Jeez, you’d think with all of the opining Maverick has been doing on religion lately, he’d at least learn something about it. It’s not like Romney’s religious affiliation has gone unnoticed.

At a meeting with the Spartanburg Herald-Journal editorial board, McCain was asked whether Mormons are Christians — a serious issue with many evangelicals, and a potential pitfall for Mitt Romney.

“I don’t know. I respect their faith. I’ve never frankly looked at the Mormon religion. I’ve known a lot of Mormons who are wonderful people,” McCain said. “More importantly, I don’t think it should be held against Gov. Romney. The fact that he’s a Mormon should not be a factor in people’s judgment.”

Then again, I’d be willing to bet that McCain does know a thing or two about the Latter Day Saints but is hedging his bets because a pretty sizable portion of his constituency doesn’t define “Christian” as “someone who believes in God and follows the teachings of Jesus” but “someone who agrees with fundamentalist interpretations of the Bible and has fully-immersed themselves in the self-described ‘Christian’ subculture”. In other words, even if he knows that Mormonism is a form of Christianity, he wouldn’t say so publicly out of fear that he’d hurt the feelings of religious voters who object to the word “Christian” being used for any religion but theirs.

In other words, if he said “yes, Mormons are Christians” he’d make the religious base he’s been desperately courting have to learn something about faiths other than their own. Just kidding, they’d just react in a knee-jerk manner and vow to start a third party. But if he said “No, Mormons aren’t Christians” he’d alienate not only Mormons (who already have a candidate anyways), but he’d be reaffirming the notion that “Christian” is a label that can only be applied to fundamentalists, which might not sit well with the centrists who are still dumb enough to believe McCain is a straight-talker (both of them).

These are the sorts of ridiculous Catch-22’s politicians find themselves in when religion and politics mix. It would be nice for once to hear a candidate respond to a question about “faith” with something like “I’d love to discuss religion with you, but right now I’d rather talk about how we can provide universal healthcare, end the war, etc.” Barring that, if religious candidates insist on mixing the two, it would be nice to actually debate these issues without being considered an anti-religious bigot. If somebody insists that America is a Christian nation (like McCain did), those who disagree should, at the very least, get to respond by saying “There’s absolutely no basis for that. Here’s the Bible. Here’s the U.S. Constitution. If you’re going to make a claim like that, back it up.”