# Would Mitt be willing to be excumunicated from his church if it conflicted with his job as President **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 9, 2012, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-mitt-be-willing-to-be-excumunicated-from-his-church-if-it-conflicted-with-his-job-as-president/637191 "2012-10-09T09:23:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-mitt-be-willing-to-be-excumunicated-from-his-church-if-it-conflicted-with-his-job-as-president/637191/1 "2012-10-09T09:23:41Z")
? \<–Heh, ran out of room. Title says it all. And I know anything said is pure speculation, but what do you guys think? ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-mitt-be-willing-to-be-excumunicated-from-his-church-if-it-conflicted-with-his-job-as-president/637191/2 "2012-10-09T09:43:18Z")
Same question came up with JFK. I can’t think of any conceivable circumstance where he would be excommunicated though, Biden wasn’t despite his views on abortion (different religion, I know). Tom Udall has a [100% rating by NARAL](http://www.ontheissues.org/house/tom_udall.htm) and hasn’t been excommunicated either. The list of [excommunicable offences](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excommunication#The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints) include: adultery, polygamy, homosexuality, apostasy, abortion, criticising LDS leaders, teaching false doctrines. None of those will come up as part of the job description. ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-mitt-be-willing-to-be-excumunicated-from-his-church-if-it-conflicted-with-his-job-as-president/637191/3 "2012-10-09T11:00:31Z")
No church with a mandatory 10% tithe is going to even hint at bouncing Romney, unless he doesn’t tithe. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-mitt-be-willing-to-be-excumunicated-from-his-church-if-it-conflicted-with-his-job-as-president/637191/4 "2012-10-09T11:46:59Z")
It is utterly inconceivable that there might be anything Romney would not be willing to do or have done to him in order to get to be president. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-mitt-be-willing-to-be-excumunicated-from-his-church-if-it-conflicted-with-his-job-as-president/637191/5 "2012-10-09T13:58:38Z")
Putting aside the unfortunate misspelling of “excommunicated” in the OP, if you’re the kind of person whose actions in life are determined by Fear of Punishment then you are not going to find yourself ascending to power unless you inherited it directly. It’s a question that is often put to candidates – Romney or JFK specifically about religion but one can also include such cases as Dukakis about the death penalty – and is implicit in any representative democracy: “If what the consensus of public opinion thinks is the Right Thing and what you are absolutely certain in your heart is the Right Thing are in conflict, which will you choose.” We like to claim that we want officials who’ll stand for their conscience but we are afraid to give power to those who would \*absolutely \*do so. It just becomes a more loaded question when you bring in religion, and not just personal ethical beliefs, into the mix. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-mitt-be-willing-to-be-excumunicated-from-his-church-if-it-conflicted-with-his-job-as-president/637191/6 "2012-10-09T16:18:11Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > It is utterly inconceivable that there might be anything Romney would not be willing to do or have done to him in order to get to be president. How about state a specific policy position and not change between now and Nov? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-mitt-be-willing-to-be-excumunicated-from-his-church-if-it-conflicted-with-his-job-as-president/637191/7 "2012-10-09T16:26:29Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > How about state a specific policy position and not change between now and Nov? 🙂 Now that’s just crazy talk! ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-mitt-be-willing-to-be-excumunicated-from-his-church-if-it-conflicted-with-his-job-as-president/637191/8 "2012-10-09T20:27:51Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > How about state a specific policy position and not change between now and Nov? 🙂 Heretic!! ---
**Author:** ![km\_lotusflower](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3d9bf3/32.png) [@km\_lotusflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/km_lotusflower)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-mitt-be-willing-to-be-excumunicated-from-his-church-if-it-conflicted-with-his-job-as-president/637191/9 "2012-10-10T19:35:12Z")
I really appreciate a quality question…!! yahoo!🙂