Last October, I wrote a two-part article about Mitt Romney, Mormonism, and the history of religion in presidential politics. Among other things, I drew parallels between American attitudes towards Mormonism today and American attitudes towards Catholicism in 1960 when John Kennedy ran for president.
Back then, anti-Catholicism was still prevalent in much of rural America where conservative strains of Protestantism dominated. It was a serious obstacle for Kennedy, even in loyal Democratic states throughout the Solid South. And that experience is echoing today.
As I stated in part 2 of the article:
Looking down the barrels of history, it seems to me that Mormon Mitt Romney finds himself in a very similar situation today as Catholic John Kennedy did in 1960.
And guess what? A new poll suggests that as Romney stares down those barrels, some of today’s fundamentalist Christians are pulling the trigger.
According to recent polling data, 38% of low-medium income voters in the Bible Belt say they would be less likely to cast a ballot for a candidate who is Mormon.
These numbers shouldn’t be entirely surprising. Many Americans throughout the South (and elsewhere) look askance at the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. They simply do not consider it to be a Christian religion. Rather, they think it’s a cult.
And this is where the rubber hits the road. It’s where Conservative anti-intellectualism begins to turn on its masters.
It’s no secret that the modern American Conservative movement, despite its intellectual origins, has become a safe house for profound ignorance. The Republican party now shelters hostile attitudes towards established science, voiced by those who deny everything from evolutionary theory and climate change to the viability of women becoming pregnant during violent rape. It seems that there is no shortage of Republican voters who get their science education from creationist museums and The 700 Club.
Only now we can add HBO to the list.
In a recent Reuters article entitled “Southern Whites Troubled by Romney’s Wealth, Religion,” author Margot Roosevelt fleshes out the new polling data with interviews she conducted in the Bible Belt. Apparently, many people she encountered got their working knowledge of the Mormon religion from the HBO soap opera Big Love and the TLC (remember when that actually stood for The Learning Channel?) reality show Sister Wives. Seriously.
Surprise, surprise then, we get people like retired factory worker and soup kitchen volunteer Dianne McCollough, who told Roosevelt: “Mormons don’t believe like we believe. Like the wives — Romney’s probably got more than one.”
It’s as if a birther has emerged from her cocoon and turned into an anti-Mormon butterfly.
Then there’s 27 year old middle school teacher Stephanie Parrish, who said of Romney’s candidacy: “I’m not extremely excited. I’d prefer not to have a Mormon.”
One can only wonder what she tells her twelve year old students about . . . well, anything really.
But before any Barack Obama supporters get too excited about Romney’s religious affiliation becoming a possible wedge issue, remember that skin color still matters. In the same poll, 20% of people said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who is black. This sentiment is expressed by retired truck driver Lyle Campbell, who mused about the Obama presidency:
“If I was black, I would get anything I want.”
Apparently Lyle never heard of the Rolling Stones. You can’t always get what you want. Sometimes life comes down to choosing between the lesser of two evils. And for a frighteningly large number of Americans, that means trying to decide between racial bigotry and religious bigotry.
You hate Romney for being a Mormon and you hate Obama for being black. But whom do you hate more?
Of co
urse, in most of the Bible Belt it just doesn’t matter. The Republicans win no matter what. But there’s one state where this does make a difference.
Virginia.
The Old Dominion state just ain’t what it used to be. Rapacious D.C. suburbs continue to expand, thereby diluting the Conservative rural vote. And the Virginia economy is doing better than the nation as a whole; unemployment is under 6%, and that makes Romney less appealing than in states where it’s at or near double digits.
In the gossamer days of 2008, Obama won not only Virginia, but also North Carolina. This time around, however, NC is already pretty much a lost cause. But in Virginia, the race is virtually a dead heat.
More than a third of that state’s voters are now black, Asian, or Latino. But in order to win, Obama also needs people like 52 year old Southern Baptist Sheryl Harris. She’s a Republican who twice supported George W. Bush, and she’s absolutely convinced that Obama is a Muslim. So she’s voting for Romney, right?
Think again.
“Romney’s going to help the upper class,” she said. “He doesn’t know everyday people, except maybe t
he person who cleans his house.”
That’s why, she says, she’s voting for Obama. “At least he wasn’t brought up filthy rich.”
For some people, better to have a Kenyan-born Muslim in the White House than a polygamist millionaire.
This stuff cuts both ways, and it looks like some pretty ignorant chickens are coming home to roost.