A cult by any other name...

There may come a day, although probably not in my lifetime, when a Scientologist is a viable candidate for President of the United States. Give it a hundred years or so. Because when you figure the exponential rate of progress, that would pretty much jibe with having a Mormon run for president just shy of two centuries after that religion’s founding.

Some might look askance at the prospect; after all, isn’t Scientology a cult? That may be true, but it’s no less a cult than Mormonism was in the early 1800s. And if some Americans (arguably not as many as necessary) are willing to install in the White House a person who accepts as truth that religion’s foundation, revelations, and cosmology, then there’s no reason to suppose that after another century citizens won’t be just as willing to give a pass to someone who accepts L. Ron Hubbard’s science fiction as gospel.

Today’s cult is tomorrow’s mainstream faith, and you can work that backward as well. All it takes is indoctrination by family and community to accept the most outlandish claims as truth. Mitt Romney probably believes what he was brought up to believe because, like most of us, he doesn’t pause to question it. But really, Mitt: inscriptions on gold plates? magic underwear? baptizing the dead? (And really, so many of you others: virgin birth? god in three persons? transubstantiation?)

Considering today’s brouhaha over insurance coverage for contraception, there’s no question that things have gotten out of hand when “religious freedom” is invoked in order to give religion the freedom to quash the rights of individuals who may not even subscribe to its mandates. And giving free rein to religion is but a step toward allowing religion to reign over us all.

Romney’s religion might seem strange to some, but I suspect that, if elected, he would be just as unlikely to impose his beliefs on America as our first Catholic president JFK was. Maybe in his heart of hearts, he knows it’s all pretty silly. Rick Santorum, however, is another matter entirely. Because he represents the most dangerous cult of all, America’s equivalent of the Taliban.

At least a Scientologist candidate might make things interesting.