Is Romney also the Antichrist?

Several months ago, I observed a discussion of politics during which a member of my extended family said that President Obama is a sign of the antichrist.  This, of course, wasn’t the first time I’d heard such nonsense, but it was the first time I’d heard it from a member of my family, and it was the first time I thought seriously about why people believe this bullshit.  Rather than ask my family member and thus make an already uncomfortable moment even worse, I decided to find out for myself by conducting an Internet search.   

Websites offering proof that Obama is the antichrist provide so many different reasons that it’s difficult to categorize them, but some common themes do emerge.  One is gay bashing.  The President’s support for gay rights is presented as proof either that he worships the devil, that his election is a sign that the antichrist is coming or that he’s the antichrist himself.  Others are his “forked tongue” and his ability to attract large numbers of followers with his false promises.  He is also accused of rejecting the tenets of Jesus, of drawing from several different religions to form his own belief system, and of couching his lies in the language of Christianity to trick the biblically ignorant masses, a favorite tool of Satan’s.  One video even claims that the Bible names Obama as the antichrist.

Most of this would apply to almost any politician, particularly Mitt Romney, and I’m sure that only a small minority of Americans actually believe that the President is the antichrist, but it does make me wonder if similar nonsense about Romney will proliferate if he’s elected President.  He clearly hasn’t committed the evil deed of supporting gay rights, but his Mormonism and his constantly shifting positions—two of the candidate’s most salient features in the minds of many Americans—mark him as a possible harbinger of the end times, so I suspect that it will.  One website is already offering proof that Romney is the antichrist.

However, it’s also likely that those who believe this will constitute an even smaller minority than those preparing for the Rapture under President Obama.  Both candidates clearly make significant numbers of Americans uncomfortable, but this is truer of Obama, and for people who dislike the President’s policies and can’t countenance the fact that their president has dark skin and an exotic sounding name it’s much easier to claim that he’s the antichrist than it is to evaluate his policies critically and acknowledge that although they might disagree with him, President Obama is a patriotic American who is doing what he believes is best for the country.  Unease about Romney’s Mormonism is assuaged by the knowledge that at least he’s neither black nor Muslim, but this won’t stop everyone from claiming that his bizarre undergarments are signs of his fealty to the Beast.