The Mormon faces more prejudice than the Black Man

This Presidential race is a step forward in many respects. We have as candidates a woman, a black man, a Mormon, and a POW.

Now I want to state up front that I do not subscribe to labels per se, but the purpose of this post is to point out an interesting fact.

The players:
The woman Hillary Clinton
The black man Barak Obama
The Mormon Mitt Romney
The POW John McCain

The setting:
Present day the United States of America.

Background:

Women - Although women were allowed to vote in 1869 and 1870 in Wyoming and Utah respectively, Congress disenfranchised women in 1887. The national woman's suffrage movement has it's beginnings in 1850. After seventy years of parades, picketing, and demonstrations the 19th Amendment granted Women the right to vote in 1920.

Blacks - The terrible subjection of fellow humans to slavery began a long time ago. On the American continent, slavery has been a scar on the face of freedom since 1619. In the 1750's the abolitionist movement slowly began to take hold. In 1780 the Massachusetts Constitution declared all men born "free and equal" effectively abolishing slavery in the state. (I find it interesting that MA is also the state that elected Mitt Romney as Governor.) After hundreds of years and a civil war, black men were freed with the passage of the 13th Amendment in 1865.

Mormons - The Mormons originally began in 1830 and were subsequently harried and harassed until they fled to the territory of Mexico (what is now Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, and Arizona). The term "Mormon" was originally used as a slur against Mormons but has over time been accepted as a label (although it should be noted that most adherents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints prefer to be called Latter-day Saints not Mormons). No other religion has ever been persecuted in America so vehemently and violently, including an extermination order by Governor Lilburn Boggs of Missouri in 1838 (I just learned that Quakers and Baptists were violently persecuted in Virginia early in America's history). Freedom of religion was granted to Mormons in 1791 with the passage of the Bill of Rights Article the third. Freedom for a Mormon to run for President came with the ratification of Article VI of the Constitution of the United States in 1787. (Notice these two items pre-date the formation of the Mormon church.)

POWs - To be entitled to prisoner of war status, a captured service member must have conducted operations according to the laws and customs of war: be part of a chain of command and wear a uniform and bear arms openly. American POWs, sometimes mistreated by their captors, are usually viewed as heroes and are accorded hero status. I am unaware of American POWs being treated pejoratively upon their return to the US. Mr. McCain returned to the US in 1973 and has subsequently served 25 years in the Senate.

Discussion:
History has already been made with the distance each of these candidates have come (even the POW dodged the South Carolina elimination round of yester year). One item of interest, however, is that Mormons continue to receive a significant amount of prejudice in America. An American born religion is despised and hated by a vocal yet small group of people. In fact, in many circles it is OK to discuss Mormons in a way that would not be done to women, blacks, or POWs.

I admire America, I think the American people are our strongest advantage in the world. We are a people that because of, NOT in spite of, our diversity are able to tackle complex problems and reach solutions. Although three of the four groups above still receive pejorative treatment at the hands of fellow Americans, we have come a long way in tolerance.

The Reverend Cecil "Chip" Murray, a Senior Fellow in the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California and the Tanzy Chair in Christian Ethics, is the Senior Pastor of the Los Angeles First African Methodist Episcopal Church (FAME). Reverend Murray in an interview on November 6, 2007 was asked, "In 2008 whose candidacy will face the most opposition, Barack Obama or Mitt Romney? Who do you think will face the most opposition or the most prejudice today?"

The Reverend Murray replied, "The Mormon. Because America is still growing."

I recognize that everyone has their prejudices, but how sad for America, land of the free and home of the brave, when blindness covers their sight and prejudice beats their minds back into eighteen hundreds. Amy Sullivan in an article in the Washington Monthly pointed out that some of the anti-Mormon sentiment is based on rumors, unfamiliarity and "a vague feeling Mormons are kind of weird." She talks about being in fifth grade in the basement of her Baptist church and being instructed by her teacher that Mormons fall somewhere between "devil worshippers and Jim Jones." I find it repulsive that anyone is still teaching intolerance and hatred based on religion.

To quote Mitt Romney, "I just don't believe the people in this country are going to choose their candidate based on which church he or she goes to. I just don't believe that... my faith isn't terribly well known around this country. But I don't think for a minute the American people are going to say, "You know what, we're not going to vote for this guy on a secular position because of his church." I just don't believe that. I think when the constitution and the founders said no religious test shall ever be required for qualification for office or public trust in these United States, that the founders meant just that. And I don't believe for a minute that Republicans, or Americans for that matter, are going to impose a religious test, it's as un-American as anything you can think of... I believe that free American people are the source of America's greatness."

I agree with Mitt Romney. America is better than bigotry, and no matter how many distorted anti-Mormon mailers are sent, and no matter how many distorted anti-Mormon phone calls are made, and no matter how many distorted anti-Mormon people blog, the American people, true believers in freedom of religion, can rise above the storm of words and elect a President that John McCain called, "A man of honesty and integrity. A man prepared to serve... a man of unimpeachable integrity and honesty... he could do a lot of things, yet this man has willingly stepped forward... [he is] somebody the young can look up to and admire."

Place a historic vote for Mitt Romney in 2008.


The full interview of Reverend Murray.