Gerald Owen, National Post (The Manchurian Canadian, Gowen@nationalpost.com),
I am responding to your "The undoing of a Manchurian Mormon" article published in the National Post on Friday, January 19, 2007.
I have questions as to what exactly you mean by "Manchurian Mormon". You must be confused. Mitt Romney was born in Michigan. Manchuria is region of northeast China comprising the modern-day provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning. Are you trying to say that Mitt Romney is Chinese?
The Manchurian Candidate is a 1959 thriller novel written by Richard Condon, later adapted into films in 1962 and 2004. The central concept of the book and the subsequent 1962 film is that the son of a prominent political family has been convinced into becoming an unwilling assassin for the Communist Party; in the 2004 version, the villain was instead a giant corporation called "Manchurian Global". Are you trying to say that Mitt Romney works for the Communist or "Manchurian Global"?
No you are trying to do something more sinister. You call him the "Manchurian Mormon." Much like Joseph McCarthy, you accuse Mitt Romney of something sinister, without participating in a forum where you present any evidence, or even invite people to respond with reasons to agree or disagree with your conclusion.
You never define what exactly a "Manchurian Mormon" is, because doing so would expose your bigotry. With a wink-wink you label him the "Manchurian Mormon" and let the reader's imagination run wild hysteria of all the possibilities.
Should any Mormon be allowed to participate in the work force? I work for an architecture and engineering firm as an electrical engineer. Should you inform you write my boss about the "Manchurian Mormon" electrical engineers union (MMEE)? We are a secrete organization trying to take over the field of electrical engineers. As Mormons only make up 3% of the US population, we have not done a very good job of taking over the field of electrical engineering. Those darn "Manchurian Jews" and "Manchurian African Americans" are keeping us "Manchurin Mormons" out of power (do you see how bigoted that sounds when you replace Mormons with other groups?)
re: "The Mormonism of Mitt Romney, one of the most plausible candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, has become an issue on church-and-state grounds."
How has this become an issue and with whom?
re: "This issue was raised notably in a New Republic article by Damon Linker, excerpted on these pages a week ago. A back-and-forth debate in that magazine followed."
Mr. Linker did not bring up any separation of "church-and-state issues". He forwarded the belief that Mitt Romney proves his incompetence because he is a Mormon. Mr. Linker did not assert that Mitt Romney would affect any "church-and-state" issues.
re: "The religious views of political candidates should be open to question; they are not merely private, inner matters."
You are very good at stating the conclusions that you have adopted as truth, but you are not very good at stating any REASONS to agree with your conclusion. So where do I began, when you don't even make a case for your beliefs?
Again, you state: "The religious views of political candidates should be open to question; they are not merely private, inner matters."
Mitt Romney has indicated that his beliefs cause him to love his country, love his family, and try to do right by his neighbor. Mitt Romney does not believe in lying, stealing, or killing. Mitt Romney thinks that when he dies he will be judged according to his actions and the intent of his heart with regard to the way that he treated his wife, kids, and those that he came in contact with. What does any of this have to do with politics?
Perhaps there is an overlap of religious and political issues with regard to questions of ethics in government, but you don't want to be bothered by the details and go into these, you would rather engage in insinuation name calling (the Manchurian Mormon).
The only obvious question of where politics and religion overlap would be abortion and gay rights. Mitt Romney, like many others, believes that Abortion should be decided on a state-by-state basis. Atheist and those from every religion agree and disagree with Romney. Romney's religion does not say when life begins, and so his religious views are not an issue when it comes to abortion.
Here is the LDS church's position on same sex marriage.
http://lds.org/newsroom/issues/answer/0,19491,6056-1-202-4-202,00.html
To summarize, the LDS church does not say weather same-gender attraction is Nature, Nurture, a choice, or something someone is born with. The church teaches love, acceptance and tolerance of those with same-gender attraction.
Some high-lights: "The Church does not have a position on the causes of any of these susceptibilities or inclinations, including those related to same-gender attraction. Those are scientific questions — whether nature or nurture — those are things the Church doesn't have a position on."
But the church's teaches don't really matter. The official religion of the largest country on the planet is atheism (China). And in People's Republic of China, same-sex marriage is not allowed. Many ethical atheist believe children deserve both a mother and a father. So religion, really, is not the problem. The advocates of same sex marriage shouldn't change the subject to a person's religion, or practice politics of personal destruction by saying that someone from a particular religion should not be elected president. What they should do is stay on the subject and hand, and try to advance the argument that children advance just as well when they have two mothers or two fathers.
But people don't want to have a logical debate on the issues. Gerald Owen doesn't want to deal with the specific tenants of Romney's faith that he finds objectionable. He would rather operate on the level of name calling. Well two people can play that game. Gerald Owens, is a Bigot. Anyone who brings up Romney's religion as a disqualification for office, without specifically saying which beliefs are objectionable is a bigot. Romney's religion may be so stupid that it should disqualify him for president, but you are a bigot if all you do is say that he is a Mormon, mention some thing or other about "the Manchurian Mormon", and play on people's illogical fears.
Once again, I'm not saying EVERYONE who says Romney's religion disqualifies him from being president is a bigot. Only those who leave the world of logic, and go to the world of name calling and insinuation.
Regards,
Mike
