Ok I just now realized that republicans don't just dislike Romney, they HATE him

[JonIrenicus]

Originally Posted by apple

Are values all that matter for a presidential candidate? Suppose that a candidate was extremely gullible. Would that person be fit for the office? Now suppose that a candidate's religion required him to accept that which is extremely unreasonable. Don't you think that would impact your idea of how gullible this person is?

I should probably clarify something. I don't think a persons religious beliefs are completely separate from the values they hold, one of the institutions that propagate a set of values is religion. Beliefs matter, but not all beliefs are the same, or give me the same concern.


If someone takes from their belief system that women should not be allowed to vote or are unequal to men then I would be hostile to that belief system. I think it's perfectly credible to be hostile to mormonism insofar as you disagree with its influencing people to support prop 8 if you disagree with their stance on gay marriage for example.

It's not valid to be hostile to mormons because their specific theological minutia is not the same as yours. I don't care if you think jesus is real, or that he came to America and revealed himself on golden plates or whatever.

If an evangelical refuses to vote for a mormon because of a theological disagreement, he is usually not doing so because of some incompatible value that affects society as a whole, he is doing so because he has issues with the specific religious beliefs that MAKE NO DIFFERENCE TO ANYONE outside a pissing contest as to whose beliefs are right. Whoever is right or wrong in that contest is irrelevant, it has no real effects on society, it is a lesser concern and preoccupation.

Now some atheists refuse to let this slide, the fact that people believe things so ridiculous is like an indictment on their entire judgment in all areas. Our duty as good secular knights of rationality is to stamp this out wherever we see it. Wrong. It is impossible to stamp out irrational beliefs, and we have enough irrational AND harmful beliefs to fight against it's kind of like choosing to sweep the desert to clear the sand away instead of picking out the scorpions.