How to handle the taboo topics of politics & religion Forum

[mollywood]

After searching through the forums, I've gotten the impression that the common consensus is to steer clear of politics & religion in applications, which makes perfect sense. I obviously don't want to write anything in poor taste, offend adcomms, etc. However, it is pretty much impossible to eliminate politics & religion from my application as almost all of my work experience comes from interning for political think tanks & advocacy organizations, I'm a recently returned LDS missionary, and almost all of my activities in college centered around my political beliefs and my faith. Additionally, the reason I want to go to law school itself is political and religious, as I'm passionate about religious liberty and hope to pursue a career relating to that.

So, I don't see any reasonable way to keep politics and religion out of my application. Is there any advice on how to handle the topics in a way that won't offend people or hurt my chances of admission?

[benwyatt]

Post removed.

[pancakes3]

Just limit yourself to talking about the experience itself without getting into ideology. Talk about what you did and what you learned. You'll tip off the adcomm that you're LDS and X political party but they're not going to ding you for that on face value.

[PoopyPants]

Steering clear of religion and politics in general is good advice for most people because it polarizes the interaction and can leave the listener or reader feeling attacked or, at the very least, like you don't play well with other viewpoints. Not the image you want to give to adcomms.

But, it is totally possible to write about an experience with religious or political overtones without sounding condescending or like a zealot. Just leave out your actual viewpoints and focus on the experience.