Ben Franklin, Deist and Person of Faith--->

Some people just sound intelligent. Its an attitude, a modicum of education and a talent for self-expression that often works far better than actually knowing what you're talking about. I know lots of guys that make a good living bluffing their way through life this way.

Andrew Sullivan is one of those guys.

As long as you don't know any better, Andy sounds like he knows what he is talking about.

Fortunately for me, I do know better which is why its been years since I've read his blog with any regularity.

If you can't be brilliant, be outrageous. Go to rehab, get a tattoo and shave your head for some attention--no wait, that's someone else. No matter--the point is still valid. Consider Andy's latest attempt to set his hair on fire.

An Evangelical chauvinist took exception to Romney's presence at a gathering in central Florida and asserted that Mitt doesn't have a friend in Jesus. Sullivan's take? Cast Romney as a bigot.

A Republican Christianist heckles a Mormon candidate in Florida. Romney responds as follows:

We need to have a person of faith lead the country.

How is that not a religious test for the presidency? The anti-Mormon bigotry displayed is ugly and wrong - but it will come up again. Bush and Rove have built a Republican party on a sectarian base - and Romnney (sic) is of the wrong sect. But instead of standing up to this sectarianism, and affirming the right of anyone of any faith or none to be president, Romney panders to religious bias. It seems to me that it is equally bigoted to say that a Mormon should not be president as it is to say that an atheist should not be president.

Wow! Sullivan often affirms his Catholic bona fides, but doesn't seem to grasp the idea that faith is a non-sectarian concept, not even necessarily a religious concept.

This country was founded on faith in crazy, untried but beautiful ideals. Its a country of optimism and vision--a country soaked in faith in itself and its destiny, manifest and otherwise. Romney is right--how can we have a president with no faith--no vision?

Proverbs 29:18

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” [
Proverbs 29:18]

Is nominating faith as a presidential virtue a matter of religious bias? I doubt Benjamin Franklin would accept that. Neither, I think, would Thomas Jefferson--both of them free-thinkers and each a person of faith.