Sunday, July 29, 2007
SHOOTING OURSELVES IN THE FOOT
That, as we have said many times, is what evangelicals will be doing if we torpedo Governor Romney's candidacy based on his faith. Why? Because his isn't that much less controversial than ours outside of our insular evangelical circles. Don't buy it? Check out this CBS News poll, sent in by reader David (not the one I quoted in my last post). It asks people whether their view of certain religions is favorable or unfavorable. Here are some of the unfavorability ratings:
Scientology, 52%Islam, 45%
Mormonism, 39%
Catholicism, 37%
"Christian fundamentalist religions," 31%
That last one--while I know the term is not what most of us would use and suspect it was chosen by a bunch of folks who'd never met an evangelical--would be us, folks, at least in the popular eye. We're eight little ticks less bad than Mormons, according to the American public.
Still feel good about tossing Mormons out of the political arena, fellow evangelical? Because I can assure you that if you do, you (and our brothers and sisters) will be next.