Let me paraphrase Mitt Romney: Don't hate me for my religion, hate atheists and agnostics for theirs!
This is his JFK speech on religious tolerance? This must be a joke. How is anyone taking this seriously?
Here is the exact quote from Romney's speech:
"It is as if they're intent on establishing a new religion in America - the religion of secularism. They're wrong."
How about if I said this:
"It is as if Romney is intent on establishing a new religion in America -- the religion of Mormonism. He is wrong."
Well, actually there would be nothing wrong with that since Mormonism is wrong. Their prophet looked into a magic hat to read magic tablets with his magic glasses. Magic hat? Really?
I'm agnostic. I don't believe in any of the major, organized religions. So, I'm not singling out Mormonism. There are patently absurd parts of all of the religious texts (in fact, most of the texts). I'm always amused by Christians -- who believe the magic man Jesus is going to suck them up into heaven while the rest of us die fiery deaths -- making fun of Mormons for their quizzical beliefs.
But this isn't about legitimate criticism of each other's beliefs. It's one thing to criticize a person's religious beliefs and it's another to do it while pretending to give a speech about religious tolerance.
I don't think there's anything wrong with Romney criticizing atheists or agnostics. I also don't think there's anything wrong with him criticizing the people who set up the "religion" of secularism in this country, namely George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, etc.
He's not going to get my vote, but thanks to the people he criticizes, it's a free country. He can believe and say anything he likes. Just don't pretend to be tolerant while you're doing it.