This standard is what we had hoped for Mitt Romney; That Romney would be judged by what he (Romney says), thinks, and does, and not what Mark E. Peterson may have said in 1970 or Brigham Young in 1870 or whatever. I see no difference here.

The more salient, or perhaps instructive, way to view this is from the other side of the politics and religion coin. Given the purely political nature of this pastor’s remarks, we have an excellent example of the peril of bringing politics into a religious setting.

The political left in this country has been playing with this fire for some time, and they have finally been burned by it. Although it would be nice if it led to more circumspect behavior in this area, I am not encouraged that a single occurrence will suffice.

Clearly, incorporating political rhetoric into church proceedings does as much to blur the line as the reverse. While addressing both sides of this issue may be a bit more than can be accomplished in this forum, it certainly demonstrates the wisdom in keeping a church as politically neutral as possible.

I have to admit I am relieved that Romney is not the nominee. After seeing what Obama is going thru, I can see how Romney’s religion would have been his downfall. Not saying its fair, its just a fact.

Romney would have been grilled on why he would choose to join the Mormon Church during a time when it clearly was practicing discrimination against African Americans.

He no doubt would have been asked to declare his church was wrong to do that. I don’t know if he would have done that. Hillary would have pounded him with this, behind the scenes with the media of course.

Sadly I really see no future for Romney as far as national office is concerned.

There are some legitimate questions that Wright’s involvement in the campaign does raise about Obama’s beliefs. Wright was on Obama’s “Spiritual Advisory Committee”. Considering that many of Wright’s controversial attitudes and opinions have been known for so long, it raises the question of how many of Wright’s other opinions Obama might agree with. You don’t ask someone to serve as a spiritual advisor unless you respect their opinions and plan to follow at least some of their advice.

I agree that Obama should not be questioned on the basis of his religious affiliation. But it is wholly appropriate to ask how much he agrees with the opinions and views of someone brought into his campaign to act as an advisor. In this case, those two happen to be very closely related.