Disappointing concerns about Romney’s religion

in Columns, Opinion / by Henry Downes / on June 13, 2012 at 1:59 AM /

If I were to tell you a recent poll had pinpointed one issue involving Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney that would cause almost 30 percent of the electorate “concern,” what might you guess that issue to be? You might guess that his stance on downsizing the government, which would involve massive cuts to education, could be the divisive issue. Maybe you would suggest that his opposition to federal healthcare mandates could be the culprit. You might even point to Gov. Romney’s history with Bain Capital, which has been a hot topic over the past few months in the national news media.

Guess again.

In a shocking survey released at the end of last month by the Wall Street Journal, over one in four respondents cited Romney’s Mormon background as a factor that would “cause either them or their neighbor concern.” Besides the initial surprise I felt after seeing how high that number was, I felt increasingly disappointed in American voters the more I thought about what this poll was really implying.

Less than four years after this country took what seemed to be a massive step forward in race-relations by electing our first African American president, these poll respondents have demonstrated that dangerous stereotypes and biases of other kinds are still very much alive and well in America. To say that more than a quarter of voters would have inhibitions selecting a candidate due to nothing more than his religious beliefs speaks volumes about how much ignorance continues to exist among our electorate.

I would venture to guess that the majority of people who responded affirmatively to the poll have never actually met or held a conversation with a Mormon – even though Mormonism is the fastest-growing U.S. religious denomination. It seems to me that such a lack of regular interaction is the cause of widespread ignorance, which in turn breeds fear and hate; people fear what they do not know. Although it is alarming to me that so many people feel concerned about Romney’s religious beliefs, I can’t really condemn all of them because some might simply lack understanding. Perhaps they truly don’t know much about Mormonism, and what they do hear about the denomination consists of slanted half-truths that paint the religion as a cult-like renegade branch of Christianity. One has to wonder how the American voters and news media would treat a Jewish or Muslim candidate – or even an Atheist candidate – in the future. What about an openly gay candidate? Based on the hostility directed at Romney’s personal beliefs in this election cycle, I can’t say with any certainty that America appears ready to elect a leader whose personal background is anything but mainstream. Maybe our election of Barack Obama as the first black president four years ago was more a symptom of widespread anti-Bush backlash than a signal of significant social progress.

I hope American voters will eventually come to disregard such irrelevant factors as a candidate’s religion, skin color or what they did on spring break in 1975 when choosing the leader of the free world. We can’t afford to reduce our presidential elections to glorified referendums on religion. It’s time to focus on the real issues. President Obama’s campaign has already stated that it won’t attempt to use Gov. Romney’s religious beliefs against him in the race, which is commendable, considering Obama is likely to need all the help he can get while seeking reelection this November. This promising move by the Obama campaign begs the common sense question: If Romney’s political archrival isn’t even willing to consider religion fair game in this election, why should you?

Henry Downes is a sophomore majoring in economics.

Tags: Election 2012, politics, race, religion

http://www.facebook.com/people/Rob-S-Boswell/687970656 Rob S Boswell

Mr. Downes hit it right on the money. It’s absolutely despicable that in a country where people pride themselves on open-mindedness, fairness, freedom of speech, and freedom of religious expression, we have such a huge number of citizens who are so prejudiced and narrow-minded that merely a candidate’s religion would be enough concern to cause them to vote against the candidate. You’re right-America has come very far in at least not allowing prejudices over race to influence their voting. But when it comes to religion, many Americans are still in the Stone Age. It’s quite disturbing, especially since the founders of the nation affirmed in Article 6 of the Constitution that ”
no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” Put it simply, we have a long way to go as Americans before we honor the Constitution the way we should.
- http://twitter.com/fkratz Fred Kratz
  
  It should be pointed out that the electorate has every right to inquire about a candidate’s religious belief. Because belief shapes world views and is a part of the window through which one views the world.
  
  Article 6, the No Religious Test Clause, prohibits the government from requiring that a candidate bind themselves through oath or affirmation to a particular religious belief. Which means that Article 6 is a protection for the candidate from government, not a prohibition of the electorate to question a candidate’s religion.
  
  Do you understand how critical the difference is?
Thomas Thompson

You have a very valid point, however consider that the issue may be less that Mr. Romney is a Mormon, and more that people believe his faith will dictate his policies. Those are two very different things. The first, I could care less about, the second worries me. In a nation were we are repeatedly seeing attempts to make laws that appear based on enforcing religious beliefs, to see someone from a religion that many may not really understand, or agree with the history of, can be worrisome
- KTCJohn
  
  Well, look at the facts. How many of the policies of Harry Reid, Orrin Hatch, and 13 other members of congress have been “dictated” by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Mormons have held every federal cabinet position except Homeland Security. How many of the policies of those cabinet members have been dictated by the Church? Several governors have been LDS. How many of their policies were dictated by the Church? The governor of Utah once asked the President of the LDS Church, “what can I do for you?” President Hinckley responded: “You run state government, and I will run the Church.”
NamVet_Exmo

How can evangelicals, who claim Jesus is the most important thing in their life, justify voting for Romney who has spent his life engaging in work that they feel is damning people to eternal punishment?

see mormonthink.com
- KTCJohn
  
  Mormons claim that Jesus is the most important thing in their lives, too, and that his atonement is the most important event in history. Here’s the simple difference. Mormons believe that their religion is a restoration of original Christianity through revelation to modern prophets, and that their religion matches the New Testament church. Evangelicals cling to the Christianity that developed as a result of the non-Biblical creeds of the 4th century. Evangelicals are Nicean Christians who believe in a “one substance” “Trinity.” Neither of those terms is contained in the Bible. The Mormon Jesus is the personal resurrected Jesus with flesh and bones (Luke 24:39) and the same Jesus who will return. (Act 1:11). The Evangelicals deny the physical resurrection by worshipping a Jesus who has somehow unexplanably combined with two other members of the Godhead. Oh yea, there is one other difference. Evangelicals claim Mormons are not Christians, but not vice versa.
  - NamVet_Exmo
    
    “Evangelicals claim Mormons are not Christians, but not vice versa.”
    
    Liar, liar, pants of fire.
    
    You know mormons refer to all non-mormons as “gentiles” and your church teaches that God himself told your founder, Joseph Smith, that all other christian churches are an abomination.
    
    I hope you’ll challenge the above because I’d love to give the readers about a dozen other doctrines, with documentation, that’ll leave the readers stunned.
    
    See exmormon.org
    - KTCJohn
      
      Nam Vet,
      There are hundreds of organized Christian churches. Each of them has a different set of Christian doctrines. They are either all wrong, or only one of them is right. Those are the only two possibilities. At the time that Christ appeared to 14-year-old Joseph Smith in 1820, to answer young Joseph’s question as to which church was right and which should he join, he was given the answer by Jesus Christ that is set forth in cannoized LDS scripture known as Joseph Smith History 1:19. Note in this scripture that the word “abonimation” applies to “creeds” (Niceane Creed for instance) and not to “churches.” Also, the ”professors” were the professors of religion of Joseph’s day from whom he had sought guidance. This is Mormonism 101, and so the closest thing to “lying” is your distortion and mischaracterization claiming that the word “abomination” applied to all other churches. Here is the exact wording of the scripture about other churches to which I refer so that all readers may read it for themselves:
      ”I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: ‘they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.’” [End of Scripture]
      Just like the scriptures and just like the Jewish religion, we LDS sometimes refer to those who do not believe in our faith as “gentiles.” But that is a totally different context than our purportedly claiming other Christian churches are not entitled to the label of “Christian.” The LDS Church and its leaders have not denounced any other Christian church as non-Christian. In other words, we don’t public denounce any other Christian church as a non-Christian cult or a counterfeit Christian church or the like. Doing that, Nam Vet, would be un-Christian of us.
      - NamVet_Exmo
        
        I hardly know where to begin, but I’ll show the readers how disingenuous you post is. Then I’ll give a dozen mormon church doctrines, as I promised, that’ll leave anyone gasping in disbelief.
        
        First, you say, “….we don’t public(ly) denounce any other Christian church as a non-Christian cult or a counterfeit Christian church or the like.”
        
        *Joseph Smith (First Prophet of the Mormon Church from Apr. 6, 1830 to Jun. 27, 1844) said, “What is it that inspires professors of Christianity generally with a hope of salvation? IT IS THAT SMOOTH, SOPHISTICATED INFLUENCE OF THE DEVIL, by which he deceives the whole world.” (emphasis added) (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 270)
        
        *Brigham Young (Second Prophet of the Mormon Church from Dec. 27, 1847 to Aug. 29, 1877) said, “Should you ask why we differ from other Christians, as they are called, it is simply because THEY ARE NOT CHRISTIANS as the New Testament defines Christianity.” (emphasis added) (Journal of Discourses, vol. 10, p. 230)
        
        *John Taylor (Third Prohhet of the Mormon Church from Oct. 10, 1880 to Jul. 25, 1887) said, “What does the Christian world know about God? NOTHING….WHY SO FAR AS THE THINGS OF GOD ARE CONCERNED, THEY ARE THE VERIEST FOOLS; they know neither God nor the things of God.” (emphasis added) (Journal of Discourses vol. 13, p. 225)
        
        Orson Pratt (Mormon Apostle for 45 years from Apr. 26, 1835 to Aug. 20, 1842* and from Jan. 20, 1843 to Oct. 3, 1881) said, “Both Catholics and Protestants are nothing less than the “Whore of Babylon” whom the Lord denounces…as having corrupted all the earth by their fornications and wickedness…And any person who shall be so wicked as to receive holy ordinance of the gospel from the ministers of any of these apostate churches will be sent down to hell with them, unless they repent of the unholy and impious act.” (The seer, Washington edition-Mormon Church publ. p. 255)
        
        *Orson Pratt’s hiatus from mormon apostleship was a result of his being excommunicated for having accused Joseph Smith of attempting to seduce his wife. Smith had over 30 plural wives-at least 10 of which he married in secrecy without their living husbands knowing.
        
        I could give many other similiar, even more draconian, quotes from your own PROPHETS AND APOSTLES, but I promised to share some jaw-dropping doctrines, policies, etc. of mormonism which I’ll now do.
        
        *The ultimate goal of all mormons is “supposed to be” to become a God.
        *Adam and Eve lived in Jackson County, Missouri
        *Joseph Smith translated the “Golden Plates” into the Book of Mormon by placing his head in a hat that contained a “Seer Stone. (This was the same method Smith claimed he could use to find buried treasure before mormonism began.)
        *Jesus and Satan are brothers
        *Mary was physically impregnated by God, not by the Holy Ghost, in order to conceive Jesus
        *Mormons, in good standing are to accept any counsel or requests from Mormon leaders as if it were from God himself.
        *Church, originally claimed, that the moon and sun were inhabited by men who looked like Quakers
        *God was once a man who lived on another planet
        *The mormon church believes that the God of this universe lives on a planet nearest the star called Kolob
        *There is absolutely no financial transparency as to how member donation are used. And if they insist on knowing they are either given a warning, are disfellowshipped or even excommunicated
        *Non-member parents are not allowed to attend their own children’s wedding in the temple
        *Multiple Gods exist in Multiple universes
        
        See Iamanexmormon.com
    - KTCJohn
      
      Nam Vet,
      There are hundreds of organized Christian churches. Each of them has a different set of Christian doctrines. They are either all wrong, or only one of them is right. Those are the only two possibilities. At the time that Christ appeared to 14-year-old Joseph Smith in 1820, to answer young Joseph’s question as to which church was right and which should he join, he was given the answer by Jesus Christ that is set forth in cannoized LDS scripture known as Joseph Smith History 1:19. Note in this scripture that the word “abonimation” applies to “creeds” (Niceane Creed for instance) and not to “churches.” Also, the ”professors” were the professors of religion of Joseph’s day from whom he had sought guidance. This is Mormonism 101, and so the closest thing to “lying” is your distortion and mischaracterization claiming that the word “abomination” applied to all other churches. Here is the exact wording of the scripture about other churches to which I refer so that all readers may read it for themselves:
      ”I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: ‘they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.’” [End of Scripture]
      Just like the scriptures and just like the Jewish religion, we LDS sometimes refer to those who do not believe in our faith as “gentiles.” But that is a totally different context than our purportedly claiming other Christian churches are not entitled to the label of “Christian.” The LDS Church and its leaders have not denounced any other Christian church as non-Christian. In other words, we don’t public denounce any other Christian church as a non-Christian cult or a counterfeit Christian church or the like. Doing that, Nam Vet, would be un-Christian of us.
Dandini

Opinions….

Fact…. the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe and teach as doctrine that Jesus Christ is the Only Begotten Son of God the Father, that he was born in Bethlehem of a virgin, Mary, that he suffered and then died on a cross for all mankind, that he overcame death and resurrected with a “glorified” and “incorruptible” body of flesh and bone, that he now is on the right hand of God, and is the Lord, Savior and Redeemer for all…

If you really want to know more…

http://www.lds.org and/or http://www.mormon.org

If you really want to know more…
- DanielKlink
  
  Blah, blah, blah, why don’t you show your beliefs in action? Why is it always, “we believe this and that”. No one cares! If we look at your history, it paints a very very dark picture of who you guys really are. Just go self-cannibalize somewhere else, leave America alone. we don’t need your dirty lies.
Nayajja

The poll question is loaded, seemingly designed to get a greater percentage. The poll did not ask “Do you consider it a concern,” but “do you or a neighbor consider it a concern.”

To demonstrate, if the universe were 4 people, all neighbors, one of whom had a concern, this poll question would be answered yes by 100% of the respondents.

Then newspaper columnists, not thinking about the actual question asked, could write articles saying Romney’s religion caused 100% of the respondents concern.
LancePeters

Apparently the Mormons are unhappy with the showing of their garments. They are trying to get faithful members to post comments on this board to outweigh the negative comments and hijack freedom of speech.The email below is being distributed among a group of Mormons:

———————–

Two recently published articles definitely need comments from faithful church members to set the record straight!

First, the Daily Mail in Britain published an account of an LDS couple who left the church. The article includes a photo of temple garments, and the comments are very mocking and uncomplimentary toward garments and LDS beliefs in general. The article is here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2158283/From-sacred-underwear-Victorias-Secret-The-devout-Mormon-woman-chose-love-faith-husband-atheist.html

Second, an American political blog is touting a website that purports to sell temple garments as a means of mocking LDS beliefs. The blog contains no sensitivity toward our actual beliefs, and some well-informed, polite comments could make a big difference to some readers. The article is here: http://lafiga.firedoglake.com/2012/06/12/mormons-secret/.

Please leave a comment on each article, and as always, be kind and Christlike in your tone and topic. Avoid debates and political stances. If you need any additional information or perspective on the issues raised in the articles, please email us at email@mormonvoices.org, or visit http://en.fairmormon.org/Main_Page.

Thank you for your help! Please recruit your friends, family and ward members to join
- KTCJohn
  
  Lance,
  You are on a real anti-Mormon tear with 13 lengthy posts unrelated to the written article, and you rely heavily on untruths to spew out your vitirol. You are obviously internally conflicted about something. Have you noticed that you are mainly replying to yourself?
  - DanielKlink
    
    You are failing so bad with you comments KTCJohn. All I ever read from you Mormon people is “this is what we believe”. That would be great if those words were also your actions. If you have a problem about something someone posted, they refute it, don’t resort to personal attacks. You can’t even refute your own history, how sad is that. Why can’t you show him a quote that’s truer than his posts? Maybe because there isn’t one, maybe because your church and its history is really that jacked up. You make me want to puke. A personal attack? lol, so so bad, learn some manners.
    - KTCJohn
      
      I stand firmly by everything I have written. Sorry you puked on yourself.
      - LancePeters
        
        Ur fat, drink bleach and die in a fire
- KTCJohn
  
  Lance,
  You are on a real anti-Mormon tear with 13 lengthy posts unrelated to the written article, and you rely heavily on untruths to spew out your vitirol. You are obviously internally conflicted about something. Have you noticed that you are mainly replying to yourself?
LancePeters

During the 70s, the psychology department at Brigham Young University (Mormon religious school in Provo Utah) experimented with electroshock aversion therapy in an attempt to cure homosexuality. Patients who went through BYU’s program were shown erotic pictures of people of the same sex. When the counselors monitoring the patient sensed he or she was getting aroused, an electrical shock would be delivered to the patient. In later sessions, if a patient felt himself or herself being aroused they could press a plunger to stop the shock and an image of a fully clothed member of the opposite sex would appear on the screen.

BYU’s attempts to cure homosexuality using electroshock aversion therapy are better known, but they were not the only method used. Patients undergoing treatment for what the church still calls same-sex attraction could be treated with a drug that would make them nauseous injected into them while looking at the images depicting homosexual activities, and a different drug that would cause euphoria injected into them while viewing images that depicted heterosexual activities. Neither method
worked.

more info: http://suite101.com/article/byu-electroshock-aversion-therapy-a33025

Videos on the Evergreen program at BYU. Gays in the Mormon church abused in the name of their god. An example of Christian Brutality and Nonacceptance. This video was part of a masters thesis project at a University in the Northwest.

Short video series:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwUTVQ4mfNE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV-8BmFwGIcandfeature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeMKmnMfNUoandfeature=related
LancePeters

“I have a hard time with historians … because they idolize the truth. The truth is not uplifting; it destroys. Historians should tell only that part of the truth that is inspiring an uplifting.”

-Apostle Boyd K. Packer as related by D. Michael Quin, “Pillars of My Faith,” Talk Delivered at Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City, August 19, 1994

God bless the Mormon church, they truly are a gem of wisdom.

The quote above has been rendered in an artistic form at the following link:

http://i.imgur.com/SgZkP.jpg
- RaymondSwenson
  
  Quinn was an honored historian, but he is also an open homosexual who has written books with the thesis that Mormonism tolerated homosexuals in the past. He has unfortuantely been known to exaggerate for effect a bit.
- RaymondSwenson
  
  Quinn was an honored historian, but he is also an open homosexual who has written books with the thesis that Mormonism tolerated homosexuals in the past. He has unfortuantely been known to exaggerate for effect a bit.
LancePeters

Mormon Genocide Doctrine, hatred of Native Americans:

“I saw a striking contrast in the progress of the Indian people today…. The day of the Lamanites is nigh. For years they have been growing delightsome, and they are now becoming white and delightsome, as they were promised. In this picture of the twenty Lamanite missionaries, fifteen of the twenty were as light as Anglos, five were darker but equally delightsome The children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation.

At one meeting a father and mother and their sixteen-year-old daughter were present, the little member girl – sixteen – sitting between the dark father and mother, and it was evident she was several shades lighter than her parents – on the same reservation, in the same hogan, subject to the same sun and wind and weather….These young members of the Church are changing to whiteness and to delightsomeness. One white elder jokingly said that he and his companion were donating blood regularly to the hospital in the hope that the process might be accelerated.

“(General Conference Report, October, 1960; Improvement Era, December 1960, pp. 922-923)[Appendix p. A-15].
- RaymondSwenson
  
  This quote indicates cluelessness by the speaker, but not hostility to American Indians. The speaker’s point was to express in his clumsy way the personal progress that was being made by Indians who had Joined the Mormon church.
  
  The largest Indian populations in Mormonism in 2012 are in nations in Latin America, including Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia and Peru. Since there are a million Mormons in Mexico, it is possible there may be a million American Indians who are among the 8 million Mormons outside the USA.
  
  One Mormon is a member of the Pawnee Nation, and has served as President Obama’s chief of the US Bureau of Indian Affairs. He is Larry Echo Hawk, a BYU Law School professor who was Attorney General of Idaho and a candidate for governor, who attended BYU on a football scholarship, and while on the faculty there was president of a group of student congregations. At the beginning of April 2012 he was called into the senior leadership of the Mormon Church.
  - LancePeters
    
    Blah, blah, blah, us anti-Mormons are winning, and we will continue to win. Your church is a hiss and a byword. You can call me Legion, I’ve been sent by you Mormon go to uproot your stupid religion. Get lost, go do something with your time, God hates you, hell, everyone hates you.
- RaymondSwenson
  
  This quote indicates cluelessness by the speaker, but not hostility to American Indians. The speaker’s point was to express in his clumsy way the personal progress that was being made by Indians who had Joined the Mormon church.
  
  The largest Indian populations in Mormonism in 2012 are in nations in Latin America, including Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia and Peru. Since there are a million Mormons in Mexico, it is possible there may be a million American Indians who are among the 8 million Mormons outside the USA.
  
  One Mormon is a member of the Pawnee Nation, and has served as President Obama’s chief of the US Bureau of Indian Affairs. He is Larry Echo Hawk, a BYU Law School professor who was Attorney General of Idaho and a candidate for governor, who attended BYU on a football scholarship, and while on the faculty there was president of a group of student congregations. At the beginning of April 2012 he was called into the senior leadership of the Mormon Church.
LancePeters

Mormon Genocide Doctrine, hatred of African Americans July 17 2008:

THIS WILL OFFEND PEOPLE, BE CAREFUL.

First Presidency on the N*g/*ers Question, July 17 2008.

“From the days of the Prophet Joseph Smith even until now, it has been
the doctrine of the Church, never questioned by Church leaders, that the
N*g/*ers are not entitled to the full blessings of the Gospel.”

“The attitude of the Church with reference to N*g/*ers remains as it
has always stood. It is not a matter of the declaration of a policy but
of direct commandment from the Lord, on which is founded the doctrine of
the Church from the days of its organization, to the effect that
N*g*ers may become embers of the Church but that they are not entitled
to the priesthood at the present time.”

“The position of the Church regarding the N*g/*ers may be understood when another
doctrine of the church is kept in mind, namely, that the conduct of
spirits in the pre-mortal existence has some determining effect upon
theC onditions and circumstances under which these spirits take on
mortality, and that while the details of this principle have not been
made known, the principle itself indicates that the coming to this
earth and taking on mortality is a privilege that is given to those who
maintained their first estate; and that the worth of the privilege is so
great that spirits are willing to come to earth and take on bodies no
matter what the handicap may be as to the kind of bodies they are to
secure; and that among the handicaps, failure of the right to enjoy in
mortality the blessings of the priesthood is a handicap which spirits
are willing to assume in order that they might come to earth. Under this
principle there is no injustice whatsoever involved in this deprivation
as to the holding of the priesthood by the N*g/*ers…. “Man
will be punished for his own sins and not for Adam’s transgression. If
this is carried further, it would imply that the N*g/*ers is punished
or allotted to a certain position on this earth, not because of Cain’s
transgression, but came to earth through the loins of Cain because of
his failure to achieve other stature in the spirit world.” (Statement of
The First Presidency on the Ni*g/*ers Question, July 17 2008, quoted in
Mormonism and the N*g/*ers, pp.46-7).
- RaymondSwenson
  
  Mr Peters, that is total fabrication. God does not like liars like you.
  - DanielKlink
    
    Proof of Mormons Lying for the Lord:
    
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zA-rZQB-xQ
- RaymondSwenson
  
  Mr Peters, that is total fabrication. God does not like liars like you.
LancePeters

Sounds good bro, thanks, I’ve got it from here on out. Crap bro, you just posted a faulty link when you replied to my post just now, I’ll type what I was going to type anyway:

” Ten Lies I Told as a Mormon Missionary”

link to full article:

http://www.mrm.org/ten-lies

1. We’re not trying to convert you:

2. The Bible is Insufficient

3. We’re the only true Christians

4. We’re the only true Church

5. We have a living prophet

6. The Book of Mormon is Scripture

7. You’re saved by works

8. People can become Gods

9. You’re born again by becoming a Mormon

10. Temple Marriage is required for eternal life

False Testimony:

I close with a few words about “testimony,” which is a missionary’s emergency cord. When I couldn’t rebut an antagonistic statement scripturally, I fell back on my testimony. For instance, while proselyting in Grand Forks, North Dakota, I was once asked where the Bible mentions the secret undergarments Mormons wear. Caught off guard, I admitted that the Bible says nothing about them. I could merely testify that God revealed the need for these garments through living prophets. But my testimony wasn’t based on scripture or other hard evidence. Rather, it was founded on personal revelation, which is extremely subjective. Essentially, my testimony was nothing more than a good feeling about the church and its teachings. In Mormon parlance, it was a “burning in the bosom.” But burning or not, it wasn’t from God.
LancePeters

MORMON LIARS FROM HISTORY, ITS JUST IN OUR BLOOD:

Members and investigators to Mormonism are not offered details of Smith’s deception or the court records convicting him. Church leaders contend that “some [historical] truths are not very useful” and undermine attempts to create a faith promoting history of Mormonism (versus an accurate and objective history). (Boyd K. Packer, “The Mantle is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect”, 1981, BYU Studies, Vol.21, No. 3, pp. 259-271) LDS Historians are fired and sometimes excommunicated if they publish an objective history rather than a faith promoting version (if they are employed for the church). Packer cited
above, referred to objective histories of Mormonism as “disease germs.” Most ethical historians regard deliberately inaccurate histories to be disease germs instead.
LancePeters

MORMON COSMOLOGY:

“God lives in the fourth dimension, which explains why he can see everything, be
everywhere and know all time. In fact, as three-dimensional beings, if we could visit flatland (a two-dimensional universe) the inhabitants would think we were Gods.” Taught by LDS Church Institute instructors

“The Holy of Holies in the Salt Lake Temple actually contains a portal to the celestial realm at Kolob. Mormon folklore, source reference needed. Time and Time Travel - God travels much faster than the speed of light. God travels at the “speed of thought.”
LancePeters

MORMON DOCTRINE:

Mormonism directly explains the creation of at least one race by God. Mormon scripture taught that Cain was so evil, God cursed him and his lineage with black skin, creating the African race. See Moses 7:22. Mormon Doctrine explains: “Cain was cursed with a dark skin; he became the father of the Negroes, and those sprits who are not worthy to receive the priesthood are born though his lineage. He became the first mortal to be cursed as a son of perdition. As a result of his mortal birth he is assured of a tangible body of flesh and bones in eternity, a fact which will enable him to rule over Satan.” Mormon Doctrine, Page 102. -
LancePeters

MORMON DOCTRINE: Native Americans turn White

When Native Americans become Mormons, their skin turns white. The Prophet Spencer W. Kimball taught the principle of this process in a General Conference address. He stated how the “Indians are fast becoming a white and delightsome people.” He said, “The [Indian] children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation… These young [Indian] members of the Church are changing to whiteness and to delightsomeness. One white elder jokingly said that he and his companion were donating blood regularly to the hospital in the hope that the process might be accelerated.” LDS General Conference, October 1960, Spencer W. Kimball, (Improvement Era, December 1960, pp. 922-3). Also see the original Mormon prophesy of this effect in 2 Nephi 30:6. -
LancePeters

NOTABLE QUOTES FROM MORMON LEADERS WHO LIE:

Joseph made a career of retrofitting earlier revelations to make it appear as if church doctrines and practices were revealed by God incrementally, logically and sequentially, as described by the faith promoting histories of the LDS church. He referred to this process of revising God’s written word as continuing revelation. Others call it theological innovation, revelations of convenience, or creative imagination.
LancePeters

NOTABLE QUOTES FROM MORMON LEADERS WHO LIE:

The LDS Church permits members and others to believe that the History of the Church was written by Joseph Smith. Smith dictated the history of the church to a scribe but was killed before completing the project. The Joseph Smith History was completed in August 1856 by historians who attempted to make the official history appear as if it was written by Joseph. Brigham Young required the historians to use this method. Sixty percent of the history was written after his death. The church failed to inform its members of this fact, preferring to let them believe that the official history was written by Joseph Smith. (Brigham Young University Studies, Summer 1971, pp.466, 469, 470, 472). In the middle of the 20th century, after the deception was pointed out by critics, the church admitted it. When something in History of the Church proved embarrassing, such as the Kinderhook Plates hoax (where Joseph was tricked by pranksters who created fake metal plates – Joseph claimed they were ancient Egyptian plates), which is written in the first person by Smith, the practice was/is for LDS apologists to claim that a scribe or someone else must have written the embarrassing section instead of Joseph Smith. (Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Shadow or Reality? Chapter 7, “Changes in the Joseph Smith History,” pages 126-142)
LancePeters

MORMON COSMOLOGY:

The Earth will undergo a perfection after the millenium and become a huge seer stone of glass. People living on the Earth after this transformation will be able to look into the Earth and see things happening on “inferior” kingdoms (planets). See D&C 130:9 - God’s home planet, Kolob, is at the center of our Galaxy, which all other stars rotate around. See Clark, J. Reuben Jr., “Behold the Lamb of God,” page 46, “Kolob, the Governor” -
http://twitter.com/GetTiedOn GetTiedOn

A cult hallmark is the necessity for control. Mormonism is similar to scientology in that they were each founded by megalomaniacs: Joseph Smith Jr. and L. Ron Hubbard. The Mountain Meadows Massacre is comparable to a Manson Family Vacation. Polygamy is a poor excuse for a balanced healthy relationship. The fact that Mitt Romney lies about everything makes him a good candidate for cult leader. His proclivity to control can be seen by his humiliating high school hi-jinks of pinning a classmate down and slashing his hair. His impersonating a police officer is more reminiscent of being a serial killer than a good candidate for office. You don’t have to be a Bryce Hospital psychiatrist to know that there is something off about the man. The United States needs to lead the world by having a clear and open agenda. Electing Mitt Romney would be a step in the wrong direction.
- RaymondSwenson
  
  I think you win the Ku Klux Klan award for the most bigoted statement of the day!
  
  Mitt Romney demonstrated his integrity as a man who was trusted by public employee pension funds aross the country to invest the retirement funds of their members. He demonstrated his integrity in rescuing the 2002 Winter Olympics from the IOC scandal and making it a profitable success, in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, that has endowed the operation of all the Olympic venues in perpetuity for the citizens of Utah. He demonstrated his integrity as governor of Massachusetts, vetoing a stem cell research bill that proposed turning human embryos into a commodity. He demonstrated his selflessness when he devoted most of his spare time for ten years to unpaid service for his fellow church members in Boston, at a time when he was getting Bain Capital off the ground and most men would have spent every waking moment at the office. I don’t know anything about you, Mr. On, but I am willing to bet that you ha ve never demonstrated the selflessness of Mr. romney.
- RaymondSwenson
  
  Since you bring up the Mountain Meadows Massacre, let us put it in context: In 1857, with no provocation, President Buchanan sent a third of the standing US Army to march to Utah to impose martial law on the ten year old Mormon colony there. In its armed resistance to that battalion, the official Mormon militia did not would a single soldier, but did impede their progress by stampeding their horses and burning grass in front of them, a tactic which allowed a negotiated peace.
  
  Meanwhile, a number of hotheads in the Mormon militia two hundred miles away in southern Utah territory got upset at some Missouri pioneers on their way to California, and started an exchange of gunfire that escalated into a massacre of about 125 men, women and children. When the Army arrived as the law enforcement body for the territory, they took little action to track down the miscreants. Instead, the Army massacred a hundred Indians, an event no one bothers remembering because the victims were only Indians, so it was not unique.
  
  Meanwhile, back along the Kansas and Missouri border, Missouri slave holders were invading and killing Kansas settlers who wanted their state to outlaw slavery. Some 65 people were murdered during the 1850s, and in August 1863, a Confederate militia, Quantrill’s Raiders, attacked Lawrence, Kansas, and murdered over 150 people–civilians, not Army troops– and burned down most of the town. This event is little remembered because it was just good clean fun between Christians, and didn’t involve any religious minorities who could be blamed for it 150 years later.
  
  And then there is the ongoing scourge and massacre that was slavery as practiced in the American South for two centuries, followed by a century of lynch mobs and burning crosses, all defended at the time as the work of Christians. Do you REALLY want to revisit the sins of the 19th Century and revive it like a pointless Hatfields and McCoys vendetta?
- RaymondSwenson
  
  Since you bring up the Mountain Meadows Massacre, let us put it in context: In 1857, with no provocation, President Buchanan sent a third of the standing US Army to march to Utah to impose martial law on the ten year old Mormon colony there. In its armed resistance to that battalion, the official Mormon militia did not would a single soldier, but did impede their progress by stampeding their horses and burning grass in front of them, a tactic which allowed a negotiated peace.
  
  Meanwhile, a number of hotheads in the Mormon militia two hundred miles away in southern Utah territory got upset at some Missouri pioneers on their way to California, and started an exchange of gunfire that escalated into a massacre of about 125 men, women and children. When the Army arrived as the law enforcement body for the territory, they took little action to track down the miscreants. Instead, the Army massacred a hundred Indians, an event no one bothers remembering because the victims were only Indians, so it was not unique.
  
  Meanwhile, back along the Kansas and Missouri border, Missouri slave holders were invading and killing Kansas settlers who wanted their state to outlaw slavery. Some 65 people were murdered during the 1850s, and in August 1863, a Confederate militia, Quantrill’s Raiders, attacked Lawrence, Kansas, and murdered over 150 people–civilians, not Army troops– and burned down most of the town. This event is little remembered because it was just good clean fun between Christians, and didn’t involve any religious minorities who could be blamed for it 150 years later.
  
  And then there is the ongoing scourge and massacre that was slavery as practiced in the American South for two centuries, followed by a century of lynch mobs and burning crosses, all defended at the time as the work of Christians. Do you REALLY want to revisit the sins of the 19th Century and revive it like a pointless Hatfields and McCoys vendetta?
RaymondSwenson

One of my Japanese cousins graduated from the University of Alabama with a business degree, and loved his four years there. I therefore trust that the few people who comment on this story with a bigoted view are either not part of the community at all, or are exceptions to the rule of tolerance and acceptance regardless of differences.

My guess is that if any of you have concerns about Mormons, you might want to check Mormon.org and find out the place and time where your local Mormons meet for Sunday worship services and observe their demeanor as they pray in the name of Jesus and take communion in remembrance of his death on the cross. Try to discern if they are believers in Christ as the Savior of mankind. Then sit in on their Sunday School lessons as they study the scriptures. Find out for yourself.
RaymondSwenson

One of my Japanese cousins graduated from the University of Alabama with a business degree, and loved his four years there. I therefore trust that the few people who comment on this story with a bigoted view are either not part of the community at all, or are exceptions to the rule of tolerance and acceptance regardless of differences.

My guess is that if any of you have concerns about Mormons, you might want to check Mormon.org and find out the place and time where your local Mormons meet for Sunday worship services and observe their demeanor as they pray in the name of Jesus and take communion in remembrance of his death on the cross. Try to discern if they are believers in Christ as the Savior of mankind. Then sit in on their Sunday School lessons as they study the scriptures. Find out for yourself.
DanielKlink

“I hope American voters will eventually come to disregard such irrelevant
factors as a candidate’s religion, skin color or what they did on
spring break in 1975 when choosing the leader of the free world. We
can’t afford to reduce our presidential elections to glorified
referendums on religion. It’s time to focus on the real issues.
President Obama’s campaign has already stated that it won’t attempt to
use Gov. Romney’s religious beliefs against him in the race, which is
commendable, considering Obama is likely to need all the help he can get
while seeking reelection this November. This promising move by the
Obama campaign begs the common sense question: If Romney’s political
archrival isn’t even willing to consider religion fair game in this
election, why should you?”

Yeah, no, not going to happen; and I think you know why Mr. Downes. If not, lets refresh our memory, shall we:

The following are just a few choice tidbits from Mormon prophets and apostles. These quotes are their feelings about America:

“… you do solemnly swear in the presence of Almighty God… that you
will avenge the blood of Joseph Smith upon this nation, and so teach
your children; that you will, from this day henceforth and forever,
begin and carry out hostilities against this nation, and keep the same
a profound secret now and forever. So help you God.”

- Apostle William Smith, Arguments Before the Committee
On Privileges and Elections of the United States Senate In the Matter
of the Protests Against the Right of Hon. Reed Smoot, A Senator from
the State of Utah, to Hold His Seat, 1905, p. 231

“We will go to a land where there are at last no old settlers
to quarrel with us…. We will leave this wicked nation, to themselves,
for they have rejected the gospel, and I hope and pray that the wicked
will kill one another & save us the trouble of doing it.”

- Prophet Brigham Young, quoted in “Journal of Heber C. Kimball,” under January 2, 1846; see Abanes, One Nation Under Gods, p. 216

———————————————————————–

You see, anyone who has leaders that are willing to destroy the people of America should have no place in politics let alone the country itself. I don’t know why you would overlook the history of Mormonism to find this out for yourself, but in fact, I think you already knew this, but you just decided to leave it out. The only reason you are standing up for the Mormons is because you don’t want Obama in as President, stop lying to yourself and others, we get it, you hate Obama, great, you don’t have to lie to get people to vote for Romney. You have no idea the fire you are playing with by getting in “bed” with the Mormons. You guys think there’s no reason for us to be so “anti-mormon”. Well, I promise you it has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with the history and lies from Mormon prophets and apostles.
DanielKlink

In fact, you guys who support this movement should be tried for treason, you make
up less than 1% of the total population of America (active Mormons) yet
you want to take over the USA because you think God said its yours. I
can’t wait until you Mormons are angry enough to forcibly takeover the
USA, I really can’t wait. It will be the best day ever to see you guys
removed from the US for good.

Here’s some more “Mormons takeover the USA” quotes:

“Joseph Smith escaped many conspiracies against his life…. But the
Lord said – ‘Now let my servant seal up his testimony with his blood;’
and that sealed up the damnation of the United States, not of
individuals, but of the nation…. I am prophet enough to prophesy the
downfall of the government that has driven us out…. Wo to the United
States! I see them going to death and destruction.”

– Prophet Brigham Young, in William S. Harwell, ed., Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 1847-1850, 1997, pp. 221, 238

“The people of the rest of the country are our enemies…. When
the government conflicts with heaven, we will be ranged under the
banner of heaven and against the Government…. I defy the United
States. I will obey God.”

-   Prophet John Taylor, Salt Lake Tribune, January 6, 1880, quoted in Samuel W. Taylor, Rocky Mountain Empire, 1978, p. 29

“The American Nation will be broken in pieces…. you live in
the day and hour of the judgments of God Almighty…. the hour of
God’s judgment is at the door…. I wish to warn all nations…. Thrones
will be cast down, nations will be overturned, anarchy will reign,
all legal barriers will be broken down, and the laws will be trampled
in the dust. You are about to be visited with war, sword, famine,
pestilence, plague, earthquakes, whirlwinds, tempests, and with the
flame of devouring fire…. the slain of the Lord will be many.”

-   Prophet Wilford Woodruff, April 21, 1879, in Millennial Star, v. 41, p. 241

“Brigham raised his hand and said, ‘I swear by the eternal
Heavens that I have unsheathed my sword, and I will never return it
until the blood of the Prophet Joseph and Hyrum, and those who were
slain in Missouri, is avenged. This whole nation is guilty of shedding
their blood, by assenting to the deed, and holding its peace.’ …
Furthermore, every one who had passed through their endowments, in the
Temple, were placed under the most sacred obligations to avenge the
blood of the Prophet, whenever an opportunity offered, and to teach
their children to do the same, thus making the entire Mormon people
sworn and avowed enemies of the American nation.”

-   Elder John D. Lee, Mormonism Unveiled, 1877, p. 160, online at http://www.helpingmormons.org/Rare_Books.htm
Steven Janiszewski

Mitt Romney is a puppet of
the Mormon Church. To get a better understanding of the cult that
produced Mitt Romney read The Assassination of Spiro Agnew,
available at: http://www.amazon.com

It dramatizes the Mormons’ anti-federal
government temperament and demonstrates how their superiority
complex manifests as racism, sexism, and jingoism on the
ground.

It also shows the similarities
between Islam and Mormonism and reveals the secrets of Mormon
Mind Control.

Consider this review:

“With a clarity of language and
vision unsurpassed in contemporary American prose, Steven
Janiszewski’s Assassination of Spiro Agnew takes us into a
U.S. mazed with madness and Mormonism and all things Utah, a U.S.
that was then and still is. Do we need a novel, even as brilliant as
this one, about a young man on a divine mission to assassinate the
Vice President because he is too liberal? Yes, now more than ever.
Readers, welcome to a masterpiece.”

Tom Whalen

http://www.tomwhalen.com

Everyone should read The
Assassination of Spiro Agnew.
Henry_Downes

Some of these concerning responses are exhibiting exactly the kind of thought processes which the WSJ poll hinted at, which is, like I said, disappointing.
I’m sure I could go into the Bible or research historic Christian theologians and discover some alarming quotes, but that’s no reason to extrapolate the ignorance of a few onto the beliefs of many.
jimbuyjan

Mormonism is not a branch of Christianity. Mormons believe in multiple gods. This is anathema to Christians, Jews, and Muslims who all believe that there is one and only one god. Mitt Romney and other Mormons believe, in fact, that they themselves are capable of achieving divinity and equality with Jesus Christ. This is not a small point. Some would say that a vote for Romney is a vote for the devil himself!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=550078064 Justin Smith

another poorly written editorial in the CW that COMPLETELY fails to mention how many Americans though Obama was a Muslim in 2008, and how many Republican voters (according to recent polls) in the Deep South STILL BELIEVE that Obama is a Muslim.

If you’re going to complain about the perception of a tepid, wanna-be president, you might as well give a sentence or two of context about our actual President…..
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ANSYORC3JYV5537STBZEI75MIY Tim B

Why is this a surprise to you Henry? Here’s the deal: yeah, Americans won’t vote for anyone for POTUS who isn’t Christian. That’s the deal right now. One of the major tenets of a free country is the separation of church and state yet we say “One Nation Under God” in our pledge of allegiance. Regarding Mormonism, I don’t know a whole lot about it but I do know that the founder of the religion was excommunicated from his own church for a variety of things including proposing marriage to his male church members’ wives. So, if the religion is based on the revelations of Joseph Smith, it is hard to understand how this religion could survive given the founder has been pretty much completely discredited. I don’t think I would necessarily eliminate any candidate based on their religion, but religion often influences people’s beliefs. Beliefs influence attitudes and behavior and many people aren’t able to separate those beliefs related to religion from those related to politics. I certainly wouldn’t vote for a Scientologist and am wary of any religion started in the last couple centuries. However, I don’t practice any organized religion so any candidate that seems to be overly religious to the point that it would affect their ability to do the job would not get my vote.
http://www.ecriminalrecords.com/ Ronald (Criminal Records)

Let us not forget that religion in itself, is a discipline. How many people in their right mind would vote for an atheist?

The University of Alabama

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