We’ve written in the past about the very thin line that separates an acceptable expression of racial or ethnic bias from an unacceptable one — for instance, the tumult over Andy Rooney writing that “today’s baseball stars are all guys named Rodriguez to me.” As we wrote in Freakonomics, evidence from the TV show Weakest Link suggested that bias against women and blacks was considered less acceptable than bias against Latinos and the elderly.
Today’s Wall Street Journal has a good piece about the degree to which anti-Mormon sentiment hobbled Mitt Romney‘s campaign. (“Mr. Romney’s campaign exposed a surprisingly virulent strain of anti-Mormonism that had been largely hidden to the general public,” writes Suzanne Sataline.) It cites an NBC News/Journal poll in which 50 percent of the respondents said they had “reservations” or would be “very uncomfortable” about a Mormon becoming president, while 81 percent would be “enthusiastic” or “comfortable” with an African-American president and 76 percent with a female president.
And in today’s Times, there’s an article about a high school principal named Shimon Waronker, a Hasidic Jew, who took over a troubled middle school in the Bronx whose students are mostly black and Latino. So far, Waronker’s tenure seems to have been pretty successful. Even though the article is inherently about a clash of cultures, I was pretty shocked to read the following:
Some parents at J.H.S. 22 … were suspicious, viewing Mr. Waronker as too much an outsider. In fact, one parent, Angie Vazquez, 37, acknowledged that her upbringing had led her to wonder: “Wow, we’re going to have a Jewish person, what’s going to happen? Are the kids going to have to pay for lunch?”
Hmm. Is Ms. Vazquez’s bias acceptable because she “acknowledged that her upbringing led her to wonder” it? What kind of debate did the reporter (Elisa Gootman) and her editors have about including this quote? If a black principal took over a yeshiva, would a similar quote in reverse from a Jewish parent have made the newspaper?
Based on today’s newspapers, at least, it looks like Hasidic Jews and Mormons probably wouldn’t have done so well on Weakest Link either.
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Bias towards people based on the color of their skin, gender or sexual orientation and bias towards those of a certain faith are two different things. People have no control over whether they are born black, white, male, female, straight or gay.
When you get right down to it, religion is a set of beliefs, and I reserve the right to say that someones set of beliefs is completely wrong. If someone believes that beating children is right, of course I am going to be biased towards them. If someone believes that polygamy is acceptable, I will be biased towards them as well. It makes not difference that that belief is sanctioned by some ‘religion.’
No one held a gun to anyone’s head and forced Romney to become a Mormon, so his status as such is a reflection of his beliefs and values. This is not to say that all religions are wrong or that people should be biased towards people simply because they are religious. However, if values extolled by that religion are in direct conflict with your own morals, you should by all means be biased towards anyone that chooses that religion.
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Geez AaronS; I’ve never seen so much misuse and overuse of the comma and dependent clause, respectively, in my life.
I have no doubt that a similar quote about a black principal in the same situation would not make the paper.
“even to the point of attempting to overturn established law, such as Roe v. Wade…”
Wow, such willful ignorance.
First, where did the concept of the rule of law (vs. the rule of the meanest person around) come from?
Second, didn’t Roe v. Wade overturn a law that was several thousand years old, about not killing? Perhaps you’ve heard of those laws, those ones that provided the basis for Western Civilization?
Apparently having a bias against people of faith is acceptable for y’all. Just ponder that you have the wondrous privilege to do so, living in a time and place created by thousands of years of Judeo-Christian work and tradition.
“What’s so awful about having “reservations” with the prospect of a Mormon president?”
Alex, I’m not sure how the question was worded, but I took it to mean that these people were uncomfortable with a Mormon president, but not a president of some other religion.
I am a Protestant and in the past I thought of Mormons as kind of silly. My sister used to work for one, and when she told me about some of the things he believed, we both had a good laugh over it.
But then I read this blog post: http://ken-jennings.com/blog/?p=414
It was written by Ken Jennings, former Jeopardy champ. (I read his blog for the trivia questions/games.) He says, in part:
“Realize that pretty much all religious belief is fundamentally irrational. Weisberg write that the founding myth of the LDS church–unschooled 19th-century farm boy claims that an angel led him to buried metal plates, which he then translated through miraculous means into a book of scripture–is so a priori stupid that he should be allowed his pot-shots. Sure, he allows, this is no weirder than what lies beneath any other religion–virgin birth, the parting of the Red Sea, Gabriel’s delivery of the Qur’an.”
That’s when I started thinking, if I believe in a “big invisible man in the sky” as George Carlin calls it, who am I to think someone else is silly for believing in different irrational/impossible things?
Indeed, let’s be sure to exclude those born-again Christians who, thinking it is a heaven or hell issue, determine to live lives of integrity, fairness, and goodness. Heaven knows, we need men in office whose only governing ethical principle is to serve themselves.
I don’t at all suppose that every Christian candidate would live up to such standards (perhaps none of them would), but take heed, those who are ignorant of Christianity, that because I believe in Armageddon does not mean that I want it to take place, or wish to hasten the day.
Nor does it believe that I am blindly pro-Israel. In fact, a true Christian–one that would speak the truth, no matter what, as did Jesus–would have no problem with taking Israel (or the Palestinians) to task for wrong-doing.
I think Martin Luther King, Jr. demonstrates the good that can come from Christian leadership.
For that matter, just watch the movie, “Amazing Grace” and see what Christian leadership did for the slave trade in England.
Read the history of America and find that the issue of slavery was, on some level, a struggle between theology/doctrine, and, thankfully, the abolitionist side of the argument won.
Yes, give me CHRISTIAN leadership–TRUE Christian leadership–for then I will know that I am governed with the best of intentions.
This story and the comments therein reveal one of the biggest problems I have with America. We have to get over religion. I don’t understand why people believe any of that stuff, but it doesn’t really matter. I just wish they’d stop sniping at each other over it, and especially wish they’d stop disqualifying each other for public office over it.
Mormonism is no more silly than any other religion.
The fact the the evangelical vote has become so powerful is frightening to me. Let’s be honest – they are clear the only things that matter to them are gay marriage and abortion, and nominating judges to prevent either. All other matters such as constitutional authority, civil right and personal freedom, fiscal and monetary policy are thrown to the wayside. And wars are ok as long as you kills Muslims. I am no bleeding heart liberal but these guys scare me. Of course they wouldn’t vote for Romney, they can only see one thing- religion. So a guy like Huckabee becomes the first presidential hopeful to preach for his stump speech.
We have a constitution. That is what the president swears to uphold. If Romeny, Mcain Hillary or Obama have shown the propensity to uphold that constitution they should be electable, regardless of black, white, jewish, catholic, even evangelical
Since when are “reservations” synonymous with “biases”?
I have reservations about a Mormon president, as I do about any Christian president, Jewish president, Muslim, atheist, or president with any other form of defined beliefs. Fact is, I have reservations about any president that believes A and not B. Heck, I have reservations about my own beliefs!
The minute we stop reserving our judgments altogether is the moment we start turning our leaders into gods.