As a Utahn, the irony has not escaped me. Not the irony that the woman in this race is a Republican. Not the irony that Mitt Romney and Joe Lieberman, consumately qualified candidates, were passed over for Sarah Palin. But the irony that the Jew and the Mormon were passed over for a member of the Assemblies of God/Pentecostal Church.
Here in Utah, of course, one is faced with God's Mysteries as an everyday fact of life. The mystery of what makes one religion legitimate and another not in the eyes of the average person of faith is the strong favorite most any day of the week, if only because the mystery of what makes rational atheism less socially acceptable than any religion whatsoever is just so damn unconventional as to make it singularly forgettable, though no less mystifying, when it is recalled at all.
And so it was a rather humdrum paradoxical moment here in Utah when Pentecostalism and Mormonism (not to mention Judaism, just to keep the cosmic quotient manageable) collided on the way to the Republican Convention.
(domini domini)
The paradox wrapped in the enigma presented as a mystery of God the day after we heard our own secular Mile High messiah in Denver, the day that the Republican Party--that mysterious alliance of overweening financial self-interest, tradition, intolerance, guns and ammo--in the person of John McCain simultaneously passed over not only (Joe Liebermann and) Mitt Romney for Sarah Palin but also, in that moment of sublime triangulation some truly mystic political transubstantiation converted Mormonism (and Judaism) into Pentecostalism and the Republican VP nomination into 900 pounds of elephantine irony. You see, fellow Kossacks, the Assemblies of God/Pencostal Church claims that Mormonism is, and I quote:
"A Law Unto Itself
In the final analysis, Mormonism is an original, invented religion, born of the mind of Joseph Smith, who is responsible for the spiritual seduction of millions of people. To the world, Mormonism sells itself as the friendly Christian church down the street, but in reality it is no closer to biblical Christianity than Hinduism or Islam.
The goals of Mormonism, however, remain unchanged. It desires to turn Protestants and Catholics, Evangelicals and Pentecostals, into Mormons. It seeks to introduce them to what the Bible calls another gospel, another spirit, and another Jesus (2 Corinthians 11:4)."
Is Mormonism Christian?
James R Spencer
Assemnbly of God USA
The Pentecostal Evangel
And its "Jews for Jesus" choir isn't very ecumenical, either; just a guess, but I'm thinking Joe Lieberman wouldn't approve. (For more info, just google, YouTube and rinse).
Now that's a damn, uniquely Republican, inhospitable shame.
In the moment that one nominee was lifted up, two whole religions and their followers were dissed--regardless of who did or didn't know it, and I guess at least a couple more do now--one for not recognizing Jesus as its Savior, the other for having the alleged, unmitigated gall of making religious historical stuff up.
Perhaps God is being kind giving Republicans the low end of the IQ Scale, keeping all the dissonance from such flagrant, unconscionable internecine intolerance from becoming overwhelming?
But this is what they say happens when religion and politics mix (or religion is introduced in any other realm where we demand that reason, not faith, is the measure of ideas, decisions, reality): they don't; which is unfortunate in discussions among Democrats, inevitable among Republicans, at least in my experience...
Which is just another example of why religion really ought to remain in the private sphere. The very private sphere. Perhaps simply the intra-cranial sphere. But let's at least hope one day to agree to keep it out of the sphere of Presidential Elections, lest they devolve forever more into three-ring circuses of Wrights, Hagees and Warrens, oh my!
But, now, wouldn't you think it might occur to the Republican Mormons and Conservative Jews that the other agents of intolerance are not their friends, that they should reconsider and connect with the party of tolerance, where Catholics, Protestants, Wicans and Pagans join hands?
I mean, after such a colossal show of disrespect--two real frogs and two flocks of god leaped for one lipsticked-pit-bull fraud???
Mightn't they give change a chance?
Not a chance, folks.
Not a friggin' chance.
And that, undoubtedly, is another of God's mysteries.
And it's just another day in Utah. The sky is blue, the mountains are huge, the lake is salty, and the religious ramifications are boundless...
Wonder what'll happen if we elect the Muslim.
UPDATE: Don't mistake the flippancy for disdain for religion. I have an over-developed sense of irreverence. This post is NOT, as some assume, a knock on religion. It IS a knock on warfare between religions, even if the wars simply use harmful words. I'm a full-time volunteer for an LDS State Senatorial candidate; obviously, I'm comfortable with the religion. What intrigues and annoys me is that others dare to challenge and mock it, certain that their own religion is completely authentic. And what intrigued me especially at the moment, was how this played out at the religio-political level in this years' Republican VEEP pick.