Rabbi, scholar challenge religious bigotry in presidential politics

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach doesn't believe in the same religious teachings and principles espoused by presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman.

"Nor should it matter," he writes in the Jerusalem Post. "It is what a person does, rather than what they believe, that counts."

Rabbi Shmuley, often referred to as "America's Rabbi" because of his fame and popularity as a best-selling author and radio talk show host, writes of his long association with members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, beginning with Southern Utah University President Michael T. Benson, whom he befriended while the two were students at Oxford.

As a result of these associations, Rabbi Shmuley says he sees nothing to fear in the possibility of a Mormon president. All political candidates, he says, "should be judged on their merits as people and politicians, whatever their faith and whatever their beliefs."

In fact, the rabbi says he has been "amused" by evangelical Christians who ask if people "with such strange beliefs" should be trusted with high office.

"This is an interesting question coming from my evangelical brothers and sisters whose belief that a man, born of a virgin, was the son of God, only to die on a cross, and then be resurrected," Rabbi Shmuley writes. "With all due respect, that's not exactly the most rational belief, either.

"The criticisms are equally interesting coming from Orthodox Jews, like myself," he continued, "who believe that the Red Sea split, a donkey talked to Balaam and the sun stood still for Joshua."

Rabbi Shmuley's article also explores the notion of religious fanaticism and talks about the difference between worshipping God and worshipping religion.

Hence, the rabbi writes, "our concern need not be with a person's faith in public office. It does not matter if they are Jewish, evangelical, Mormon or Muslim. What does matter is whether their faith is focused on relating to God and, by extension, caring for God's children."

Taking the discussion a step further, scholar and editor Walter Russell Mead takes issue with the New York Times generally and Times contributor Harold Bloom specifically for what he calls "a recent spate of alarmist editorials about the faith of Mitt Romney."