Religion, Politics and why I'm grateful for my religious leaders

I've always been so grateful that the Brethren have told us to be active citizens but have never told us what to think politically or who to vote for. We have a great tradition of our religious leaders being active as citizens, and I think Brigham Young would probably be very sympathetic to the Green Party, but never do I remember their throwing it in our faces, never do they tell us who to vote for, only to approach this decisions informed and with prayer. I think this is amazing because not only does it show their great leadership, but it also shows their restraint and how they don't strive to influence us unfairly. Honestly, in today's world and political climate, this fact is amazing.

The reason why I find all of this so important is because for the last 30 or so years religion has crept into politics in a weird way. Republican nominees now feel that they have to shore up the conservative front by getting pastors and preachers to endorse them. But now with that we get endorsements from people that don't really represent the values of the politicians. I really have a hard time believing that John McCain thinks that one of the main reasons the U.S. was founded was so that we could destroy the "satanic religion of Islam" because its first prophet received revelation from demons (the clip's a little melodramatic, sorry). For that matter I doubt that the Senator believes that Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for a multitude of sins--or Pastor Hagee's crazy ideas about Israel--or that the Catholic Church is like Hitler. But because of people with religious power meddling into politics, telling their followers who to vote for, Republican leaders have had to pander to these people and even be supposedly thankful for their endorsement.
Barack Obama was eviscerated for someone else's beliefs, (Jeremiah Wright), having to finally, for the millionth time, repudiate Wright' statements and the man himself. It's interesting that John McCain defended Barack Obama on this issue, "I think that when people support you, it doesn't mean that you support everything that they say." I'd wager that it's because McCain doesn't like the fact that pastors and preachers have infiltrated politics.
Even Mike Huckabee said that the Wright issue was bunk, saying that Wright wasn't the issue and that the presidential race "should be about Senator Barack Obama."

--An aside: It's funny that Sean Hannity was pushing McCain so hard on the issue that Jeremiah Wright d---ed America after September 11, but somehow it's okay to let Hagee and Parsley off the hook for similar statements about different disasters.--

This is why I'm grateful that our LDS leaders don't meddle, that they don't ask for political pandering, that they tell us to live the Gospel, trust our conscience and vote based on our beliefs. If these pastors and preachers would get themselves out of politics and not teach crazy, hateful things, allowing their parishioners to vote based on what they feel is best for their family and country, can you imagine how much better off we'd be?

This religious meddling is a large part of why Mitt Romney lost out because he's a demon Mormon wanting the presidency so that he can woo a whole lot of lost souls to the LDS faith from the presidential bully pulpit (coupled with really bad advice from his staff about how to campaign). This is why the last however many weeks were spent on the really minor Jeremiah Wright issue instead of the important problems facing America. This is why McCain--who is so much more conservative and Red, Red, Red Republican than we ever hear--felt that he had to go after an extreme wing of U.S. society.

Religion isn't destroying America, it's the people using religion as a red herring to push crazy ideas.