When I first heard Pastor Robert Jeffress’ comments on Governor Mitt Romney, I thought that his comments were over the line. Religion should not be a factor in electing people.
But then I heard him on Hardball (no, Chris Matthews, this is not the first election since 1960 that religion has been influential. It is never not. Were you asleep when people said they think President Obama is a Muslim?) Matthews brought article 6 of the US Constitution as a reason the Pastor has no right to use his religious beliefs in deciding the person he prefers would go to the White House.
Chris Matthews was wrong. The pastor has a right to use any litmus test he wants when making that decision.
And then I got to thinking. Has there ever been a Met fan in the White House? No, we have not. In the future, I am not going to ignore all issues and will vote for the Met fan over ANYONE else. Pro-life Met fan? I’ll vote for you. Anti-science Met fan? I will vote for you? Crazy GOP Met fan? (and here, I worry that Michele Bachmann may call me on this). I will vote for you.
If you don’t get my humor there, I am sorry.
As much as I love the Mets, I would not do that. And my own view of Mormonism makes me uncomfortable because I read “Under the banner of heaven.” But it doesn’t mean I would not vote for someone who is Mormon. I would just prefer they stop coming to my house on the weekend. There are at least two Democratic Mormons in the Senate. Senators Tom Udall (CO) and Harry Reid (Nevada — you know the MAJORITY LEADER). I would gladly vote for either of them.
I am not going for Mitt Romney because he is a Republican and I am a Democrat (and I like President Obama) but Pastor Jeffress has a right to make whatever decisions he wants to make.
Our US Constitution is my favorite document and it does a good job of helping us run our government. We need to stop using is as a reason to bash personal vs. goverment views. Where the government cannot tell you not to express your opinion (my favorite amendment is the first), I still get to tell you to STFU if I think you are wrong. Similarly, the government cannot impose litmus tests on candidates, you still get to choose them based on whatever criteria you have. You also get (and I am going with my favorite amendment to defend someone the Pastor) to promote your candidate on any criteria he decides.
