Progressives Should Defend Romney Against Religious Barbs

Liberals and other genuinely tolerant citizens, regardless of political party, need to push back publicly against discriminatory campaigning for cheap political points directed against Republican candidate Mitt Romney over his Mormon faith.

Regrettably, conservative GOP/Tea Party candidates Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain are side-stepping the issue, so are giving their assent to the bigots because Cain and Bachmnn think there are votes from narrow-minded constituencies to be gathered through strategic silence.

Shame on them. This is every American's fight.

Religious intolerance was wrong when John F. Kennedy's Catholicism was made into a campaign issue by bigots during his 1960 Presidential run, and it's just as wrong today.

The flip side is that the overall emphasis of religion in US politics is out of place, too: Media should back off demanding answers and explanations about candidates' faith. And candidates should stop pitching themselves as believers worthy of votes because that translates as exclusionary, or judgmental, against other religions and their adherents.

That feeds intolerance and we're back to the attacks on Romney. Whether candidates are undermined because they are Catholic, Mormon, Jewish, Muslim - - it should all be out of bounds in America.

People who don't like Romney's politics - - too conservative, not conservative enough, flip-floppy on big issues like health care - - have plenty to work with.

If Republicans and conservatives want to select candidates using religious tests, it's not enough to sit back and let them hack each other up because it makes the entire debate and landscape ever more toxic.

When it comes to religion in politics, I'd be happy with don't ask, don't tell, don't criticize and don't wrap yourself in it, either.