General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I have lost much respect for Mormons in getting to know Romney [View all]wickerwoman
(5,662 posts)was that Romney is the equivalent of the pedophile priests and my grandmother was the equivalent of other Mormons. She goes to church because she's done it her whole life. It's her community. Since her kids moved away, it's the local church that looks in on her and makes sure she's doing OK and gives her a reason to get out of bed most days. I'm sure she does put money in the collection plate and I'm sure some of it goes to pay off child rape victims (just like some of your taxes go toward paying for landmines that cripple children). The church does other things as well and if she chooses to be a member after balancing the good with the bad that's her call.
I'm an atheist and I'm sure as shit not here to defend the Catholic church (or any other church for that matter). Religion is a set of ideas, but it's also wrapped up in culture and ethnicity. There's an even better example down thread. Would it be OK to say "I used to think Jews were smart until I met Joe Liebermen"? Of course not. So why is it fine to say "I used to think Mormons were hardworking until I met Romney"? Any "I used to think x group were y trait until I met z individual" sentence is clearly expressing both a stereotype in the first part and a broad brush in the second.
And like I said in a previous post, criticise religion all you want. I criticise it all the time. But don't criticise individual members of that religion based on behaviour exhibited by other individuals just because they happen to belong to the same group. That's not criticising "choice"; it's displaying prejudice and the assumption of guilt by association.