America's secret religious bias

Ask any American if they think it is ok to discriminate on the basis of religion and they will probably say that it is unacceptable. In the July 25th article by Mark Mellman in The Hill Mellman cites statistics in which only 5% of the population would be unwilling to vote for a black or 12% for a Hispanic (obviously not religions.) But only 4% would not vote for a Catholic and 7% for a Jew. (http://thehill.com/mark-mellman/romney-and-the-mormon-question-2007-07-25.html)

So we can safely assume that Americans in general aren't biased when it comes to religion, right? Ok, so now ask about Mormons. The range in polling suggests that 24-43(!) percent of Americans would not vote for a Mormon. Huh! What happened to no religious litmus test for politics? What happened the the open mindedness of America? What happened to the oft quoted "separation of church and state?"

Americans want to think that they are enlightened, intelligent and willing to keep open minds. But the fact of the matter is whether you want Mitt Romney for President or not, his being Mormon should have 0 affect on how people vote, but it does.

(Now, full disclosure, not only am I Mormon, but I want Romney to win. Not because he is a Mormon but because he is a businessman who knows how to run things. Look at his record. I am not going into it because that isn't what this post it about.)

So ask yourself if you really are open minded? If you were asked about the qualifications of a Presidential candidate and agreed with what he was saying but the only thing that would keep you from voting for him what would that say about you? Sure, you might be open minded for a Catholic, Jew, Lutheran, etc. If it wasn't for the war on terror I would even be making this case for a Muslim.

It is simple bigotry that any individual would not vote for a candidate because of his religious background. And if you are a Democrat saying it doesn't matter because there is no way a Mormon would get anywhere near the left, you might want to see the religion block on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid-yep, Mormon.