Blog #2 2/23/12 Losing My Religion

What the hell? So, the other night I'm watching American Idol, I mean The Biggest Loser, I mean Survivor, and... OK, it's all crap. The point is that I was watching some dumb show on TV and a Mormon commercial comes on. "I ride a bike like you. I have a family like you. I eat hamburgers like you and guess what? I'm a MORMON." Holy crap! Wow! I'm so glad they've pointed that out to me. I have always thought Mormons were crazy, horrible, people who didn't have jobs or families. Man, thanks a lot network television.
I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that was a strategic, political move. What's going on in the world of politics today? It's become very obvious that religious beliefs have become the very foundation of every candidate's agenda, not the war, the economy, or poverty. The unemployment rate has gone up from 4.6% in 2007 to 8.3% today. What's the main topic? Abortion. Should an opinion on abortion REALLY be a deciding factor in selecting our president. Our population today is 311,800,00. We are third behind China and India. According to the census bureau, we should reach 400 million by 2040. Now, I'm not saying that we should stop having babies. I'm just saying that we have a packed house and we need to concentrate more on what kind of world those babies are gonna inherit when they get older.

 Politicians are all talkers. They tell people what they wanna hear and when it's time to walk the walk? They come up limp. Let's take Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Just recently Romney, A Mormon, had this to say about gay marriage:

 "I believe marriage is between a man and a woman and, as president, I will protect traditional marriage and appoint judges who interpret the Constitution as it is written and not according to their own politics and prejudices.”

OK, that's fine. Although I don't agree, the man has a given right to his own opinion. But, months ago he also said, "The gay community needs more support from the Republican party." Huh? Also, Romney talks of interpreting the Constitution as it is written. Isn't it written that there should be separation of church and state? That religion shouldn't be endorsed by the government? Hello? That's the basis of his campaign and everyone running for president.

Rick Santorum is also an example. Rarely do the American people get an opinion from him on important topics like I said earlier. Santorum, a Roman Catholic, has resorted to childish name calling and bickering on who has more faith. Last week, Santorum and Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, criticized President Obama for stating that he is a devout Christian. Why? Is it because he doesn't hold public prayer parties at football stadiums or doesn't refer to Jesus Christ as his "lord and savior?" Oh, he's too busy working on important issues like bringing our troops home or getting health insurance to low income families. People have their criticisms of Obama and rightly so. I give Obama a lot of credit though in this regard of discussing religion. He doesn't talk about it. The man believes in every human being's right to worship or not worship, that we should keep open minds to other religions and their beliefs. Organized religion, especially Christianity, subliminally teaches closed mindedness. Christians basically believe that they are right and all 19 other religions around the world are wrong.
In Barack Obama's book, The Audacity of Hope, he tells of his upbringings and how he was taught to keep an open mind:

"I was not raised in a religious household. For my mother, organized religion too often dressed up closed-mindedness in the garb of piety, cruelty and oppression in the cloak of righteousness. In her mind, a knowledge of the world's great religions was a necessary part of any well-rounded education. My mother viewed religion through the eyes of the anthropologist; it was a phenomenon to be treated with a suitable respect."

Obama may have screwed up our economy and in that regard he should be judged. If we are judging candidates on the basis of religion and how it should be taught to our children at home and around the world, Obama gets my vote 100%.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. What about Newt Gingrich? Well, Mr. Newt has experienced three different religions in his life span.
1) Lutheranism
2) Southern Baptist
3) Roman Catholic (present)

Hmm. Good luck with all that "Newt."



citations:
Agnosticism/Atheism.About.com.Retrieved February 23rd, 2012 from http://atheism.about.com/od/barackobamareligionfaith/a/ObamaReligion.htm

Mitt Romney.OnTheIssues.com.Retrieved February 23rd, 2012 from http://www.issues2000.org/Mitt_Romney.htm

PostOpinions.TheWashingtonPost.com.Retrieved February 23rd, 2012 from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/on-gay-marriage-mitt-romney-veers-hard-to-the-right/2012/02/07/gIQALE48wQ_blog.html

Newt Gingrich Religion.Godvoter.org.Retrieved February 23rd, 2012 from http://www.godvoter.org/2012/Newt-Gingrich-religion.html