by Dan Hiland

Created on: May 09, 2009

If Mitt Romney's recent presidential campaign taught us anything, it was the fact that religious prejudice still exists in the less than hallowed halls of the American political process. And though he received numerous endorsements from prominent evangelical leaders such as Jay Sekulow, Mark DeMoss, Robert Wolgemuth, and the head of Bob Jones University, misinformation and fear about the Mormon religion destroyed Romney's chances.

Of course, this isn't the first time the voters have seen this occur. Kennedy endured the same type of resistance in his day, though overcoming it in the end.

The problem Romney has isn't one of image. He has the credentials and he can list them all day long, for those willing to listen. It has more to do with the mainstream media's attraction to people they believe the voters will feel most comfortable with.

People you or I could sit down with at the dinner table and chew the proverbial fat.

People you or I feel they could trust, no matter what.

People like Mike Huckabee.

It should give voters pause any time the media flocks to any one candidate for insight about an opponent, because that is usually a sign that they have found their man- the one they can use to their own ends and purposes.

Think about it. Mike is an evangelical. A Christian. Like the media, he wants us to believe that he espouses all the good things Americans stand for- the Judeo-Christian ethic, if you will. But like the media, he also wants us to believe that anything that even has the appearance of being out of the cultural mainstream is to be investigated but not invested in- at least for now.

And Mike's biggest object of mistrust during the campaign was Mitt Romney's religious preference. When he wasn't talking trash about Romney's affiliation with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints- the Church's proper name and one I don't ever remember hearing him utter during the campaign- he was back-pedaling about said comments. And all the while the anti-Mormon sub-text ran on in the background: "No, ladies and gentlemen. I'm not saying that Mormons are devil worshippers or polygamists, blah-blah-blah."

Ignoring the fact that this type of dialogue is offensive and smacks of bigotry, media outlets across our fair land continued to broadcast the Huckster's veiled hate-speech. And why? Because they knew what Mike knew: that if you can stir up enough old fears and prejudices in the minds of enough people, you've got them right where you want them.

And if the purveyor of said myths and misconceptions is charismatic enough, the viewers will assume that because individual is on nationwide TV, he must be "okay." He must be one of us.

Which brings us back to the Mormon-in the-White-House issue.

And given the current political climate, where religious bigotry is alive and well, Romney's chances are about as good as those of a snowball lasting more than two minutes in the theological place of eternal punishment.

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