Alan Grayson: Romney's Religion

[LeftishBrit]

7. I think it's important to avoid politicians who will demand that others follow the rules of their

religion.

However, I don't think that a person's faith on its own is a 'big part of who they are' in the political sense. Faith, any faith, can be used for good or ill. Martin Luther King and Pat Robertson were both Christian clergymen; they used their faith in very different ways. Lack of religious faith is perhaps even less defining; the nonbeliever can be a fanatic of another ideology (at the extreme, Stalin); or an admirable public servant interested in human welfare (Attlee); or even a Christian-Rightie-without-the-belief, who supports religion for others as a means of imposing social conformity and keeping the establishment in power, but admits to not actually *believing* it (Norman Tebbit).

As I said a long time ago, the trouble with Romney isn't that he's a Mormon, but that he's a moron. Or perhaps even a moran.

'he has no core and would do anything, no matter how wrong, if it happened to be politically expedient at the time. That's dangerous, no matter what your ideology or party may be.'

I agree about Romney; but I'm not sure that it's less dangerous than having an ardent hardline ideology. The 'Vicar of Bray' type can sometimes be persuaded, or at least bought off, from their more extreme policies; the fanatic will press on regardless.