Attack on Romney's Faith Proves History, Religion & Politics are a Volatile Mix

The average American has become inundated with political campaigns of late, because the campaigns of the various candidates are seemingly perpetual In addition, there are many more candidates vying for our attention than there used to be.

One of those candidates is Republican Mitt Romney, a second-generation politician who once was Governor of Massachusetts. (His father, naturalized citizen George Romney, once served as Governor of Michigan.) His campaign is controversial because Romney is a lifelong Mormon.

The controversy centers around whether or not Romney will base any decisions he makes as president on the rulings of Mormon higher-ups in Salt Lake City, Utah (the headquarters of the Mormon church, or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). One side seems to think that the powers that be in Salt Lake City will tell him what to do. At least, the thinking goes, he will use his Mormon faith, rather than what he feels to be the best interests of the American people, as his basis for making decisions affecting the entire nation. If he is personally opposed to abortion - or if it is official Mormon doctrine that induced abortion is actually the murder of what many in the pro-life movement call a preborn person - these people feel that he will be acting as a mind-controlled robot blindly obeying orders the way the Nazis did during World War II. (How many times was that excuse used at the Nuremberg trials after the war to justify a given defendant's behavior?)