Doing the decent things

Jonah Goldberg:

Personally, while I’m intellectually curious about Mormonism — the topic du jour because of Mitt Romney’s big religion speech this week — I really can’t get worked up about the topic.

Romney says that his faith informs his values, and I believe him. I also think he’s generally right about the importance of faith in a free society. But, ultimately, I don’t much care why he’s a decent guy; I just care that he’s decent.

In fact, I think we get too hung up on motivations, particularly when it comes to religion.

For example, many Christian conservatives support Israel and look kindly on Jews because they believe they have a holy duty to do so. The Messiah will not return, according to the book of Revelation, until the Jews restore the Kingdom of Israel.

Evangelical Christians believe that when the Messiah returns, things won’t go too well for the Jews — two thirds die, one third convert. Gershom Gorenberg, author of The End of Days, once complained to 60 Minutes, “As a Jew, I can’t feel very comfortable with the affections of somebody who looks forward to that scenario.”

Well, boohoo. In the horrible annals of Jewish problems, the fact that a whole bunch of Christians love Jews for the “wrong” reasons has got to rank pretty low. Besides, since presumably Jews don’t believe in Christian prophecy, what’s the problem? If it’s not true, then no harm, no foul. If it is true, well, who are we to argue with God? My guess is God’s response to the morally decent Jew who gets really worked up about this would be something akin to “Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered.”

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We can't get too hung up on the differences that separate the Mormon faith from the rest of the Christian world. While they might like to convert us, they usually use young men in white shirts and ride bicycles. Even in Utah they impose no religious test on who can run for office anymore than the Baptist do in Arkansas. Bill Clinton is certainly proof of the latter since he was no saint.