Jesus Christ Skin Color

Religion still counts in presidential race

In America, children are told that anyone can grow up to be president.

That may be true, but it's certainly more difficult for some.

When it comes to religion, it's hardest to be Mormon, Muslim or an atheist. Those are the three groups that consistently rank lowest in popularity polls among their fellow Americans.

Despite that, some believe the time for a Mormon president - or at least a presidential nominee - has come. Mitt Romney, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has emerged as an early front-runner among Republican hopefuls.

Members of these minority religions hope that time and visibility will break down barriers to the White House.

"The fact that we've elected an African-American president the last go-round makes me think people are able to look past things like religion and skin color to select the most able leader," said D. Bradley Welling, president of the Columbus stake of the LDS, or Mormon, church.

Most American presidents have been Episcopalian or another type of mainline Protestant. After that, Americans would be most comfortable with a Catholic or Jewish president, according to a poll of nearly 1,950 released this month by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Sixty-seven percent of those who responded were "entirely" or "somewhat" comfortable with an evangelical Christian president. Next came Mormons (60 percent comfortable), Muslims (38 percent) and atheists (37 percent).

In the same poll, Republican voters were most likely to support Romney, with 25 percent of the 830 GOP respondents saying they support him.

Democrats, women and blacks tend to have less-favorable views of Mormons than do Republicans, men and whites, said Peter Brown, assistant director of the polling institute.

That's partly because of two former Mormon practices: polygamy (abolished in 1890) and the exclusion of blacks from the priesthood (which ended in 1978).

"It would be nave to say that public attitudes toward Mr. Romney's faith are no problem for him," Brown said. "Whether it can be overcome or not, we'll find out."

The hope for a Muslim president seems more remote, acknowledged Adnan Mirza, a spokesman for the Noor Islamic Cultural Center in Hilliard.

He blames political candidates who try to gain favor by bashing Muslims and equating Islam with violence and terrorism.

"With as much fear-mongering and exploitation that goes on in today's political environment, I think it would be very, very difficult for a Muslim to get elected president," Mirza said.

There Ain't no Skin Color at the Foot of the Cross – Part II ...

This past Sunday – February 15th 2009, I was invited to preach to a black congregation in downtown Nashville – Mt. Gilead Baptist Church. The purpose of the service was for a racial unity Sunday in conjunction with their celebration of black history month. The people of Mt. Gilead Baptist Church were extremely gracious and welcomed my wife and I into their congregation just as if we were part of their church family. It was a high honor to preach to their church for such an occasion. My wife and I were truly blessed!

During the second service, I preached from Romans 3:9-31 on the subject: There Ain’t no Skin Color at the Foot of the Cross . I know that the title has a double negative and that double negative usage is not proper in the English language, but for some reason it just rolls off of your tongue better. For the next couple of days, we will look at the text from Romans 3:9-31 under the three basic divisions listed below. Each day will cover one main point.