Mormons for Mitt (Romney)

Okay, I'm about to do something I don't really like to do, but it's unfortunately necessary on an all to regular basis.  I'm going to mix religion with politics; this time "publicly".

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; aka Mormons.  We are subject to the same strengths and weaknesses as any other mortal.  We can have good health or bad, we can be strong of character or weak, we can be courageous or cowardly, outgoing or shy, tall or short, fat or thin, married or single.  We make mistakes; just like anyone else.  We even sometimes make mistakes that go against the teachings of our religion; which can make it appear that we're not devout or actively trying to live the precepts of our religion.  We are, like everyone else on this planet, human.  Oh, and despite the opinions of some folks, we ARE in fact, Christians.  That being said, my following rant is in no way meant to be judgmental of Mitt Romney, or to persuade anyone to vote for him or not vote for him; now or later.

I've noticed a tendency in a lot of people of faith (any faith), to vote for or against a politician solely because of that politician's religion.  Unfortunately, I see this a lot within members of my own faith; especially since, to my knowledge, it's primarily within the last couple of elections that the opportunity to vote for a Mormon for President of the USA has come up.  This is not the way to decide who should represent you and your interests with the government!!!  It doesn't matter what office the person is running for, one needs to carefully, thoughtfully, and even prayerfully, consider all of the information they have about a candidate for office. 

While Mitt Romney was Governor of Massachusetts, he signed into law a piece of legislation allowing gay marriage in that state.  Up until a short while ago during his run for the GOP nomination, his public stance on abortion was totally Pro-Choice.  He suddenly changed it recently to strictly Pro-Life.  Ostensibly, this was to avoid alienating his primary voter base; members of the LDS church.  Now Mitt's REAL reasons for his choices, are a matter between him and God, as no one else can TRULY know for sure.  I don't judge him as being an apostate, or anything similar; that's not my place.  However, as he's asking myself and others of our faith, as well as those not of our faith to vote for him, these choices and the reasons he gives for them are matters for consideration.  These are by no means the ONLY things one should consider when deciding whether or not to vote for Mitt Romney; they're definitely food for thought though, whatever your personal views on those two subjects may be.

I personally have not decided who I will vote for for POTUS (President Of The United States), if it comes down to Mitt Romney and President Obama.  Newt Gingrich and the others trying for the GOP nomination don't stand a chance of getting my vote, for reasons I won't go into at the moment.  My plea to all of you out there however, especially those of my faith as it seems to be a real problem among us, is PLEASE do not use a person's religion as the sole or even primary factor in determining whether or not to vote for them.  A person's religion is only a basic indicator of the kinds of decisions a person might make in life; let alone in office.