I Liked This Guy Better When I Never Heard Of Him

Not to beat a dead horseman of the Apocalypse, but let me cast my vote alongside of those who developed an immediate disliking for Mitt Romney after his little JFK-wannabe moment last week. In spouting off the standard buffoonish rhetoric favored by many of the pillars of the Religious Right, such as the (fortunately) deceased Jerry Falwell and D. James Kennedy and the (hopefully) soon-to-be-deceased Pat Robertson, Romney displayed exactly the kind of smarminess and plain old asshole-ism that characterizes so much of public religious temperament today. So, Romney detests the 'religion of secularism'. Fine. For the sake of argument, I'll say that I detest the religion of Mormonism. The only difference being, Mormonism actually is a religion and secularism isn't. Secularism is the absence of religion, which usually suggests the presence of at least some form of logic and rationality, two things not usually on display in any religion.
This is a common linguistic con job that certain people - such as, oh let's see, hmmm - TV preachers for instance, put to good use. You accuse and condemn an opponent for engaging in the very behavior that you yourself wallow in. To those who lack the ability to think, it sounds good and scores points. Which is why you always hear evolution refuted and disbelieved because it is a mere 'theory' (by which its critics mean something entirely different than scientists mean when they use the word) but never hear Christianity or any other religion called the same thing. If anything is a theory in the sense that religionists mean, it is the utterly unproven, and unprovable, doctrines of religion itself, but as we all know, they're never held to the same standard.
Like it or not, God is a theory. Heaven is a theory. The resurrection is a theory. Unlike scientific theories however, they have no empirical evidence backing them up. So why does Mitt Romney scold 'the religion of secularism' and yet throw a hissy fit when others, including evangelicals, scold the religion of Mormonism? If secularism is a religion unworthy of respect, then Romney is making an acknowledgment (albeit unwillingly) that religion doesn't deserve a free pass. I'd agree with him on that one, and I think most people would (a secular education will do that to you). First on that list of religions that deserve scrutiny would be one that was founded by hallucination-induced white supremacists who waged an active and bloody war against the American government, then went on to proclaim their defeat and punishment as 'persecution'.
Now, I can just see Romney (and the entire state of Utah) bristling with indignation and arguing that the Mormon religion isn't like that anymore.
Good. I'm glad to see evolution in action. But it isn't as if his religion doesn't still have to answer for a lot of questionable things. Glenn Beck's existence, for example. Orrin Hatch's musical catalog. Marie Osmond making it as far as she did on 'Dancing With The Stars'. I could go on but you get the point. We all belong to some kind of group that has awful skeletons in its closet. Some of us just wish that the doors were thrown open on an equal basis. If my 'religion' can be slandered, so can yours. And religious people often seem to be the most oblivious to that fact.
Now, I'm sure that the ever flip-flopping Romney is just following the standard playbook of modern politics. I'm quite sure he's intelligent enough to know that secularism is not a religion, but since there are plenty of voters he wants on his side, he says what they want to hear. That's to be expected. Obama executed the Democratic version of this playbook to a tee with Oprah over the weekend, using her in the role of John The (Missionary) Baptist proclaiming the coming of the New Messiah. And we all know that Bill's wife has tried to get a hallelujah out of a few crowds herself in the past, even if she did look silly doing so. But it's just so sad to see how dumbed down we all feel we need to be.
Once upon a time, Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, Hodge, Hans Kung and a few others showed that there's always the possibility of combining religion and genius. It's rare, but it can happen. And if it can happen with outright genius, then it's certainly possible that religion could be used properly by those who possess a mere common sense and maturity we once took for granted in our adults.
It's just not possible during election season apparently.