Church Public Affairs managing director Michael Otterson’s recent “On Faith” blog post directed to an evangelical critic of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has generated hundreds of comments from readers with many viewpoints.
The evangelical critic suggested that voting for a Mormon – any Mormon – is a less responsible thing to do. In the comment section, many readers spoke of the need for religious tolerance and agreed that a candidate’s beliefs should not disqualify him or her for public office. Here are just a few comments that came to the Church’s defense:
- Speaking as a Catholic, I wish simply to support and express agreement with virtually every point made by Mr. Otterson in his graceful and cogent defense of Mormons against attacks of evangelicals. Whenever Christians attack other Christians or make outrageous claims that they are unfit for public office, for instance, it is invariably based on ignorance and even a rigid determination not to learn the truth about another's faith.
- What an articulate response; it could not be better stated. This nation is a nation of many faiths and beliefs. We need to be more tolerant, and we need to remember that words of anger and hate don't really get us anywhere. We have enough actual wars to worry about amongst our nations. So, let us not spend our time, energies, and words warring against each other, when in the end we both want the same thing: peace and truth. Hatred will never help us reach that goal.
If you haven’t done so already, we invite you to join the conversation on the "On Faith" blog.