First up from The God Machine this week is the ongoing religio-political discussion about a Mormon presidential candidate. Al Sharpton clearly seemed to cross the line this week when he said, “As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyways, so don’t worry about that; that’s a temporary situation.”
But that’s nothing compared to what Romney has to overcome on the right.
While some evangelical Christians are defending the presidential candidacy of Mormon Mitt Romney from an attack by Al Sharpton, another prominent pastor is going further in his condemnation — saying a vote for the former Massachusetts governor is a vote for Satan.
That’s the word from Bill Keller, host of the Florida-based Live Prayer TV program as well as LivePrayer.com.
“If you vote for Mitt Romney, you are voting for Satan!” he writes in his daily devotional to be sent out to 2.4 million e-mail subscribers tomorrow.
Keller, a fairly prominent televangelist in religious right circles and a graduate of Jerry Falwell’s college, also lashes out at those evangelical leaders who haven’t condemned Romney. “I have watched in horror over the past weeks as one evangelical Christian leader after another has either endorsed, supported, or just as bad, refused to denounce Romney’s run for the White House and those Christian leaders who support him,” Keller writes. “Last weekend Pat Robertson, founder of CBN and Regent University, had Romney deliver the keynote address to the graduates of Regent. Regent is one of the great Christian colleges in this nation, and Robertson allowed this cult member to deliver the commencement address. Is he out of his mind?”
OK, Keller, now tell us how you really feel.
Michelle Cottle had a TNR item yesterday noting that intense hostility towards Mormons continues to permeate the GOP’s religious right base. If anything, she was understating the case — the bigotry and hatred is palpable.
Next up is a disconcerting addendum to recent revelations about mistreatment of injured military veterans. This time, there’s a religious angle to the story. (Thanks to reader B.D. for the heads-up)
U.S. Navy veteran David Miller said that when he checked into the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Iowa City, he didn’t realize he would get a hard sell for Christian fundamentalism along with treatment for his kidney stones.
Miller, 46, an Orthodox Jew, said he was repeatedly proselytized by hospital chaplains and staff in attempts to convert him to Christianity during three hospitalizations over the past two years.
He said he went hungry each time because the hospital wouldn’t serve him kosher food, and the staff refused to contact his rabbi, who could have brought him something to eat.
Miller, an Iowa City resident and former petty officer third class who spent four years in the Navy, outlined his complaints at a news conference in Des Moines on Thursday. The event was sponsored by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an activist group based in Albuquerque, N.M.
He described the Iowa City facility as an institution permeated by government sponsorship of fundamentalist Christianity and unconstitutional discrimination against Jews…. The hospital’s chaplains and staff, Miller said, have the attitude that you either accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior and you are saved, or you are damned.
Miller explained that he’s not against chaplains at military facilities. “When I was in the Navy, I was a religious program specialist. I worked with Christian chaplains, and I believe in the value of the chaplain corps, but not using it to bludgeon people, for heaven’s sake,” Miller said.
When it comes to taking care of our wounded vets, let’s not forget their religious liberty, too.
Also from the God Machine this week, the Vatican has been struggling to spin the pope’s latest thoughts on excommunicating politicians who disagree with the church on abortion.
Pope Benedict XVI caused such a stir with his comments on the excommunication of lawmakers who vote in favor of legalizing abortion that the Vatican released a transcript Thursday changing what the pontiff said.
While Benedict met with Brazil’s president, and thousands of Roman Catholics streamed toward a soccer stadium for an evening youth rally, the Vatican released a new transcript that seemed to roll back the pope’s comments from a day earlier.
Asked during an in-flight news conference Wednesday if legislators who legalized abortion in Mexico City should rightfully be considered excommunicated, Benedict replied, “Yes.”
“The excommunication was not something arbitrary. It is part of the code,” the pope said, referring to canon law.
On Thursday, the Vatican issued a slightly edited transcript that dropped the word “yes” in the pope’s response. Several other changes made his remarks seem a more general statement, rather than referring specifically to Mexican bishops who had said the politicians had excommunicated themselves.
Benedict’s spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, told reporters that such edits are common. “Every time the pope speaks off the cuff, the Secretariat of State reviews and cleans up his remarks,” he said.
The folks who do the transcriptions for the president are probably thinking, “Why didn’t we think of that?”