The Big White Rabbit Revisited

We are a year away from electing a new president and right now it seems likely that the front runner for the most powerful leader in the world is a guy in magic underwear. There are many circles in which I would be lambasted for a statement like that. Criticizing or ridiculing a political candidate's religion is considered as distasteful as ridiculing or criticizing his race. This is ridiculous of course. You choose your religion. You don't choose your race, sex, or sexual preference. Those type of prejudices should be frowned upon and those classes protected. Idiotic beliefs and ideologies should not. Ridiculing religion should be considered a virtue. Let's look at it this way...

Imagine that there was a presidential candidate who claimed to see, speak to, and derive his moral beliefs from a big, white, talking, rabbit that grants wishes. Would you vote for them? Would you feel that this would be a good enough reason not to? Imagine what you would think if a candidate for the most powerful position on the planet were to begin his speech, "I would like to first thank the big, white, talking, rabbit, without whom, none of this would be possible." What would you think? Would you be ready to hand over the keys to the kingdom to such a lunatic? Would you see nothing wrong with making this whackjob the head of the most powerful military force on the planet?

We ought to question our religious leader's beliefs, particularly when those beliefs are nonsensical, racist, homophobic, sexist, classist, or simply illogical. The inability to think logically in regards to existential issues could very well be indicative of a larger problem. The guy who can't see that there's no magic in them thar undies, may not be capable of recognizing other obvious truths, like the fact that "trickle-down economics" has never helped the middle class. The guy who is incapable of thinking beyond the outdated, barbarous morality of the bible, is probably not the guy who should be electing judges to the Supreme Court.

"The big, white, rabbit says that all children should remain ignorant until they reach voting age, therefore I'm withdrawing all funding from public education."

Not outside the realm of possibility. Would you respect a candidate's right to such a moronic belief?

The idea that religious beliefs should be above scrutiny and their adherents beyond question is a bizarre one. These are the beliefs that guide their actions, shape their opinions and their world view. For our worlds leaders, these are the beliefs upon which public policy will be based and laws and constitutional amendments will be drafted. I want to know if a guy's religion once considered women as cattle and black people as evil (and yes, I'm talking about Mormonism.) Of all the beliefs and ideas a candidate holds, their religious beliefs should be the ones most heavily scrutinized.

The reason why it is still legal to discriminate against an entire class of citizens and deny them the same rights as other Americans is because of what some ignorant goat-herders wrote in a book two thousand years ago when people still thought the world was flat, the sky was made of water, and demons caused diseases. If you're a homosexual, you may want to consider that little tidbit when deciding who to vote for. A member of The Evangelical Church is probably not going to protect your rights. If you're black, you may want to look at the Mormon Church's history regarding their darker brethren.

This from one of the prophets of the LDS church, Brigham Young:

"You see some classes of the human family that are BLACK, UNCOUTH, UNCOMELY, DISAGREEABLE and LOW in their habits, WILD, and seemingly DEPRIVED OF NEARLY ALL THE BLESSINGS OF THE INTELLIGENCE that is generally bestowed upon mankind. The first man that committed the odious crime of killing one of his brethren will be cursed the longest of any one of the children of Adam. Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been KILLED, and THAT WOULD HAVE PUT A TERMINATION TO THAT LINE OF HUMAN BEINGS. This was not to be, and the Lord put A MARK upon him, which is THE FLAT NOSE AND BLACK SKIN. Trace mankind down to after the flood, and then another curse is pronounced upon the same race -- that they should be the "servants of servants;" and they will be, until that curse is removed; and the Abolitionists cannot help it, nor in the least alter that decree." LDS "Prophet" Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 7, p. 290

"Ham will continue to be servant of servants, as the Lord decreed, until the curse is removed. Will the present struggle [the U.S. civil war] free the slave? No.... Can you destroy the decrees of the Almighty? You cannot." LDS "Prophet" Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 10, p. 250

And what about the ideas and opinions espoused by the founder of the Mormon faith?:

"Not only was Cain called upon to suffer, but because of his wickedness he became THE FATHER OF AN INFERIOR RACE. A curse was placed upon him and that curse has been continued through his lineage and must do so WHILE TIME ENDURES. Millions of souls have come into this world cursed with a BLACK SKIN and have been DENIED THE PRIVILEGE OF PRIESTHOOD and the fulness of the blessings of the Gospel. These are the descendants of Cain. Moreover, they have been made to FEEL THEIR INFERIORITY and have been SEPARATED from the rest of mankind from the beginning. Enoch saw the people of Canaan, descendants of Cain, and he says, 'and there was a blackness came upon all the children of Canaan, that they were DESPISED AMONG ALL PEOPLE.'" LDS "Prophet" Joseph Fielding Smith, The Way to Perfection, pp. 101-102

(Quotes courtesy of exmormon.org)

Now, we are asked to leave these racist beliefs unmolested? Yes, the Mormon church has made strides to change their views toward Black people in recent years, but should we not at least broach the subject with a potential world leader? "Do you believe that the two greatest prophets of the faith you claim were wrong in regards to African Americans?" Shouldn't we ask this?

What about the Mormon religion's stance on equal rights for women?

Deborah Laake, who was excommunicated in 1993 for writing Secret Ceremonies, states that "it had been repeatedly impressed on me that if I failed to marry a faithful Mormon man...in a Mormon temple, I would be denied access to the highest level of Mormon heaven" (Laake 4).

According to Laake: "The patriarchal order is of divine origin and will continue throughout time and eternity" (Laake 39).

"I'd been conditioned to believe that if I didn't have babies, I wasn't worth much. Having children was what women were made for"

Mitt Romney, once a Bishop in the Mormon church, is credited with having had a "change of heart" in regards to gender politics and the role of women in church and society. Once, as reported by The Salt Lake Tribune in their article "Mitt Romney's Mormon Evolution" (November 22, 2011), Romney held views that paralleled the views of the church. Nancy Dredge, a 67-year-old descendant of Mormon apostle Brigham Young, recalled one instance in which Romney called her into his office to discuss the women’s requests to play a more active role in the church. "He said, ‘I’ve got a great job for you, to write up the notes for the men’s meetings!’ He didn’t get it," she said. "He thought we would be thrilled."

So, should a candidate's big, white, rabbits be left out of the discussion? Should we not consider the impact these fanciful creatures have on a candidate's political agendas? If we were talking about a Muslim, agreement would be almost unanimous. He would be grilled without relent over every aspect of his faith as Obama was. And rightly so. It seems that only popular, "acceptable" religions are afforded these extraordinary protections. Every leader who adheres to "magical thinking" should be interrogated on these beliefs be they Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Scientologist, or Mormon.

Should we take the risk that Christians who believe homosexuals are an abomination might make "laying with a man as with a woman" punishable by death? Should we take the risk that Mormon's who believe all African Americans are decedents of Cain and inherently evil and inferior might rescind or ignore equal rights legislation? Fail to uphold civil rights laws or prosecute civil rights abuses. Should we take the risk that they might fail to prosecute abuses against women or uphold laws meant to prevent gender bias? What about if we discovered that a candidate had a big, white, rabbit that told him America was the new Sodom and Gomorrah and must be destroyed by fire? Is that a belief that we should respect?

Call me prejudice if you will, but the guy in the magic undies probably won't be getting my vote, not unless he can convince me that his faith is a mere personal eccentricity and won't be influencing his politics. In other words, he needs to keep his big, white, rabbit in the closet with other bizarre personal fetishes like the guy who likes to wear diapers and get caned by women in black latex. I have much more respect for that guy then the guy who carries his fetishes up onto the podium with him and puts it into campaign speeches.