Is Slate editor Jacob Weisberg a religious bigot for believing that Joseph Smith was a con man?

When I got up early this morning to let our dog out, I read the Time magazine story from this week's issue where Slate's editor Jacob Weisberg is quoted as saying that Mormonism's Joseph Smith was "an obvious con man."

He then says he wants to know if Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney believes in Smith. If he does, Weisberg doesn't want him running the country.

Does that make Weisberg a religious bigot?

Technorati Tags: Jesus Christ, Mitt Romney, Mormonism, Jacob Weisberg, Slate magazine, Time magazine

Trying to understand Mormonism and whether a person's religious beliefs should affect his ability to lead the country, I continued to read.

The Time story further described the Mormon beliefs:

Mormons reject the unified Trinity and teach that God has a body of flesh and blood.

Though Mormons revere Christ as Saviour and certainly call themselves Christians, the church is rooted in a rebuke to traditional Christianity.

Joseph Smith presented himself as a prophet whom God had instructed to restore his true church, since "all their creeds were an abomination in his sight."

If that description of Mormon beliefs is true, then it's hard to package their church as Christian.

In the Old Testament, doesn't God talk about worshipping false gods? Wasn't there a big price to pay for a nation that did that?

How would I define Christian beliefs? Go to the Apostle's Creed. That sums it up. Nothing more and nothing less.

No, I don't believe Jacob Weisberg is a religious bigot. He's raising concerns that need to be raised.