The Republican primary has degenerated from farce to madness. The early days were fun. Who can forget the grin-inducing sight of Marcus Bachmann dancing gaily and unselfconsciously with his shell-shocked Raccoon of the Right Michele? And then there was the walking sexual harassment lawsuit that was Herman Cain and his remarkable rise to the top by dumbing it down so much even a Tea Partier could get it. And Rick Perry. Need we say more? Rick Perry. His decision to run, in a word – oops.
The humor is gone now, though, and only the madness remains. Newt Gingrich’s rhetoric ratchets desperately from grandiose to bellicose. He attends three separate church services in one day, raising the God bar to heavenly heights. Two Baptist churches and one Catholic were graced with the attendance of the sybaritic non-believer and his young homewrecker. At least in his crass play of the God card he shows a rational Machiavellianism. It is in Mitt Romney’s legitimately held religious beliefs that we see real madness.
Mitt Romney baptises dead people. A longtime practice of the Mormon church was to baptise deceased non-Mormons in order to bring them into the fold. Several popes, hundreds of thousands of Jews. Elvis. Some non-believers, including Edward Davies, the deceased atheist father of Mr. Romney’s wife Ann.
The Mormon church claims the baptism isn’t definitive, only that the deceased are offered the chance to become Mormon in the afterlife. A kind of neighborhood proselytizing beyond the grave, apparently, missionary work in the Undiscovered Country.
Apologists for the actions claim it’s no big deal, yawn, hardly more invasive than lighting a candle for somebody. Jewish groups have complained mightily, however, and the Mormon church alleges it stopped the practice in 1995. (Though there is evidence the practice of "proxy baptism" continues.)
Mr. Romney’s father-in-law was a committed atheist, considering all organized religion "hogwash." He died in 1992 and was baptised by the Romney clan a year after his death. We can think of no action more disrespectful to Mr. Davies’ belief system than this proxy baptism. Mr. Romney and the Mormon church have fired the first salvo of criticism and disrespect with their actions, and we consider Mr. Romney’s Mormonism fair game in the ongoing discussion of his credentials for the presidency.
For months we thought Mitt Romney was the only sane candidate in the midst of folly and farce. The more we learn about him, the more we suspect he is the nuttiest of them all.
This is more a attack on the Mormon faith than Romney. You dont offend a dead atheist by doing any religious act because atheists dont believe in an afterlife so if there really was one good for him if not no harm done. I am a Ron Paul supporter and ex Mormon has in i know all about the faith but dont buy what they are selling. I dont like Mitt but he or his faith dont deserve this.
ReplyDeleteThe Mormon Church's actions and Mitt Romney's actions are disrespectful, arrogant, and have no sense of boundaries -- pointing them out is not. I assume you feel an atheist's grave can be desecrated and it's no big deal -- after all, he's dead and can't be aware of the desecration.
ReplyDeleteAll churches' policies, Mormon or otherwise, must be held up to examination, particularly when they infringe on the rights of the rest of us. The Mormon Chruch was wrong when it performed hundreds of thousands of proxy baptisms on Jews. They were called on it, they promised to quit, they didn't.
Mitt Romney and his famly transgressed on the wishes of a serious atheist. They were wrong to do that. A national discussion should ensue. I would like to see Romney's father-in-law become an icon of the Freedom from Religion and the Rights of Atheists movements.