchy that directs their vast financial empire and makes the rules by which the priesthood and local congregations must operate.
Bookworm on February 22, 2012 8:38 PM:
Sorry, that was me at Anonymous 8:37 p.m.
Greytdog on February 22, 2012 9:38 PM:
and SNAP! Bravo!!!
SYSPROG on February 22, 2012 9:41 PM:
THANK YOU citizen_pain. So forget the religious test and back onto Santorum. I don't care WHAT he's talking about but he is ALWAYS whining. 'They don't ask me questions'! 'They are belittling me'. 'The MEDIA NEVER questions the President'. It's constant, annoying and childish.
Sam on February 22, 2012 11:01 PM:
"If Rick Santorum believes what he says and says what he believes, he should stand up and be counted instead of whining about alleged persecution..."
Whining about alleged persecution is the entire modus operandi of the GOP. He's merely building his whiny victim Republican credentials.
TheZeitgeist on February 22, 2012 11:32 PM:
If in a room there's hundred priests of a hundred faiths, each priest thinks there's him and 99 liars - who will suffer his shtick's stick instead of carrot.
Patango on February 23, 2012 3:12 AM:
Ricky is a typical conservative christian gop you meet on the internet or in life , you point out they are getting facts wrong , and they are bigots , and to them YOU ARE THE BIGOT AND PERSECUTING THEM .....All because you do not agree with them 100% , I can guarantee this guy would have a secret prison for liberals if he was allowed the power to do it , and maybe obama could sit in his own cell and wonder wtf he had done ....
My friends dad was one of these types , never did anything to the guy , but I politely did not agree with everything he said , ,a person contacted me one day and said the guy was going around telling people I worshiped the devil , no lie , like 15 years later!!!!! He would be my best friend to my face though , these people are self centered insane......
Ricky displays the same characteristics ..... He's a witch burner ....
wvmcl2 on February 23, 2012 8:38 AM:
On the Missouri thing, the exact location is in Independence, just outside Kansas City and a few blocks away from Harry Truman's house. There is a spot known as the "Temple Mount" that Mormons believe is the site of the Garden of Eden (I'm not making this up)and is also where the Second Coming of Christ will occur. Both of the main Mormon denominations have facilities nearby, but, interestingly, the actual site is owned by a small breakaway sect.
The book "Mormon America" by Richard Ostling, which is generally pretty sympathetic to Mormonism, has a lot of interesting details on this stuff.
Bobster on February 23, 2012 8:54 AM:
Someone needs to ask Mitt if he will repudiate the Mormon prophets prior 1978 when people of African descent (even if the "had only one drop of Negro blood running in their veins") weren't considered worthy to hold the lay priesthood available to all whites.
That is a point that is salient to the presidency. If he won't repudiate the Mormon prophets he's a racist of the highest order.
john b on February 24, 2012 12:16 AM:
@Mitt's Magic Underwear, taunt and mock all you want. The sad thing is that you would have a problem with someone's "priest" hood. That a teen-age young man would set aside a basket ball or tv from time to time to rally around those in need. To look for ways to help and serve. Seems like someone once taught that we were supposed to do just that. I guess it was a weird idea then too. Your reaction to something so innocent and good reminds me of another story a couple thousand years ago. And another one not quite two hundred years ago. Get a life and do something constructive. Of course its easier to try to make yourself feel better by putting down someone you completely don't understand.