In an early sign of just how interesting the election cycle could be, Mitt has lost some recently gained support from a prominent Baptist.
There has been a lot of talk about Christians having issues with Rudy but as the cycle goes on, I believe a growing number of Christians are going to question how strongly they can support Mitt. Sure, he'll get the conservative Christian vote over most of the Democratic opponents he could run against. But, I'm not sold on the fact that enough of the Christian right are really going to support Mitt to get him to the Presidental race. I know that my theology is different enough from his own that, in my mind, the difference between Mitt and myself is easily as large as the difference between Obama and myself.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Buyer's Remorse
Posted by Ward at 3:52 PM
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6 comments:
I've seen and read the comments of people giveing Mitt support. I think he is in general pretty conservative, but some things do bother me. He does have a bit of a flip-flopper image. And like you said, Obama is a Christian, though theologically liberal. Romney is a Mormon, which is very different.
The candidate that has been drawing alot of my interest, and the interest of quite a few people of varied backgrounds is Huckabee. The interview and article about him in Newsweek were informative, and he impressed me. He's been talked about by conservatives and liberals as a guy they respect and admire, which is interesting because he is pretty conservative, but seems to be intelligent and real, and I think that comes through to alot of people.
I agree with you about Huckabee. He's certainly the candidate that anyone claiming that "conservative Christian" values are the most important should be giving a look to. He's also got the most raw charisma of any of the candidates on the right. But, for whatever reason, the establishment seems to have decided that he isn't going to have much of a chance for the Presidency. But I wouldn't be dissapointed to see him get the VP slot and make a run of his own down the road.
If everyone in the country tried to match their theology to their candidate, we would be in deep trouble. We have too many people with, in reality, no theology. Godless theology, if you will.
I've been giving Huckabee a good look as well. He's definitely at the top of the "second tier" candidates. Though I think that he could end up being the real dark horse to take out the supposed leaders when it comes time to actually vote. Though he is a baptist minister, so if we're talking about theological issues, he's got them in spades ;)
I don't have a problem with Obama's faith or theology. I've heard him speak on his faith and, while he is on the liberal side of the spectrum, I wouldn't neccessarily classifiy him as a liberal. Granted, I live in the northwest and worked for the United Methodists up here - where they put the crazy in theological liberal (Bishop Spong is their hero, I kid you not) - so my scale is a little bit different than most of yours I suspect. Obama declares faith in Jesus and that Jesus is the only way to heaven - even though you won't hear him saying that very much, heck even Bush didn't say it much and he's an evangelical. As for Romney's faith, he's a mormon, which means he's not among the orthodox Christian denominations. So, yeah, theologically I have more in common with Obama than with Romney.
Nonetheless, this is a secular election and while I believe someone's faith grounding is important, in this case it's nothing more than a sign of morality and conscience. So, I don't think that any of their particular denominations matter other than to show that they have a grounding that is bigger than themselves.
Though, if it came down to it, I may have to vote for Obama over Romney simply because I can appreciate the way Obama thinks things through even though I would disagree with his conclusions some times. Romney on the other hand, I get the feeling he'll look at a poll to make up his mind. Perhaps I'm wrong, but that's just the feeling I get from him.
shadowmom1 said...
"If everyone in the country tried to match their theology to their candidate, we would be in deep trouble. We have too many people with, in reality, no theology. Godless theology, if you will."
I don't disagree with that, or with what most of you said, Sean. However, when a candidate actively seeks to court the religious vote, he makes his theology a political issue. Plain and simple. Romney has made it clear from the endorsements that he's gone after that he wants my vote as a Christian. That means that his theology matters as much as any other political issue in the cycle to me.
The fact that he is a Mormon makes it even more important for me considering some of their doomsday apocolyptical leanings and the way they see the world because of them.
Ward, you make some good points about the way Romney is advertising himself.
I've pretty much disregarded Romney for the past 6 months or so anyway because of the reason I mentioned above. So, his faith actually means nothing to me - because he's just another guy I'm not voting for.
I think it's interesting that Romney isn't wooing the Christian right as a Christian, but simply as the most conservative and equally moral person to the Christian right. So, he's not really seeking after Christians for their faith - which would indeed make his faith an issue - but rather for there moral center, which is in many ways similar if not the same as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
If I saw him going after Christians for their faith vote, then I would whole heartedly agree with Ward. But since it does seem that he's simply aiming at Christians for their morality, I think his faith becomes less of a valid issue.
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