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Adam Gopnik: Mormonism’s History and Meanings : The New Yorker


Stashed in: Religion, New Yorker, Mitt Romney, Narcissists!, JFK

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utterly fascinating (and frank) look at a religion and what it might mean for us if Romney is elected.

"All of which leads to the inevitable question: To what degree is Mormonism responsible for Mitt Romney? Is there a thread, dark or golden, that runs from Moroni to Mitt? Garry Wills has argued, after all, that Irish Catholic ideas about sin—that sin is negotiable currency, to be practiced, done penance for, forgiven—allowed John Kennedy some serenity as he screwed his way through the White House typing pool, just as the habits of Protestant Evangelical belief, in forgiveness and temptation and forgiveness, in a never-ending cycle, helped Bill Clinton find a common language with working-class people. The most striking feature of Mitt Romney as a politician is an absence of any responsibility to his own past—the consuming sense that his life and opinions can be remade at a moment’s need. Romney, according to Romney, never favored the individual mandate, or supported abortion rights, or opposed the auto-industry bailout, or did any of the other things he obviously, and on the record, did."

There are plenty of people who won't vote for Mitt because he's a Mormon.

After reading this article I fear they may be correct in doing so.

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