Faith And The 2012 Republican National Convention
By Believe Out Loud
The Republican National Convention kicks off in earnest Tuesday due to Tropical Storm Isaac nearing Tampa, Fla. Today, we’ll hear from many Republican leaders including House Speaker John Boehner, New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and Ann Romney, wife of Governor Mitt Romney. While politics will play its role throughout the next three days, what role will be played by faith?
As noted in the CNN Belief blog, faith will be an important part of the RNC experience. Mitt Romney is the first Mormon to be elected to a major political party. The Public Religion Research Institute found that 42% of Americans are still not comfortable with a Mormon as President, and months into the campaign, many still have little understanding of what Mormonism is. Unfortunately, what many people do know about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that it has taken significant steps to work against LGBT equality. Most notably, it donated over $180,000 to fund the 2008 Prop 8 campaign to prevent gay and transgender people from having the right to marry. There are many Mormon families supportive of LGBT equality who are working to change the culture within their faith. Though, Mitt Romney is not one of them.
Romney will use the convention to introduce himself to America and it will be preceded with a benediction by the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez. While some have tried to classify Rodriguez, President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, as a “centrist”, Religion Dispatches offers a deeper look at what that really means. This spring Rodriguez wrote in an OpEd to Fox news that “President Obama’s support of same sex marriage does not reflect the sentiment of the majority of African Americans or Hispanics.” This is not true. According to recent polls, a majority of African-Americans and Hispanics are in favor of marriage equality. Hispanic Christians, despite what Rodriguez has stated, are supportive of the equal treatment of all people. Rev. Miguel de la Torre said earlier this year, “We who are Latino/as know a thing or two about marginalization. We understand the pain of being disenfranchised simply because of our identity. For Hispanics to engage in the oppression of other groups due to their identity makes us no better than those who continuously and historically marginalize us.”
On Thursday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan will offer the closing prayer at the convention. While neither Cardinal Dolan nor Congressman Paul Ryan (the Catholic Vice Presidential candidate) believe in the full equality of gay and transgender people, a majority of Catholics in the United States do. Many Catholics would like to see the church leadership become inclusive of gay and transgender people, especially because of the damage unwelcoming theology has on gay and transgender youth.
While Christian leaders in the RNC lineup show little indication of support for LGBT equality, there is still hope that many can journey towards becoming allies of gay and transgender equality. There are many Republican Christian leaders who have already done this including San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, former Vice President Dick Cheney, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former First Lady Laura Bush to name a few. What will it take for these others to get there too?
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