Today’s Reading List – March 8, 2007 | Article VI Blog

You knew this was coming. Religious objections to Giuliani's multiple marriages. I think it is a mistake for religiously-based political leaders to make this a religious issue. Every time we argue something on the basis of religion, we play into the left's hands. That doesn't mean there is not a problem with Rudy's marriages, but my objections are not based on religion, they are based on trustworthiness. Next to my God, promises, even oaths, made to my spouse are the most important promises and/or oaths I can take. If I cannot be relied upon to maintain fulfill those promises/oaths to those with whom I am most intimate; how can I possibly be relied upon with something like an oath of office? BTW, the piece, indirectly quoting Baptist mouthpiece Richard Land, says of McCain:

Land noted that Republican presidential candidate John McCain has been married twice, but said the Arizona senator has acknowledged his part in the failure of his first marriage.

How can we be sure he has acknowledged ALL of it?

First Things reviews the book by Chris Hedges, American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America.

Hedges isn’t just name-calling; when he says “fascist,” he means it. The Dominionist movement “shares prominent features with classical fascist movements.” It has, “like all fascist movements, a belief in magic along with leadership adoration and a strident call for moral and physical supremacy of a master race.” If Christian fascists win, then “labor unions, civil-rights laws and public schools will be abolished. Women will be removed from the workforce to stay at home, and all those deemed insufficiently Christian will be denied citizenship.”

I am a Calvinist, but I am no Dominionist, and yet I feel wounded by these baseless and overwrought charges. But what really bothers me is when Evangelicals would exclude Romney on the basis of his faith, thy put truth to the charges.

Is America religiously illiterate? That is the claim of the author of a new book. Based on much of what is being written in the wake of Romney's candidacy, I have to think the guy is on to something. I've added the book to my reading list. In the meantime, On Faith is discussing on potential solution to the problem.

Giuliani went to Indianapolis. So why link to it here? Well, I grew up in Indy so any opportunity to pump up the old home town. But more, I always wonder why fly-over country like Indiana is routinely ignored in national elections. The conventional wisdom is that Indiana is reliably Republican and a lot of campaigning is not needed to win it in the general, and its primary is too late to matter. But you know, there is a lot of money there….

A smart college sophmore liberal tries his hand at The Question. In the end it is just a bit of a less vitriolic take on Jacob Weisberg's now-infamous "founding whoppers" crack. So here is what I want this young buck to answer me, "What difference does anything you contend make to how Romney would govern the nation?"

Once again, the MSM-left manages to slam both Mormons and creedal Christians in one fell swoop. This is a particularly ugly example of that phenomena from no minor MSM player.

I have wondered all along if Romney's candidacy would fracture the traditional "religious right" coalition? There are other pressures on that alliance. Power is, I think, going to their heads. All that does is fritter the power away. This is also an opportunity for Romney. If he could heal the rifts not surrounding him personally….