Are You Christian?

This is an issue of late. Especially in my world. I am imbued in a culture, sometimes by choice, that is currently in the national spotlight. Good 'ol Boy, Mitt Romney, is soliciting the Republican party for the exclusive invitation to run on the Republican ticket in November for the position of Chief Executive. He's seems like a nice enough guy. I even agree with him on some political issues. Others, well, not so much. But then, I tend to disagree with most politicians when they could possibly try and legislate morality.

The U.S. is fascinated by this guy, although not because he is running for the highest office in the land. It's because he's Mormon. Why this is an issue, I struggle to understand. Kennedy was a Catholic and that was controversial, yeah, I know. And almost every president since Washington had some sort of religious conviction. So? Why do we care? What I am struggling to understand is, just that, why we care?

The evangelical right has it's panties in a twist because according to them, Mormons aren't Christian. Stephen A. Douglas accused Lincoln of having no religion, which contributed to his almost loosing the election. Kennedy was Catholic and somehow this would impact his leadership ability. Somewhere in our history we are under the distinct impression that the founding fathers were Christian and that their religious convictions are what spiritually led them in composing the The Constitution and The Bill of Rights. Well, no. The majority of them were not Christian. Spiritually led, perhaps. Led by a religious conviction, sure. But only to make sure that the the Constitution was not written in a "majority favor". They wanted to avoid any religious majority, any heavy leanings one way or the other. They didn't want to be like England.

So, being that one's religious convictions lead them to make decisions in one manor or another, it would seem logical that we would care about one's religion. But whether or not they are Christian? Please. So, again I ask, why do YOU care? For most it seems to come down to semantics. How we, you, I, define what is Christianity. Complicated, perhaps. Wavering vastly on the definitive chart, you bet. And the semantics may not seem all important if we can find commonalities in our differing definitions, except that it may lead us to weaken the integrity of history.

Yet, I still wonder. Although we can argue the day long what the precise definition of Christian is, whether or not the Mormon religion fits the definition and so on, I still don't see how this impacts the ability of one man to hold the office of the President. I also have yet to have someone answer my question. I know why I care or don't care. It impacts the universe in precisely no way. Your opinion, would do the same, impact nothing. But, we still want to know and understand, why do YOU care. Not WHY do you care,(as in why the hell do you care about gay marriage) why do YOU care? (as in what makes it important for you personally) And yes, damn it, there is a difference! Just as there is a difference in "The Panda eats shoots and leaves" and "The Panda eats, shoots and leaves". The comma makes all the difference!!