In talking about the religion question with Kennedy, I decided to look at the current situation with Romney. I found an article talking about the awareness of the religion Mitt Romney among the American people. In general, I got the impression that the average person today doesn’t consider a candidate’s religion of too much importance compared to Kennedy’s time. According to the article, “only 40% of the polled could correctly identify Mitt Romney as a Mormon”. Some (6%) even mislabled him as Protestant or Catholic. Also, when asked of the pervieved difference in religion of them and Romney, more than half of the respondents indicate either that they aren’t sure of Romney’s religion or don’t consider his religion that much different (Jones). It is hard to believe that Kennedy being a Catholic was such a big deal 50 years ago! But after looking at the big picture, it may not be so hard to understand.
When the survey asked respondents of their knowledge of Mormonism in general, 82% reported that they knew little to nothing about Mormonism. However, when asked about the percieved difference of Mormonism, “more than 7-in-10 say the religious beliefs of Mormons are somewhat or very different from their own”. So how can we reconcile this? We have Mormonism, a religion that is considered unknown but different by many Americans. And we have Mitt Romney, a Mormon candidate for which over half of the respondents couldn’t identify as Mormon nor be consistent with their difference on his percieved religious views.
One possible explanation is that Americans don’t pay much attention as they used to for the religion of their statesmen. This is a secular state, after all; the subject of religion, in theory, shouldn’t be a concern. Yet at the same time, it is undeniable that Christianity is a part of the identity Americans associate themselves with. Is religion an obsolete unifier in America? It is possible that as a nation progresses, old traditions that united us together are no longer needed and fade away. However, that wouldn’t explain how historical figures like George Washington are still famous.
Another explanation might be the sensationalism theory about what gets Americans into politics. With Kennedy being the first Catholic President, it might no longer very interesting for even a Mormon to run in an election. Another reason stated in aticle of the Washington Post suggests that in 2012, it has been 4 years since his 2008 campaign and so the Mormon issue has been lessened in impact and interest(Blake). Maybe the only thing to catch America’s attention is if the next runner has a religion outside the realm of Christianity (who knows Judiasm or even atheism?)
Works Cited
Jones, Robert. “Mitt Romney and his Mormon Faith.” Public Religion Research Institute. N.p., 10/10/2011. Web. 15 Nov 2011. <http://publicreligion.org/newsroom/fact-sheets/fact-sheet-romney-mormon-faith/>.
Blake, Aaron. “Why Mitt Romney’s ‘Mormon Question’ doesn’t matter (as much) in 2012.” The FIX. The Washington Post, 10/10/2011. Web. 15 Nov 2011. <why-mitt-romneys-mormon-question-doesnt-matter-as-much-in-2012>.