Oh. My. Gawd. Mormons don’t drink coffee? Or alcohol? And they believe in an afterlife where souls are still up for grabs? Insane. I also hear those secret underwear turn into spacesuits when the temple rocketships launch at rapture.

Can we stop now? Please?

The “specifics” of Romney’s faith are no more outlandish than the “specifics” of any other religion. If an atheist wants to lecture on the weirdness of Mormonism, fine. Anyone following a book they believe is divinely inspired, however, is going to have to work pretty hard at not seeming bigoted or, dare we say, jealous–the recruitment rate and cash reserves of the Church of Jesus Christ these days are nothing to sniff at, after all–since no Mormon belief is any crazier than what Catholic, Jewish, Muslim or Protestant beliefs look like to someone outside of those faiths. If you’re an evangelical who buys into all the great and miraculous events of the Old and New Testament you need not convert to Mormonism to recognize the miracles of the Book of Mormon are not so excessive in comparison. Not by a long shot.

By all means let’s see all the Giuliani and Thompson press releases attacking Romney dutifully cut and pasted in here. He deserves some of it, no doubt. As for his religion, its reputation should neither rise or fall with the speech Mitt Romney gives tomorrow. Many of those who happen to also practice his religion are great Americans–I know and love many Mormons myself–who do not deserve to be belittled by people who want to hang onto what is apparently, shamefully one of the last acceptable prejudices to publicly declare.

More than one pundit has posited Mitt Romney must tread softly tomorrow to avoid giving the impression that he’s calling those among the religious right who harbor these prejudices bigots. Happily, I am not running for president and therefore not bound by the same constraints.